My Summer of Food

Deconstructed salad nicoise, somewhere near Detroit.

Kid’s night dinner.

Father’s Day Bloody Mary, Viroqua, Wisconsin.

Cooking for friends, Viroqua, Wisconsin.

All local summer dinner in the backyard.

Cooking over a campground fire, Indiana Dunes State Park.

Sunday afternoon picnic, Liz’s new house in Logan Square.

Jim and Nick’s Bar-B-Q in Birmingham, Alabama. I asked for catfish with barbecue sauce, and the waiter told me that nobody did that. I ate it that way anyway. “What do you mean, you don’t eat meat?” he asked, genuinely not understanding.

Fried green tomatoes at the Fish Market, also in Birmingham, Alabama. In the background is Sweetwater Pale Ale, from Atlanta, Georgia. You can also see a pitcher of sweet tea in the top left corner.

Shrimp and grits, green beans and John’s slaw at the Fish Market, also in Birmingham, Alabama. The slaw is plain cabbage. To eat, you squeeze John’s slaw dressing, the color and consistency, but not the taste, of French dressing, all over it.