Late Flavors of Summer

Having just caught the tail-end of heirloom season, David and I have been having plenty of heirloom tomatoes as of late...

My first taste was Wednesday night, when David made heirloom tomato sandwiches, served simply with mayonnaise and a pinch of sea salt. (delicious, but they still didn't compare to the purple ones we'd found a few years prior at the Columbia Farmers' Market) We also had plums, some tasty Irish cheese I'd picked up at Fine Fare and a lovely bottle of sparkling Burgundy from PJ Wine.

At PJ's, I patiently pored over the selections before finally deciding upon Jaillance, Crémant de Bourgogne, Brut (mostly for its A.O.C.) which proved to be a winner. (somewhat surprising, at $12.97)

It had a nice, resonant pop upon pulling the cork and aggressive bubbles in the glass (which I'm actually not a fan of). The wine didn't carry much of an aroma, but where it won was with its creaminess in your mouth and a fine, elegant acid to roll back over your tongue. I'll certainly buy this one again.

Thursday night was time for a long overdue reunion with my good friend, Cynthia. We met at Lure where bartender Laura supplied us both with never-ending glasses of Schramsberg while Cynthia scrolled over pastry chef, Katie's dessert menu and picked out the triple berry sorbet. I usually don't care for sorbets, but in this one, you could really taste the fruit in it--it was like Katie had just returned, earlier that day, from the farmers' market!

Friday night, David decided the weather had cooled off enough to make fried green tomatoes without turning into a sweltering mess. But first, we started with tuna pizza which I had brought home from work, gratis.

It's quite possibly my favorite pizza we serve (another is our black truffle pizza) and quite tasty with fresh ginger, wasabi-mayonnaise and topped with carrots, daikon radishes and black sesame seeds. (it's best when served fresh though; it was a touch lack-luster, having eaten it hours later)

David's fried (heirloom) tomatoes, coated in flour, cornmeal and a touch of seasonings, were delicious, as is. For our final course we had the last of the blueberries we'd previously picked up at the farmers' market, with a dash of vanilla bean infused simple syrup from Dean & Deluca, and the rest of the Irish cheese.

Sadly, summer is nearly over, but at least there are heirloom tomatoes (and David's return) to soften the blow...