This morning I enjoyed a wonderful breakfast with my dad. He made Scotch oats with cinnamon, milled flaxseed and craisins, spicy V-8, Bing cherries and thick sliced bacon. (Hey, in reasonable quantities, bacon isn’t an enemy. Plus, we’re talking Wright’s bacon here. A slice or two in a month isn’t going to undo all of the good things I eat.) Daddy and I are both cherry fiends – we will eat them until we are literally sick. Cherries, prunes, dates and watermelon are traps for both of us.

Dad said that he had taken a bag of cherries to one of his work sites; but, the people there didn’t eat them. They eat apples, plums, peaches, and bananas. They might eat a pear every now and then, but the only cherries they eat are on top of a banana split. This restarted a conversation from several days ago about people with very limited vegetable menus. How many people do we all know who eat green beans, corn, white potatoes, maybe some yellow squash, and maybe some broccoli? They are missing out on the bounty of produce available! There is so much wonderful stuff out there to try!

Years ago, my son and I ate lunch at P.F Changs on our way to pick  up our Christmas tree. He ordered some kind of Singapore street noodle thing (I think) that neither of us liked. He apologized all over himself for ordering something he couldn’t eat since the meal was kind of a special occasion. I reminded him that if you never try new things, you never know how much you really like. As a result, his menu is broader even than mine! He will try anything once and, more often than not, likes it. (By the way, never share a bucket of mussels with him. He doesn’t really share.)

Some time ago, I challenged all of us to find and try something new. I think it’s about time for that challenge again. It is, after all, summer time and fresh produce is rolling in from all directions. If we can’t find an actual new item (like kohlrabi for me), let’s try preparing an old standard a new way. Grill it, roast it, steam it or serve it with simpler seasoning. Instead of boiling your yellow squash, dice it up, sauté it, and put it in  scrambled eggs. Bake a grapefruit half with a little brown sugar and serve it for dessert.

Let’s all shake up our menus and let the bounty of what’s available to us nourish our bodies and feed our spirits.