A heatwave has hit. It’s too hot to cook anything, all of the doors in the house are open to allow a breeze to come through, and the baby is napping in nothing but her sleep sack.
Might I offer you a recipe for lunch?
Recipe is a stretch, to be honest. But it is a perfect taste of sunshine.
First, prep your homemade peach ice cream. Heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, and as many fresh peaches as you can find blended up and thrown in the ice cream maker. Let it churn as you continue “cooking”.
Slice up a tomato, douse it with salt and pepper and let it sweat.
Fry up more bacon than is reasonable to put on a sandwich - then add one more slice.
Grab a loaf of the best bread you can find - I opted for sourdough from the bakery around the corner. Cut two hefty pieces right from the middle of the loaf like a heathen, no end pieces here.
Slather both sides of the bread with a gorgeous amount of mayo and pile everything on. Devour. Know that the salt lingering in your mouth will make your bowl of ice cream that much sweeter.
I’ve eaten perfectly since the official start of summer last week.
On Friday, a sunny playdate with Nadia and her son Carlo at the playground led to spontaneous mint watermelon margaritas, babies smushed together at the table eating yogurt and cheese and berries and whatever else we could cobble together before being swept into the bathtub to get fresh and clean, the arrival of Laurens, and a grown up dinner of burst tomato pasta and bufala after a few readings of The Gruffalo.
Saturday brought Juliet over. The miniature football was kicked down the hall countless times for a Bug who shrieked with delight as we sipped on mint strawberry sparkling lemonades. After bedtime, we had a perfect girl dinner of peach caprese salad, insalata verde, rotisserie chicken, and fresh cherries. I whipped up some cream with strawberries for dessert as we caught up for five hours, way past my bedtime but with the sun still up in the sky as Jules made her way home close to 11pm.
Of course, this was all predicated by a perfect long weekend in Italy last weekend. Is there a country that encompasses summer more?
My friend Sophie joined me and the Bug on the flight, and we met up with my parents in the tiny beach town of Laigueglia, Italy. I’d saved The Windsor Hotel to my google maps of travel recs almost two years ago, and it was exquisite. The hotel was right on the water, with sandy beaches hard to find on the Med.
Sunshine indeed.
What I’m Reading
I made reading a major priority and finished four books in the last week. The one I cannot stop thinking about is The Safekeep. Exquisite writing, beautiful storytelling, heartbreaking.
What I’m Watching
The Gilded Age is back and if you don’t love watching Carrie Coon and Meryl Streep’s daughter Louisa Jacobson in period clothing, I don’t know what to tell you.
What I’m Loving
- ‘s Substack group chat (as I think of it) for her newsletter is the nicest place on the internet. I got major love for my favorite kind of summer outfit, one where no clothes touch your body at all. If you’re not reading her writing, you need to subscribe!
I still have a few Hot Tip subscriptions if anyone wants one - let me know!
Beam me over to Italy!! Also those BLTs make me want to cry with happiness. Making one tonight for dinner, haha.
Does your baby actually keep the sun hat on? Mine will endure it for a maximum of three seconds! Looks like a truly dreamy summer🍨