Spuds of summer

"When I woke up we had the carriage to ourselves; and my mother unpacked our picnic basket, a handsome wicker affair, the kind people then used to give as wedding presents, although wedding presents were probably something else my mother had missed out on when she eloped with my father. There were ham sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, barley water, and a thermos of tea for Mother. And apples – their skin wrinkled by winter storage – to clean our teeth and freshen our mouths afterward."

--The Fox's Walk, Annabel Davis-Goff

What a charming picnic basket. Today, I had an intense craving for hard-boiled eggs. I don't even remember how long I cooked them, but they came out perfect – no ring around the yolk, and pleasurably easy to peel. These served as a humble base for a simple microwave-cooked-potato-plus-egg salad – no mayo, but plenty of garlic mustard aioli from TJ's. A dash of Old Bay rounds out the recipe. Yum.

Sandwiches, fruit, and the like always make me think of summer. I think I ate 2.5 fruits today. That's about as much fruit as I had all winter. A cold, fruitless winter 'twas. I would award myself with a pat on the back, but it seems that I also had three cookies...meaning I probably consumed an inordinate amount of sugar.