Wow, It's Hot!

We set all sorts of records for heat this week in Bellingham--the highest high and the highest low temps ever. That is a tough thing to experience in a region that isn't known for its high temperatures and where few homes have air conditioners. But this week has been a definite exception to the general rule that it seldom gets really hot. Oh, it can get warm here, but generally B'hamsters usually start whining when the temp gets up to about 80 for any length of time (and that isn't usually longer than a few days a summer). So things got pretty outrageous around here when the temperature soared to 100 degrees yesterday afternoon. It'd been in the 90's for several days before that and will be for another couple more. Despite these torturous temps B'hamsters are taking it mostly in stride. The parks near our rivers and lakes were packed. The pool at our swim and racket club was as well. The stores were devoid of fans and wall air conditioners.

It has become a bit of a game to share ideas for how to stay cool on Facebook and other social sites. I shared my favorite which I discovered worked very well when we were touring China a few summers ago. It was soooo hot and I simply don't do well at all in the heat. There were few opportunities to escape it besides our tour bus and the hotel room. So I took to wetting a hand towel with the coldest water I could find, then rolling it up and draping it across my neck. I was absolutely amazed at the difference it made. I became much easier to live with and genuinely felt several degrees cooler. I re-soaked the towel every chance I could. I would drink most of a bottle of ice cold water and carefully pour the rest over my towel to re-energize its cooling ability.

For Leslie and I, the past several days have found us in our swim and racket club's pool along with a few other neighbors and kids. Early mornings the pool is pretty empty and good for swimming laps. Afternoons are more like a block party which isn't bad either since most everyone is respectful of others space and gets along fine. The kids frolick in the shallow end and the older folks sort of wallow in the deep end moving a little to and fro but mostly just static, trying to cool down. The temp is supposed to be on its way down though it will still be 92 today. The most important thing is that the night time temperature will get back down into the 60's again which at least allows for a more comfortable nights sleep.

The upside of the higher temps has been that my tomatoes have really been loving the heat. I have never had ripe tomatoes in my garden in July. I have already picked a half dozen delicious tomatoes over the past few days. Oh, man are they delicious. It isn't hard to figure out what to do with them. We bought the fixins for caprese salads at the farmer's market on Saturday and have been enjoying those for lunch the last few days. Is there a person alive who still doesn't know how to prepare these delicious summertime treats? Well, here is the recipe for anyone who might have missed it.
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Caprese Salad

1 vine ripened tomato
1 or 2 Bocachelli mozzarella cheese balls
a sprig of fresh basil
Kalamata olives
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
salt and pepper

Cut thick slices of tomato and place on a plate. Place slices of the mozzarella on top of the tomato slice followed by a large leaf of basil. Sprinkle with olive oil and salt and pepper. Place a few Kalamata olives on the plate if you have them. Of course the creative chef will see opportunities for adding and changing the ingredients with the availability of the ingredients but there you have it. The classic Caprese. Enjoy!
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Everything else in the garden is producing more and quicker. So what with the pool available and the garden exploding with produce I guess I really can't complain much about Mr. Sun. Still, I won't complain when the marine layer forces its way back ashore and drives our temps back down to into the more moderate 60's and 70's.