Hiking the Tetons. Next stop Yellowstone
This is one of those hikes that makes your day. Makes your vacation. Makes IMAX look like a postcard. Ten miles out and back. Six thousand feet up and down. 4,000 calories burned. A great full day.
Ratatouille Time
When you get eggplant, peppers, squash, fennel, scallions and tomatoes in one week's CSA farm share, it's time to make ratatouille. And when these hot-weather vegetables ripen at once, make a huge pot to refrigerate and enjoy cold for the rest of the week.
Slower Sunday: Beauty Treatment
For your eyes only. Not the lids. Not the lashes or the brows. Or the little wrinkles in the corners. Just your eyes. The windows to your soul. If they're really windows, they work both ways. So let this in. It must be good for your soul. It's beautiful.n
Chill your mouth: Mint-Melon Popsicles
Get a really ripe melon. So sweet you won't even think about adding sugar. Not even to offset the cool of the mint and the kick of the ginger. A truly sweet and wonderfully refreshing Way to end a meal on a hot day.
Keep the tape measure. Toss the scale.
It's about your waist, not your weight. Your height-to-waist ratio is a much better indicator of your health than your height-to-weight ratio (BMI). Keep your waist circumference to less than half your height. Or you'll be at significantly higher risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks and strokes.
Revival Eating: Gazpacho Popsicles
When the temperature outside is 95 F, put one of these inside your mouth and lower your body temperature to complete comfort in one minute flat. A convenient, frozen, hand-held soup and salad on a stick. Great for parties.
Garden Watch: Summer Solstice 2012
On the first day of summer, my first raspberry turned true red. Tiny green tomatoes are hanging everywhere. The beanstalk's outgrown its trellis. The cucumber's not far behind.
Better Cheaper Stronger: Upper Back
Not strong like Arnold. Just stronger than you are now. So that you can do a lot of things more easily and comfortably. Today's "Reverse Fly" strengthens the back and shoulder muscles you use to prevent rounded shoulders. No machines or weights. You can do this with a resistance band.
Strawberry-Rhubarb Tarts. From leftovers
Concentrated sweetness from the stewed and very ripe berries. Tartness from the very fresh rhubarb. Flaky, buttery luxury-in-your-mouth from your leftover homemade pie crust. Your home smells like a very good bakery. Your tart cost less than $1.