The Best Summer Food

The best summer food in North Carolina comes from the Miller's house. Yes, other people have cookouts. And Lauri's grilled Salmon is a close second, but eating Mary Miller's cooking always used to be one of my favorite treats. She would make the fruit and vegetables on the outside grill. I know in most people's minds a cookout is hamburgers and hotdogs, but I always thought her fruit and vegetables won the contest. I used to go over there and occasionally eat with their family. Life though has moved on. I went back to work and my schedule became more hectic. The Millers were no longer dinner partners.

During the years I have had other good summer food. Who could ever turn down a juicy watermelon, or a properly grilled hamburger? There is a tie for the best hamburger. My stepbrother Paul makes a great burger, covered in fried onions and green peppers. He used to make them when he came to visit his relatives in North Carolina. The outside was charred but the inside was not overcooked. My current neighbor also makes a killer hamburger. According to him, he pours butter over it. Again the outside is charred and the inside is perfectly cooked. My hamburgers never taste like either of theirs. I am thinking maybe I should buy the correct ingredients, and try to reproduce Paul's hamburger. He always seemed so surprised when I asked him to cook it. It takes skill to cook a hamburger right.

This summer I feel myself craving a Peru Mango. Not an easy desire to fulfill. Because of course, I would need to go to Peru to eat it. I've been wondering if the Westen United States would have mangos as juicy as they are in Peru. I believe they are grown in Mexico as well. They would not need to be shipped very far to reach Texas or Arizona

In North Carolina, I do not eat mangos. Although I wonder if the grill would bring out the flavor of the sad Eastcoast fruit. It definitely brings out the flavor of other fruits. I think it was a pineapple that Mary Miller used to prepare on the grill.

In the United States, most merchants are trying to produce the new hit fruit juice drinks to quench our summer thirsts. Both Starbucks and Dunkin donuts have their own new flavors. And then of course there are the bubba drinks, with bubba pearls that squash in your mouth. They are refreshing. Everyone is trying to reproduce the juiciness of tropical fruit. It is hard to beat the real thing. But Americans on the east coast will keep searching for that refreshing summer drink. Most franchise restaurants will have their own mango, pineapple, or strawberry drinks to bid for the United States summer customers.

The thing that makes me cry is some Americans will go to a Starbucks in Mexico to search for their refreshment. Who would buy a fake fruit drink, when you are in Mexico and can bite into the real juicy tropical fruit. Who would even want an American manufactured drink when you are visiting another country and can have that country's real thing.

The only locally grown tropical fruit I have ever had was when I was in Peru. Anna said it was a Mango. But she was not sure of the variety.

If I ever get to Mexico or South America again, I will definitely try more of their fresh fruit. That Peru Mango is certainly the most refreshing summer food I have ever had. Of course, I would need to go to the market and try every variety they have.

Well I am getting hungry. My favorite summer food is about to be what ever I have in my refrigerator