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The changing of the seasons here in Michigan has been doing its thing in recent months without much ado from me. Typically I get all wound up in it, embracing and letting go with deep emotion, as if the seasons were my children, flowering and then moving on without me.
Iโm sort of surprised, and sorry in a way, to think that summer left and I didnโt really mind. Thatโs unheard of in my canon of life: you donโt just let summer go without a tear. You donโt do it.
Maybe thatโs because it was unseasonably cool this year. More likely itโs because Iโve been way too busy for my own good, my head down in the books (just one book, my own) and moving and etc etc etc. Iโm a long way from the life of solitude and cooking and writing that has made up the better part of the last few years, which is just fine because Iโm doing the things I want to do (like this and this, and then thereโs a house project Iโll tell you about)โbut busy is a card I hate to pull even slightly, knowing that, well, everybody is too busy.
The hectic, though, has kept me from taking and sharing as many photos as I normally do (I promise, Postcards from Up North will make a come-back!).
And since thatโs become my way of really entering into and loving my place, wherever that may be but especially Up North, not doing it makes me feel as though something isnโt quite right, as though Iโm not properly giving homage to the seasons.
Despite me, the fall color in Michigan has offered her annual blaze of reds and yellows against our evergreens, and now, just as theyโre headed out, Iโm standing in the door with their coat, refusing to let them go. Theyโre going whether I give them the coat or not, turns out, so all I can do is head back inside to reminisce about their loveliness with my photos from recent years.
Iโm also holding on to the color from my kitchen, where I keep making cucumber yogurt salad and this incredibly good, crunchy, chunky Lebanese salad with all of our favorite flavors (tomato, cucumber, lemon, mint) and then some (feta, avocado). The tomatoes are small and good and they give me another kind of blaze of reds and yellows against green, one I can keep deliciously close all the way until next fall, when thereโll be many new photos taken, and much ado about it all.
Lebanese Avocado Salad
Ingredients
- 4 persian or pickling cucumbers
- 1 quart cherry tomatoes, multi-colored
- 1 avocado, firm-ripe
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- 10 mint leaves, cut in chiffonade or torn in small pieces
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 oz feta cheese, crumbled
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
Instructions
- Cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise, then into 1/2-inch chunks. Slice all of the cherry tomatoes in half.
- To cut the avocado, cut it in half lengthwise. Firmly stick the blade of a paring knife into the pit, then turn and remove the pit with the knife, pulling the pit off the knife once removed. Cut the avocado in each half-cup crosswise and lengthwise into 1/2-inch squares. Use a medium-sized spoon the remove the cut avocado flesh.
- In a medium serving bowl, dress the cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado and scallions with the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper (no need to mix the vinaigrette first; just add the ingredients directly to the salad). Toss the salad gently, top it with the mint leaves and feta, and serve immediately or chill, covered, before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Makes 8 servings
Such stunning and vibrant photos! Thanks for the recipe and happy Thursday, Maureen ๐
One hell of a good diverse Lebanese colorful season’s food
so very very lovely in every way-thank you Maureen
Hi Maureen – my mother-in-law taught me to make a feta and tomato salad on my first trip to Lebanon 21 years ago, and it is my kids’ favorite thing even now. They will love this variation. Hers is crumbled feta topped with chopped onion (Vidalia is especially yummy), then generously sprinkled with sumac and black pepper, and a little dried oregano, then topped with chopped tomatoes and a healthy drizzling of olive oil. It’s the first thing my son asks for when he comes home from college. Love your blog!
You take beautiful photos. What gorgeous foliage! I always thought of this as a summer salad, but it looks so delicious that I might have to break that rule.
Outstanding as we are in our mid summer. Thanks