Well, I’m back from California. But I suppose that I should have told you that I was going upon leaving. The first of two trips back this summer, aaahh, it is wedding season! Bring on the bouquets; bring on the bridesmaids; and bring on the catered food. Northern California was actually cold when we arrived, balmy and breezy, with a thick layer of marine fog in the morning. Cold though it may have been, the inclement weather did not keep the farmers from harvesting every sort of stellar local produce possible and bringing it to market

California was inspiring. I guess you cannot take the state out of a girl who was born and raised there. There were pies to be made at my parent’s house, with a mixture of stone fruit, and boysenberries so plump they looked like the belly of Santa Claus. Apricots that were far from elegant, bruised and dimpled, yet bursting with flavor. The shelling English peas, the pods opening with a crack, and the smooth peas lined up like soldiers inside, were so delicious I could eat hundreds raw. And the produce was cheap as chips.

But for me all of this inspiration for to simplicity. If I learned anything from being raised in California, it is that when food is in season: bright and flavorful, you don’t have to do much with it in order to make a miraculous meal. It seems almost ridiculous to show you what I made for lunch the first day back in NYC. But a trip to the market, some careful selecting, and this is what I had:

A little bite of bruschetta (well several, it was my lunchtime). I bought an ear of corn which was flash sauteed in a bit of olive oil. Juicy beefsteak tomatoes were seeded and coarsely chopped. Some freshly torn basil, a grinding of pepper, a good dose of salt, and a drizzle of green olive oil, and there I had it. Mounded high on slices of grilled baguette, lunch was served.

I made this bruschetta in New York. And staring out my living room window, at the feathery green tree tops, peeking out of Central Park just a few blocks away, munching on my lovely bruschetta, I realized that I just needed a trip to California to make me realize that summer is here.