Feasting for Days

When you live in the city shopping for food is an integrated element of daily life. Coffee is purchased at the cafe on Sunday mornings, sausage and cheese at the German deli two doors down from the bookstore and bread can be had from across the street. Once a week you may make a trip out of the neighborhood for the freshest mozzarella and some great produce or stop at the supermarket for a few things, but overall, food is something you pick up from here and there in the manner of hunter gatherers.

Well, on a scorching hot day, when the asphalt seems to heave and hiss down city streets, you won't see many gatherers out and about schlepping around a heavy haul from the supermarket, which is exactly why I had completely forgotten about the simple summer pleasure of watermelon. Watermelon with a crusty sprinkling of smoked sea salt to pink the sweetness is as fine a feast as any. After all, it is high in iron, (more than the leafy greens of spinach), high in zinc and other trace minerals, as well as a first rate source for Vitamins A & C and few things taste as fine that are so good for you.

So, in the cornucopian food shopping of country life, I've discovered the benefits of hauling in the bounty with a motorized vehicle. I still miss the German deli and the fresh mozzarella, but I've been feasting for days on watermelon and intend to ride out this heat wave doing very much the same.