This has been one of those wonderful weekends in the heart of summer where we feast on the best our farmers and gardens have to offer for several meals straight. After receiving tomatoes and jalapeños from my mom’s garden, my pal Ray Bradley – the tomato master – finally had tons of heirloom tomatoes in full swing and was practically pushing the things on us at the greenmarket (to which I of course did not object). Other market highlights included a some beautiful eggplants, mussels and albacore tuna steaks from the fish monger, a crusty loaf of multigrain bread and some sweet, sweet fruit…

Aside: When we bit into the purple heart plums, Brad said, “these are the kind of plums that belong in a plum chocolate cake”. We might need to craft such a thing!

The kitchen garden out back is full of great herbs and I have trove of garlic, shallots and pearl onions from a recent trip to Bradley Farm. So stir it all together with a little olive oil and lemon and the weekend looked like this:

Friday Dinner: Grilled Bradley Farm Pork Chops with a side of roasted red pepper and caper orzo with feta and oregano.

Saturday Lunch (picnic at the beach): The roasted red peper and caper orzo as a salad. Heirloom tomato Caprese with fresh mozzarella, whole basil leaves and a drizzle of rich, sweet balsamic vinaigrette. Peaches, plums and blueberries.

Saturday Dinner: Mussels cooked in a tomato broth with shallots, fennel, and chili, served with crusty bread and a simple arugula salad.

Sunday Brunch: Goat cheese and chive scrambled eggs with sliced heirloom tomatoes, whole grain toast and cantaloupe.

Sunday Dinner: Grilled Albacore Tuna steaks with grilled eggplant “caponata” and a spoonful of basil pesto, grilled lemons squeezed over it all and a side of crusty bread.

The occasional apricot, plum, fists full of blueberries, nectarines plus one croissant from the bakery around the corner and several good coffees were had. It’s hot these days but life is good.