Harvest!

Ok, so this isn't my very first harvest, but rather a late spring/early summer harvest coming in the middle of a relentless streak of rain and cold weather in June (!). And on (and possibly through) June 21 (!!!!) to boot.

Now I love fall and, being a Southern California girl, get very excited about the first snow - I love cozy weather where it makes sense to drink tea and eat cake, curled up in front of a movie - maybe one you wanted to see and never got around to or one you'd never even heard of before you saw it at the rental store or on iTunes. But on the summer solstice? Really?

That, my friends, is a picture of the sky in Munich right now (a color photograph, mind you), at around 3:30 in the afternoon (not sometime after dusk) during a time of year and in a part of the world where the sun doesn't set until almost 9:30 p.m. or even later.


So when my friend V., with whom I am renting out garden space from the city of Munich, stopped by in the pouring rain yesterday with two heads of lettuce, some spring onions, two different kinds of radishes, some late spinach fresh from our garden and a lot of mud on her shoes, I was definitely impressed. That's dedication!

And just the right amount of fresh color to brighten up a gloomy day. So tonight, we will dine like queens (and kings, of course) on abundant salad and grilled onions. Maybe with a cup of soup (protest! I want light, refreshing summer food!) on the side to help keep us warm.

And in the meantime, Laughter will kick it on the heater.

P.S. With that said, I've heard there is hope and that the gloom might flee these parts by Wednesday, making way for some real summer days. As they say, hope springs eternal, or, as they say in German, die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt.

P.S. Next time I'll include a recipe. Promise!