Papa Peach

Balsamic vinegar and strawberries taste uhmazing together. That's a well-known fact, but I still can't get over it. I've been taking delight in salads for breakfast, along with the leftover Boudin's sourdough bread that my dad brought home from San Francisco. I must say though, it doesn't beat home-baked bread. Sometimes I really just love my dad. (I should probably save this spiel for Father's Day, but I can't resist.) He can go MIA for long stretches of time, completely avoid me and our family in the heat of his work, be clueless to many of my current interests and activities, and so on. But he has these spurts of awesomeness that totally make up for it. Like last night, he brought a huge sack full of fruit home. Fruit that we don't really buy on a regular basis. Apparently he went on a Kokua Market shopping spree! Among the usual papayas, cucumbers... he brought strawberries, melons, and white peaches. I don't think  peaches are really in season yet,  but that's ok every once in a while. I love the late summer boom of plums, cherries, peaches, and the early apples, followed by the blackberries. I used to indulge in them when I lived in California. One year we lived in Mill Valley, and our backyard dropped off into the woods, wound along a river, and stopped in the uncrossable blackberry thicket, over which hung a huge apple tree. Thankfully I was a 5th grader and wasn't burdened with hours of homework, and had all the time in the world to explore my "backyard" wonderland. Even the poison oak didn't stop me from picking blackberries and exploring.

 Nectarines and peaches are an exception I have to make when it comes to going local. They just do not grow here. And they should, because they're amazing. Strawberries are negotiable, because they do grow on in the high altitude of Maui's Haleakala, although I don't find them as sweet as mainland strawberries. August is usually when peaches and nectarines make their way into our kitchen... so it's quite a surprise to be able to enjoy them in May! Thanks dad.

This morning's salad was a dance of cucumbers, strawberries and white peaches on a red-leaf stage, dressed in the finest balsamic silk and jewels of coarsely ground black pepper. It was fantastic.

I woke up at 7 am for some inexplicable reason, and I couldn't find sleep again. Early mornings mean that I need to do all my "fragrant" cooking out in the garden, so as not to wake my sleeping mom. It used to be annoying as hell to schedule in the time to drag a coffee machine, toaster--or god forbid-- a hotplate out into the garden, get it all set up, and not be late for school. But now that there's no rush, I totally love it. It allows me to stretch off my sleep and reach up to the avocado trees, smell the roses, pluck the dried geranium petals away from their tender brothers, while enjoying the wind chime singing overhead.

My roof plants are doing quite well. Nothing new to report in terms of sprouts, although I think that my lychee seeds have started to grow roots. Having a lychee tree would be the coolest thing ever. Actually, I can't decide what plant would be the coolest to have. I am even ecstatic to have basil pop up in my garden... but having a cocoa plant (mmm) or a coffee plant (omg) or a pomegranate tree (holy shit) would be amazing. I'll get on that.