it's summertime

Summertime is grabbing me with its delights.  In my garden the hummingbirds make regular visits to the monarda, the butterflies flit from bloom to bloom on the butterfly bushes, while the daisies are content to smile pertly around corners and over the stone walls.

 A bounty of vegetables and fruits, ripe and irresistible, fill my refrigerator and counter tops. Cooking is simple and tastes like, well, summertime.

I want to mention a summertime dish that you really must try this summer; it certainly is a familiar dish for sure. Easy to assemble and prepare with just a few ingredients, so easy in fact that it seems like, "So-what", but please believe me when I say is so much better than it appears at first thought.

 Take a baguette, slice it and drizzle with olive oil and a few sprinkles of salt. Toast in a 400 degree oven for about 8-10 minutes (less depending on your oven). Then add fresh mozzarella cheese and a slice of tomato to each baguette. Roma rounds fit nicely, but you can cut and slice in half any tomato and it does not mater in the least. Once more drizzle with olive oil, grind some fresh black pepper and sprinkle salt over the tops. Then pop them into the oven and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Top with a fresh basil leaf after removing from the oven. I have also splashed some balsamic vinegar over these before eating them.
DELICIOUS!

Try some and please tell me what you think.

As far as other things happening this summer:
 I am almost finished knitting the market bag. I like how it is coming together, and I have not decided yet if I will give it away or keep it for myself. Sometimes I like to try using new things I have made  before giving them away, that allows me to make any possible alterations if needed.

Reading,  because what is summertime without reading after all:
 In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Champagne Butterfield
Left Neglected  by Lisa Genova