Happy Summer Everyone (At least it seems like it)!

After a brutal winter and a short, yet still allergy inducing spring, it looks like summer is finally on its way. While summer may conjure up such images as swimming pools and beaches, baseball games, or steaming hot subway stations, I tend to anticipate summer more from a foodie/New York native's perspective. It is in this glorious season when the Coquito men (and women) and the Piragueros start selling their delicious icy treats, white vans and fruit stands start cropping up on the side of the roads, and finally (and perhaps most deliciously) summer produce starts its season.

(Delicious frozen piraguas. If you've never had one, you're missing out. Photo credit: Jordan Lee Rivera)

While summer produce may not seem as exciting as the aforementioned frozen delights, I have to admit that it is a topic that I am always enthusiastic about. Now I must confess: I did not inherit the family green thumb and I would much rather cook and eat vegetables than grow them. But nothing makes me more appreciative of nature and the beauty of creation than taking a bite out of a surprisingly sweet, sun ripened tomato picked right off the vine (In case I haven't said it, thanks Mom, for gardening).

The same is true for summer strawberries. I often tell whoever is in earshot that I would willingly and gladly fast from strawberries for the rest of the year, if only to experience their juicy goodness the way nature intended them to be. I've been disappointed with watery, tasteless strawberries far too many times from the fall through the spring to pretend that they do the job, anyway.

See! Look how beautiful they are. Amazing.

So tell me, what are some of your favorite summer foods (and why)?