NorCal Summer Treats

Having lived in five different states in the last ten years, it's hard to not compare them and imagine the ideal climate.

Oklahoma, too hot. Alaska, too smoky. California?

Well, here's the thing. Being of northern blood, I find that 65F is plenty warm. I'm not constantly bathed in a moist layer of sweat and I don't have to run the air conditioning (I do need the heat a couple hours in the morning so I don't freeze to death in the shower). From a runner's perspective, the annual temperature variation from winter to summer is a mere 10 degrees, hovering between 50 to 60F highs every day of the year, is perfect. Sure there are exceptions, but the highest temperature ever recorded in July was 85F. That's pretty darn awesome.


A drier summer forced nearly all the slugs out of my garden. When we bought the house, we were immediately taken by the mature landscaping and the fertile, fenced in garden. Just a few months of diligent weed control in between the winter rains, and we had the perfect soil.

Right now, we get about this much each day from a 20 x 40 garden:


Yummy stir fry using only our garden veggies :


Established strawberry plants have been giving us a quart every other day. When we were looking at the house, strange bushes were planted along the perimeter of our deck. Never having seen domesticated blueberries before, I didn't believe Matt until they produced fruit. Our four foot tall bushes look nothing like the knee-high wild Alaskan blueberry plants.

I've become spoiled by all these berries. The bushes are ever-bearing, so they produce just enough for Matt and I to enjoy each day. I've gotten used to having this for breakfast :

1/2 c. greek yogurt
blueberries
strawberries
a sprinkle of homemade granola
(occasionally) drizzling it with Matt's homemade chocolate sauce
(I have this with chocolate when I'm eating it instead of ice cream!)