Remembering Summer's Peaches

When My Beloved is away on a business trip, I tend to eat things that require little or no preparation and can be eaten standing over the sink to save washing the dishes. It's not a pretty sight.

Toast or English muffins figure large in my solitary dinners. If I can't eat it comfortably over the sink, I find a good book, settle in to read while enjoying my simple dinner and barely taste what passes for a meal.

This time, however, I had an awakening - one might even say an epiphany - while munching my muffin. I had spread it with a little new-to-me McEvoy Ranch peach jam, and it was eye-openingly good. Not too sweet and richly peachy, it lifted the humble muffin out of the boring and into muffin stratosphere.

I have enjoyed their Meyer lemon marmalade and their olive oil is to die for so I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised by the excellence of the peach jam. They are located in Petaluma, too, so I can enjoy supporting local products. A taste of this jam brings back August memories of sweet, sunny peaches fresh from the tree now in dark February when we need them most.