Emeryville. Eastern City Cafe has been in my sights for a long while now, but I am not a morning person, & this restaurant needed to be shot in the morning. Patience pays off. The baby blue station wagon was a gift from the photography gods.

My favorite local choreographer & dance company, Jo Kreiter & Flyaway, have been dancing on the Women’s Building. It’s so beautiful & amazing! Tonight are the last two performances: 8pm & 9:30pm. Go!

Eating green things:

Gnocchi & pesto at Encuentro!

Risi e bisi! Recipe from Ferry Plaza Farmers Market cookbook, peas from Swanton.

FOAF (Friend of a Friend) cucumber melon gazpacho! (Same free-association recipe improvisation method as FOAF salad, of course.)

(I know, kinda crappy photo. I’ll give you some nice waves at the end of the post to make up for it.)

I started with cucumber gazpacho in mind, but my recipe wanted lemon & I only had lime. Well, lime is friends with melon, & gazpacho is friends with cilantro & pepper, so…

Fill your blender jar with an assortment of peeled, seeded cucumbers, cut into chunks. I like to get a bunch of different kinds of cukes from different stands at the farmers market, but you could keep it simple & just use one kind.

Then pour in:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup water
1/8 cup white wine vinegar

Blend so the level goes down.

Add:
Lime juice; start with half a lime. You may want to add more later.
A very small, very mild pepper. By very small I mean not much bigger than a finger.
Couple sprigs of cilantro
Small pinch of cayenne
Salt & pepper
Melon, a couple of big scoops (with a regular soup spoon or tablespoon). I tried this with an Eel River melon from Full Belly & also with an Ambrosia melon; I suspect almost any melon would work. Will try Galia next.
(optional) Small clove garlic

Blend again, taste, & adjust as necessary. You are aiming for a balance of flavors that tastes good to you; it will not be great yet, until you give it several hours—preferably a whole day—in the fridge. See if you can detect just a little hint of the melon; it should not be a sweet soup. Then stick the whole thing in the fridge.

Next day, put it back on the blender & give it another go, just a few seconds, to re-blend anything that separated while it was sitting. Then garnish as you like, or not.

It’s finally really summer!