preview pinks

I have been working for a while now on a special quilt made of fabrics designed by Jessie Aller and made into a packet of fat quarters with one of her lovely color schemes. It is a few shades of pink and gray with a touch of black and white thrown in. I have been having so much fun working with this color way that I wouldn't have chosen myself. I am nearly done making the whole quilt but I want to save it for a final reveal in the very near future. The colors of the quilt and the darker pink I am using for the binding brought to mind another pretty color experience we have been enjoying during the HEAT wave.

hand quilting on the Jasmine Tea quilt is contrasting in rosy pink

Meanwhile I noticed that some of the colors are so much like the most delicious summer treat my partner Keith made us a few days ago Ukrainian summer Borscht. We went to the farmers market last week and I saw a  big box of fresh beets and thought to ask the farmer girl how she made them to eat. She told me to just boil them in water and peel them to slice on salad or to grill them in tin foil and put a little olive oil on them when serving them hot. Both sounded good. We tried a boiled sliced beet on salad the next evening and I can't say I was very excited about how that tasted. The weather has been really hot and we had three more beets boiled and peeled and a pot of beet red liquid in ready to go in the refrigerator. It reminded me of the old days in NYC's East Village when I was poor and ate in bargain priced Ukrainian restaurants often. They served cold borscht soup with a big dollop of sour cream and a sprig of fresh dill on hot summer nights that was so good I could have eaten it over and over again.  After that vision of my earlier delight is when I suggested to Keith he look for a recipe for cold borscht soup and ever since we have been eating the best cold summer soup. pictured here in a small cup all dressed up like the Ukrainians served it at Veselka on second Ave. Leshkos and Odessa on Avenue A. and a other fine ethnic diners in Alphabet city some of them now long gone.

Even Keith who says he hates beets was very excited to eat this cold summer soup. In doing research for this article I found a transcribed Allen Ginsberg recipe for a vegetarian cold summer borscht. He lived in Alphabet city back in the 1980's just like me and maybe next time I will try his version with a salad thrown in! So many ways to enjoy those purple red beets besides pickled. How do you like them cooked, I am curious what you do with your beets if you eat them. Leave me a comment to tell me about your favorite beet recipe or story.