Lake Tahoe is my favorite place in the whole entire world.  But most especially in the summertime.  There is nothing more comforting than driving into Tahoe City and catching the first glimpse of the tranquil azure lake as the smell of sundrenched pines fill the evening air. 

Every year, I start calendaring getaways well before the snow has started to melt away.  My boyfriend and I pack his parent’s lake house with our closest friends, and spend the weekend tanning on the boat, shooting guns at Blackwood Canyon, devouring Sunnyside zucchini sticks, and imbibing far too many Chambers punches. 

Somehow, during all of the mayhem, we find time to cook together.  The undomestics in the group are on the wine and cocktail committee, while the braver among us get to show off our culinary moxie.  The result is sometimes delicious, usually messy, and always fun.

On one of these cooking occasions, my friend Daniel insisted on making a grilled corn salad with bacon.  I was annoyed because I planned to serve my delicate filet mignon tacos, which do not pair well with pig fat maize. 

Despite my apprehension, the salad was fantastic.  In fact, it was so good that I made it again the very next night.  The combination of charred corn, fresh avocado, and sweet tomatoes rise to a new level of mouth-watering bliss with the addition of crunchy bits of salty bacon.  Zucchini sticks better watch out, there’s a new snack in town.  xx tt

recipe BOX: Summer Corn Salad adapted from The Automata

Ingredients  

·  4 ears of white corn 

·  Pint of cherry tomatoes

·  2 lemons

·  2 avocados

·  ½ pound bacon (substitute sunflower seeds if you are a vegetarian/vegan)

·  1 tablespoon olive oil

·  Salt + Pepper to taste

·  Aluminum foil

Instructions 

·  Preheat the grill

·  Discard husks from corn and rinse

·  Role each corn in aluminum foil

·  Grill for twenty minutes, turning half way through

·  Take off grill, and unwrap from foil to cool

·  Cut each corn in half, and then using a sharp knife cut the kernels off cob and place in a large bowl 

·  Peel, pit, and dice avocados

·  Slice tomatoes in half

·  Add tomatoes and avocado to the large bowl

·  Cook bacon (either in the microwave/oven/skillet),and set aside to cool

·  Chop bacon and add it the large bowl

·  Juice the lemons

·  Add lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to the large bowl and mix together

·  Serve warm

FINISHING TOUCHES

t+t STYLE: take a piece of Sunnyside home with you, and sport this rustic-chic chapeau perennially

                             

t+t TOYS: be sure to add a 1939 Chris-Craft Sportsman to your birthday wishlist, I guarantee that the corn salad will taste ten times better when consumed on an antique boat…