I don’t have a strong appetite most of the time anyway, and in the hot and humid weather of Virginia’s summers I lose my appetite completely. (There are two great terms for this in Japanese, incidentally: mushi-atsui means “hot, humid weather,” and natsu-bate (pronounced nah-tsu-bah-teh) means “summer burn out;” the Japanese had me all figured out.) Finding ways to take light, hydrating foods like cucumber and watermelon, and keep them appealing and interesting after weeks of heat goes a LONG way to keeping me fed. In that regard, these kinds of recipes are a real boon for me!

Kathy: welcome home from Denmark! Can we look forward to reading about any Danish foods from your trip at StartCooking?

We will definitely make sure we coordinate with you in the fall, and we’re really looking forward to seeing you and David.

I loved the StartCooking post about cooking with melons. I remember those square watermelons from Japan, which back in the early 90′s would sell for as much as $60 each. People buy them to give as a VERY high prestige gift, and because they are so expensive, everyone is afraid to eat them! So they get re-gifted (which is perfectly kosher in Japan) up to about 6 times; then they typically sit for awhile on someone’s grandma’s butsudan, the household Buddhist altar, and once it has done its time as an altar offering, the lucky household finally gets to eat it!

I was a guest of a friend-of-a-friend at a barbecue on a private island in Japan once, where the unfathomably rich hosts brought several huge watermelons, all perfectly round, and put them in the sand for the children to bust open with big sticks like pinatas! It would be almost like using a Fabergé Egg as a pinata–I almost had heart failure! They also grilled LIVE seafood on the barbecue–it was all a little exotic and over the top for my mundane peasant aesthetics!

And here’s another watermelon recipe that both of you might be able to appreciate, from the deli at Ellwood Thompson, the really wonderful indie natural foods market in Richmond:

Red White and Blue Summer Salad

1. Cut watermelon in cubes.
2. Peel and cut jicama root in strips.
3. Wash and stem blueberries.
4. Combine in roughly equal proportions or to taste, and serve.

It looks gorgeous, the combination of flavours tastes surprisingly good (and interesting!), and it might even pass Ian’s Watermelon Purity Standard ™.

Plus, if you’re entertaining on the 4th of July, or any other red-white-and-blue themed event, it is a great way to achieve a challenging colour combination, too.

And don’t worry: no matter how high-falutin’ watermelon gets, I will always be up for seed spitting contests!

Watermelon seems to be turning up in all sorts of unusual places. Recently I tried it with feta cheese and fresh basil and it was a delicious combination. The bite of lobster served over a thin square slice of watermelon with a few drops of Pernod was to die for! I think it is time for the watermelon to be elevated from just picnic food status, to a very versatile fruit! (Of course that would probably mean no seed spitting contests!) :)