Agua Fresca

Watermelon agua fresca at Joe's Taco Lounge. Worth it for the wonderful pink color alone, but it was delicious and wonderfully thirst-quenching, too, after a long hike. Goes great with Mexican food.

Shame on me never to have before tried any of the aguas frescas! I'm a convert now.

Fraîchement

Along with my plate of sausage, paté and cheese at The Left Bank came this drink, a watermelon and cucumber "fraîchement" in a tall glass. Although I had never heard the term before, and secretly thought it a little self-consciously frou-frou French, it really did refresh and it's a drink I will try to make at home if the weather ever turns truly summery.

The pink is watermelon, puréed, I suspect, in a blender and the green is cucumber chunks suspended in the pink. Perhaps they added some of the cucumber innards to the purée, because the taste was subtly there amongst the watermelon. There was a very slight fizz to the drink, too, as if it had been blended with some soda water.

Lovely stuff. I'm inspired to try making fruit drinks from all this wonderful summer fruit that is flooding the markets. Even if I don't call them fraîchements.

Bragging to Belgium

About a week ago, cousin Jan had a visit from her pal Judi. Judi lives in Belgium, so she's no stranger to good food - I have heard that tiny Belgium has more Michelin stars than the whole of France. Because we wanted to show her that California has pretty good chow, too, we met them at Greystone for lunch.

Sitting on the terrace in the shade on a warm, Napa Valley afternoon with a light breeze from the vineyards tickling our ankles, we had a lunch to remember. Flights of wine were passed around for trying. Forkfuls of delectables were shared and commented upon. Stories were told. Desserts were shared to much oohing and aahing.

Here's the salad I chose - two colors of sweet watermelon, small cubes of tangy ricotta salata, crisped prosciutto and water cress with slices of lightly pickled red onion. Something I could easily make at home and will, too, now that I know how very nice watermelon can be in a summer salad.

Bring it on, Belgium!