Appetizing

The last peach from our tree and a store-bought pear, sliced and wrapped with an interesting ham I found last time I went shopping. This ham was rubbed with rosemary, then thinly sliced, almost as thinly as the prosciutto I usually wrap around fruit in this kind of appetizer.

Simple, easy and we enjoyed the rosemary addition to an old favorite.

Evolution

The first of many fresh fruit platters we will enjoy this summer, we collected the makings for this one on our way home from Monterey at farm stands along the way. This is our favorite summer dessert, a selection of the best seasonal fruits simply washed and arranged on a plate - they need no embellishment. At this halcyon time in the year, you can find ripe Bing cherries, strawberries and white peaches all at the same time.

The cherries are firm and richly flavored, paired on their long, lime green stems. The peaches are honey-sweet and beautiful - we even enjoy the gently fuzzy skins. The strawberries anchor the plate with their fragrant, seedy bounty.

As the summer evolves, the peaches and cherries will be replaced by other fruits but in California the strawberries are the stalwarts - they will continue to give us richly scented fruits until the end of October, as each different variety becomes ripe.

But that first plate full of goodness is always special, a small celebration of the start of summer.

Puff, the Magic Pastry

After all these years of cooking and baking, I had never before tried puff pastry. It always seemed too complicated to make from scratch and for some reason I just never tried the packaged kind.

I am a convert of the packaged kind.

Having discovered a recipe for an easy rustic pear tart in Sunset magazine last month and having one last lovely fresh pear from Casa Rancho in the fridge, I thought I'd finally break down and try puff pastry from the freezer case.

Sadly, my sentimental favorite, Pepperidge Farm, has gone to using (ick) margarine in their puff pastry so instead I plumped for DuFour brand, new to me but made with real butter. I rolled it out, lined up lovely pear slices on it, brushed with melted Meyer lemon marmalade (the original recipe called for orange marmalade), brushed the edges with egg wash, sprinkled it with just a little turbinado sugar, popped it in the oven and, alakazam! - a beautiful pear tart. Drizzled with creme fraiche.

And forgot to photograph it before it vanished into thin air - presto!

What's a blogger to do? Of course, I made another the very next day, this time with mixed fruits - the last Gravenstein apple from Chilebrown, a nice ripe nectarine and some strawberries - and this one was just as delicious as the all-pear version.

Puff pastry is kitchen magic and I'm a newly initiated wizard.

Trifling with Tradition

Having never tasted the traditional English dessert, trifle, and having a surfeit of ripe fruit on hand, I thought I might try to make one. When I started reading recipes online, however, I discovered that a key ingredient is a custard, something My Beloved is not really fond of, so instead I improvised.

I halved some store-bought lady fingers and alternated them with slices of ripe nectarine, filled the middle with raspberries and topped it off with a few strawberries.

I still needed a creamy something so I dove back into the fridge for my half carton of creme fraiche, doctored it up with the juice of half a lemon, a few drops of vanilla essence and a tiny bit of sugar, then drizzled it all over the fruit and down the lady fingers.

MB's eyes lit up.

The Sweet Season

Recently, I went to the farmer's market over in Marin, dodging giant SUVs and baby strollers to bring home a bounty of fresh fruit.

First, the strawberries and now, in a delicious parade, the cherries, raspberries and nectarines. These were white nectarines, dripping with flavor and so unbelievably sweet. All I did was slice them into a bowl, add a few raspberries and cherries for My Beloved who loves variety and plunked them on the table. Later, I'll feel jaded enough to make them into something but, for now, we are simply relishing the return of the sweet season.