The problem(s) with summer

If you look for pictures of summer on Google Images the vast majority will be of some beautiful beach, palm trees, sunglasses and happy people in water. Well I guess it is holiday time. All over the world the long school holidays are in the summer. Well I don't know what they do in the tropics where the weather is basically the same all year. And if it's hot - or hotter for those in cooler climes than Oz - summer holidays generally mean the beach. And we used to do that. Not now. The beach is really just too hot. And the sand gets in everything. There may be cooling water, but the beach itself is very exposed. Oh for a pool.

But this is not what I intended to talk about. What I want to talk about is the effect of summer on this blog and on food.

As you can see it has been a week or so since I last posted. And I suspect that this is the time of year that the blog gets ignored. The problems - which I shall come to - are exacerbated this year by my sister staying with us for all of summer and by the upcoming wedding. Now I love having my sister stay but it does mean that I have less spare time. Not that I have been a very good host or tourist guide this year. Nevertheless visitors take up some time - time that one might have otherwise spent idly tapping away on the computer.

Every year though, summer - the post Christmas part of summer that is - is for me a busy time. Although again - hopefully - this will be the last year. This is because the busyness comes from my other leisure activity - film society stuff. I am responsible for their website and newsletter and the website has to be more or less rebuilt at the beginning of each year. It takes time. As does the newsletter. As does planning for the year ahead. And this is the main reason I have neglected this blog of late. Too many things I have to do, which take up brain energy and leave me unable to write anything meaningful or interesting. Prime example - this rant. But I'm resigning at the end of this year so this problem will disappear.

And it's hot. Tomorrow we are told it is going to be 4o degrees at least. The weather forecasts vary (why is that - surely they all get their info from the same source?), but somewhere around 40. Our house does stay a lot cooler than that, but it is very hot today too and so it is likely that the house tomorrow will not be that cool either. So off to the shopping centre I will go. When it's hot, hot, hot one has no energy to think brilliant thoughts, and one's only thought is to escape - which takes you away from the computer.

Then there's the problem of cooking. On a hot day my husband really doesn't want me to cook at all, not that he is going to take me out for a sumptuous meal somewhere. He certainly doesn't want me to use the oven. And so I have to think of something quick and non heat making. Yes I know - salad. But as I have said before it is really not my favourite thing. Maybe I'll save that for tomorrow although we are promised a cool change mid afternoon so I might not need to be super cool for dinner.

Today I have some leftover chicken in the fridge, so I might make a quick pasta sauce with that. Mind you then we face the other problem of summer - food that goes off. Yes I have a fridge and a freezer and mostly it copes, but nevertheless I guess one has to be careful and rather more vigilant. I should check the chicken because otherwise I shall have to think of something else. A risotto perhaps. Twenty minutes or so with the stove on is about the most one can reasonably aim for on a hot day I think. I did ponder on hamburgers too. They only take a moment and they almost qualify as salad. Not barbecued though - there is a total fire ban.

Then there's the problem of availability - a decreasing one today because of greenhouse farms and of quick and easy transport from overseas. I can remember learning in my geography lessons at school that fruit such as strawberries could not be imported because it was perishable and would be uneatable on arrival. These were the days when it would take almost 36 hours to get to Australia and large scale refrigeration was not available. Today things such as fish get snap frozen on the boat as soon as they are caught, and strawberries are available all year round anyway from greenhouses. Food is definitely becoming less seasonal, but still there is a certain amount of seasonality, and whilst there is an abundance of fruit available in summer, it seems to me that vegetables are somewhat more restricted. I know people think summer means tomatoes, eggplants, peppers etc. but really they are much more abundant in autumn. And lettuce goes up in price - as do basics such as onions and potatoes.

So apologies for the lack of posts. Apologies for the dearth of ideas. No that's not quite right. I have some ideas but no energy to 'research' them. Hence this rant - for which apologies. Just letting you know I haven't quite given up yet.

Summer, as you can tell is not my favourite season. And I haven't mentioned fear of fires and lack of exercise.