My Best Idea

11 Jul 2014 20 Comments

by scolgin in Beverages, Recipes Tags: , , , , , ,

I remember watching a Ken Burns documentary series a few years back about the National Park system. It was called, “America’s Best Idea.”

I was thinking about this on a particularly hot Southern California summer afternoon, the desert winds blowing through the canyon and out to sea. It was stifling, I was thirsty… and then it came to me: My best idea!

Watermelon Aguarita

Watermelon Aguarita

It began with a half-eaten watermelon sitting on the kitchen counter. I was reminded of a post about watermelon agua fresca on my friend’s Jessica’s blog, Attempts in Domesticity. I pulled up her website, glanced at the instructions, and made myself a nice cold pinkish glass of watermelon agua fresca, which was just as refreshing as the post had suggested. More

Ancient Celtic Symbol Appears in Watermelon!

16 Apr 2013 7 Comments

by scolgin in Food, Humor Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

One of my favorite grocery store tabloid headlines ever, many years ago on the cover of the late, great Florida rag Weekly World News, said: “Lovestruck Farmer Weds Head of Lettuce.” Featured beneath the headline was a photo of the amorous agriculturalist with the object of his affection.

I must say I was a bit head-over-heels myself a couple days ago when I cut into a mini-watermelon to find an ancient Celtic symbol — the spiral, representing  life, death and rebirth.

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People always seem to be finding images of significant things in their food. The most popular subjects are usually religious — Jesus for example, or the Virgin Mary. More

Combating Watermelon Fatigue

26 Jul 2011 10 Comments

by scolgin in Recipes, Sensational Salads Tags: , , , , , , , ,

One of the best and worst parts of summer is the watermelon. Sure, everyone loves watermelon, and nothing says summer like a cold, sweet slice on a hot afternoon. That’s the good part. The bad part is that even the “mini” ones are larger than a child’s head. And the big ones are the melon equivalent of a Cruise America RV.

By some point into the summer — usually early to mid July — I begin suffering from watermelon fatigue. My kids insist on watermelon, so I buy the smallest one I can find. And then people begin showing up with them. More