SpiceLines

How do you cook black-eyed peas?

Right about now I hear a distant snickering, especially from some of you who grew up in the South…

Just to let you know, during my Texas childhood I spent many sweaty summer hours at the kitchen table, sipping ice tea and shelling black-eyed peas under Aurora’s watchful eye. Occasionally I’d sneak a few into my mouth, savoring the green leguminous flavor and squishiness of the naked pea. And I loved eating them for supper, when they appeared in a white bowl, khaki-colored, butter-soft and swimming in rich, savory juice.

But I missed the cooking part.

Fresh vegetables, flavored with spices and herbs from the garden and
pickled overnight in the refrigerator, add fireworks to a Fourth of July
celebration.

The pepper-crusted pork shoulder, smoked over hickory since early morning, is roasting slowly in the oven. The pickles are on the plate and the prosecco is chilling…here’s how we’ll be celebrating in just a few hours: Happy Independence Day!

Fourth of July Menu

Kevin’s Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder with Spicy Homemade Barbecue Sauce

Fresh Pickle Plate: Baby Beets with Mint and Orange Zest, Pearl Onions with Thyme, Hot Dilled Beans with Garlic and Jalapeno, Lemon Cucumbers with Citrus Herbs

Grilled Potato Salad with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette

Grilled Japanese Eggplant with Miso

Heirloom Tomatoes with Avocado

Katherine Hepburn’s Brownies with Whipped Cream

Pink Prosecco with Peaches

Fireworks and the Boston Pops

I’ve been in the air a lot lately—Spain, Boston, Texas—and soon I’ll head to Maine.

That means a weighty carry-on, stuffed with books--give me real pages to turn any time—plus little bags of walnuts and candied ginger, a tiny vial of Fracas and a cashmere shawl for cocooning.

I have just one criteria for reading aloft—the book has to transport me to another place, far far away from hungover seatmates, stale air and hours of turbulence. Tibet, London, China, the Amazon…I’ll go anywhere, as long as it’s not in the here and now.

Camden harbor on a sunny day: The Mercantile, a two-masted schooner built in 1916, once
served as a cargo vessel. It is now a National Historic Landmark and cruises along the Maine shore.

My idea of a dream vacation: lobster everyday. At $7 a pound, it was almost a throwback to
the time when the crustacean was so abundant it was considered junk food. We ate these sweet, succulent 1-1/4 pounders with saffron and shallot butter sauce.