Happy (?) Summer Solstice

Yes, at 8:26 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, the sun hit its highest point at 23-1/2 degrees north latitude. Whee. I once read that if you stand anywhere on that imaginary line on June at noon, you will not see your shadow. Likewise, on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, if you stand on the equator at noon, the sun will not cast a shadow. I'm a little grumpy because it's supposed to be in the 90s for the next few days, and who wants to cook in such heat, especially in an un-air conditioned apartment? On the other hand, it'll be easy to find affordable organic berries. Nothing says summer like totally awesome organic fruit.

I bought tons of veggies at Whole Foods today, and I got a lovely berry mix that always hits the spot. I toss berries on my soy ice cream or eat them alone. I'm especially fond of blueberries, little purply globes of delight. I'm waiting for smaller containers of strawberries, as I can only eat so much at a time, but there were organic strawberries available. And maybe in a week or two, I'll get some peaches.

I got some corn and some grape tomatoes, perfect for making a raw salad. I've made it before, and it's pretty good, but I used too much onion (or not enough corn and tomato). All you need to do is scrape kernels of cobs of corn, cut up some tomatoes, toss in some chopped onions, some fresh basil, and some fresh mint, then let it sit for about an hour. Next week, I'm going to a raw foods demo at Whole Foods and will hopefully get a few easy recipes that don't need more than a knife and a food processor. I also heard of a raw foods "cookbook" that's supposed to be easy recipes for one or two, and I absolutely want that. It's on my Amazon wish list so if anyone wants to get it for my birthday next month...just kidding.

By the way, if you're concerned about pesticides--and you should be--the Environmental Working Group has compiled a list of which fruits and veggies have the most pesticide residue and which ones have the least. Unfortunatly, the link no longer works, but when my newspaper printed the information a couple of years ago, I clipped it and I carry it in my purse. Here's a list of which ones you absolutely should buy organic:

Apples
Bell peppers
Celery
Cherries
Imported grapes
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Potatoes
Red Raspberries
Spinach
Strawberries

These foods have the least residue:

Asparagus
Avocados
Bananas
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Sweet corn
Kiwi
Mangoes
Onions
Papaya
Pineapples
Sweet peas

But buy organic bananas anyway because the workers who pick nonorganic bananas have severe pesticide exposure. If it's not availble fresh (say five or six months from now), frozen is okay. Those luscious fruit bars I made a few weeks ago call for frozen fruit. And even if you do eat conventional produce from the first list, they still have far less pesticide residue than meat or dairy.