#43: The Best Things I Ate This Summer

So far.

People have waxed lyrical about summertime eating forever, and some of my favourite pieces capture the desperation leading up to, and bliss immediately following, a repast in glaring heat. Think William Carlos Williams’ plums; think M.F.K. Fisher’s face-off with a mad waitress in Burgundy, and her famous ode to the oyster.

Summer isn’t over, but below are my favourite plates from the last couple of months of eating — both to urge those of you in these cities and towns to taste them for yourselves, and a personal reminder to re-visit some before the season’s over.

A photo from Sophia Loren’s 1970s cookbook.

In no particular order:

• Buttery crab legs at Roks in Tórshavn. I’m convinced that was peak crab leg for me, and that they will never taste better.

• The cornucopia of meats we bought from a local butcher and grilled in Izmir, after a table of meze that was a meal unto itself. I ran into and broke the screen door before the meal, which is proof of not only my idiocy but how good everything was smelling.

• A cone of Leila’s Shop milk soft serve enjoyed by the bandstand in Boundary Gardens on a sleepy East London afternoon. The ice cream of the summer, I think.