My Summertime List

I see so many lists in the summertime --  best beaches, best resorts, best restaurants, best shopping.

  Here is my list of the things I want to be doing in August to stay cool, happy, and inspired.

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This is what I want to be eating

Michael Chiarello's Late Summer Bruschetta

 Pasta with Pesto, Pinenuts, and Peas;  Heirloom tomatoes;  Grilled Steak

Cooked recently by myself and a friend for the Hollywood Bowl

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This is what I want to be drinking

Chilled chardonnay from my friend Bill Sweat's winery in Oregon.

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This is where I want to be dining

On the patio in the back yard

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This is what I want to be buying at the farmers market

Heirloom tomatoes and gorgeous peaches

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This is what I want to be using on my table

Placemats bought in New York in June

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This is what I want to be doing

Going to old-fashioned bake sales like this one for "Share Our Strength"

Visiting vegetable gardens in the neighborhood

Finding ideas for the garden in nurseries like this one in the Hamptons

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This is what I want to be reading

Anne Zimmerman's new book on M.F.K. Fisher

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This is what I want to be hearing

Music under the stars at the Hollywood Bowl

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This is what I love (!)  to be seeing

The front door of my daughter's house when she and her husband have us over for dinner

I hope your summer is filled with simple pleasures that you savor throughout the month of August.  Before we know it September will be here, the pace will quicken, and we will all be rushing around.  Hopefully we are making a lot of memories that we can call upon when fall is here to slow our pace and bring us back down to earth.