Part of the reason I love living in Indiana is because of the four seasons and the taste each season brings. If you’ve never set out on your back porch or patio with a saltshaker and ate a tomato, I’m not sure you have really lived. There is nothing quite like eating a tomato like an apple, with the juices running everywhere. If you’re not a tomato fan, then grab a slab of watermelon and you can experience the same basic pleasure. You can even put a dash of salt on it if it suits your fancy. Mary and I always anticipate summer, especially the end of July through September when we make it a weekly ritual to pick up a half dozen ears of corn from a farmer just east of town. They’re picked daily, along with tomatoes and cucumbers, and set on an old wagon. No better dinner than a slab of butter, a little salt and fresh corn on the cob, a few sliced tomatoes, some cucumbers in vinegar, and a little cottage cheese or a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.
As good as summer is, fall may be even better. We’ve already had a few cool nights and Jake and Ris have got us started on one of our fall traditions, s’mores. I’m not the biggest fan, but the rest of the family can’t get enough of a gooey marshmallow and some melted chocolate, setting on a graham cracker. Again, I’d say you haven’t’ really lived if you haven’t licked some sticky, gooey, s’more off a finger or two. Fall brings incredible colors, and as the trees begin to turn, it’s a sure sign that it’s time for some fall favorites. Every year our church held a chili cookoff, it was the biggest event of the year. Nothing said fall like the Coffey Grounds, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, hot apple cider, hot chocolate, thirty or forty varieties of chili, and a hayride. For us it also meant the start of soup season, one of my favorites, and a sign that winter was on its way.
With winter it, means soon snow will fly, and again a chance to experience another unique Indiana food, snow cream. It was one of our kids’ favorites. When the BIG storm comes, the snow is deep and still fresh, it means snow cream. My tradition is, that no matter how cold the temperature or how deep the snow, I go out in the back yard with no coat, short sleeves, and bare feet to scoop up some fresh snow. My reward? A little vanilla, a little sugar, and snow means lots of laughter and some ice cream you’re likely never get to experience if you live down south. Of course, you eventually get weary of the cold and snow and by April you’re ready for some warm weather and spring.
Spring brings an array of colorful flowers, mulberries, and blueberries. If you’re a golfer and you’ve never played a few holes of golf without purple dye on your fingertips, you missed a real treat. A tad sweet, a little sour, they provide just what you need around the seventh or eighth hole, especially if the golf ball isn’t going so straight. By the end of spring strawberries are ready to be picked. We head to Spencer’s You Pick where they let you eat as you pick. I think they lose money on us. It’s the one day of the year when my entire day food choice is one thing, strawberries. After they’re picked you know what’s next, strawberry shortcake, strawberry pie, or just strawberries and a little bit of chocolate and you are living in Indiana luxury.
I’m sure as some of you are reading this are saying, we’ll you haven’t tasted whatever it is in your neck of the woods, and you may be right, but you’ll be hard pressed to pull me away from Noblesville, Indiana and the four seasons of fine dining. I think I’ll grab the saltshaker and napkin, go outside on the patio, and enjoy a fresh picked tomato.
