bright and cheery summer salads to eat during a thunderstorm

i'm super lucky to have my laura (and her always entertaining partner ryan) here! we're having a great time doing and sharing items and places of cultural importance.  for the 4th of july, team USA decided to show the swissies what we do for the 4th of july: have a barbecue at the park (with fireworks).  this was a huge cultural hurdle for our swiss friends.  after all,  the swiss, for their independence day on august 1st, have a barbecue at the park (with fireworks).

the fireworks were lacking (which suits me fine because after living in china, well, ive had enough fireworks to last me a lifetime), but mother nature provided a dazzling light show in the summer sky which i found much more rewarding.  as we all gathered at the park, a storm was gathering itself together as well.  we saw the foreboding clouds as we were walking to the park...  gorgeous!

here it comes!

while the grill was warming up, laura and ryan took advantage of the winds to fly a kite!

i threw some peaches on for salad number 1, a delightful combination of greens, grilled peaches, and mozzarella.

peaches!

the first time i made this salad was for my mom, and the poor woman instantly became hooked.

rest assured, the salad is easy to put together.  when i made it for mom, i used buffalo mozzarella, because it was on sale, but regular ol' mozzarella is still tasty.

assemble your salad greens as desired, throw in grilled peaches, add sliced mozzarella, and done! 

the salad dressing is a combination of balsamic vinegar, mustard of choice, and honey to taste, with a healthy blob of crème fraîche (greek yogurt would be super delicious as well).

laura prepared a potato salad, swiss style (she got the basic recipe from christian's mom), and i made another pot of beans in addition to the salads.

potato salad with corn and chives

my other salad was inspired by what we had laying about: 1 cucumber. and since im a huge fan of quinoa, i decided to throw those two items together.  i mixed in some fresh mint from the balcony, some chopped parsley, and added a good swig of rice vinegar.   laura looked at the salad and said, "hey, why not throw in these apricots?" and i said, ooooOOOoooo, yes.  and i'm glad she made that suggestion.  the salad went from awesome to super! awesome!

laura and i watched the storm approach and very cleverly packed up all that we could, save what was on the barbecue, and waited. we had barely gotten things grilled (the carnivors made a pile of sausage) and on a plate when the skies opened up...

we ran to the covered boat dock not far from where we were situated and continued our picnic, along with others seeking shelter.

dining by candlelight 

lightning storms are amazing here, and especially over the lake.  we had front row seats to a dazzling light show.

bon appétit <3

we are full of (vegetarian BBQ) beans

we got married!

on the shores of Lac Léman. (photo by nicola pravato)

...which means international visitors, lots of laughter, lots of sharing, and not a lot of time for writing. rest assured, the folks are being fed well. in fact yesterday, we had a monster barbecue at my in-laws house. and the evening before that? we were at an enchanting private pond of a friend, catching fish to throw on the giant schwenker-like grill.

 for that occasion, i made some delightfully easy and tasty bbq beans and a melon and feta and cucumber salad.  the swissies arent big on beans, so it was an occasion to share something tasty and cultural.  now, i shouldacouldawoulda made my own bbq sauce for the beans, and i didnt--they were inspired by a jar of store bought bbq sauce i could not resist.  it was one of those "wait a minute, im not used to seeing that here" moments complete with swirling strings and a halo of light.  this also happened once when i found root beer in the beer section.

normally, i would also advocate soaking dried beans overnight, but sometimes we dont always have the brain juice to remember such things.    with everything we've been juggling the last month, well, i just used canned beans.
as always, i dont have exact measurements.

1 onion 3 cans cannellini beans
about 3/4 cup of tomato paste (it comes in a tube here, so i just used my toothpaste skills and squeezed as much out as i could)
about 1/4 cup bbq sauce (i probably used a little more)
1/3 cup-ish coveted brown sugar from US (moooooooleaaaasses)
a few good shakes of ground cloves
maybe a cup of water?

i sautéd the onions with some olive oil, added the paste and bbq sauce, and swirled those things around a bit.  then i added the beans and then water, a little at a time, and added the cloves.  then the pot simmered for hours.  and the result? YUM-O
we had to sample it the next morning, the day of the fishing trip, just to make sure we didnt accidentally make poison.  i wanted to make it the night before so the flavours would be ka-POW zam WOW! and they delivered.

beans, fried eggs, veggie sausage

at the pond, we warmed the beans in a fondue pot over the open flame.

my husband and the laura 

i was tempted to steal my pot and run off with the beans and my two team USA buddies--all these beans are belong to us! well, maybe the swiss mister too.  after all, he chopped the onion.

bon appétit <3