Zinc Details

I visited my folks in San Francisco about a while back, and found this great china set at Zinc Details. Swoon, swoon, swoon. Love the classic blue and white, love the graffiti, love the ice cream truck.
They also carried a very wide array of Marimekko, including these mugs, out of which I would be perfectly happy to drink my coffee each and every morning.

Easy-Peasy

We live in a phenomenally small apartment, so cooking during the summer is akin to turning on the heater. On high. Thus, meals that can be prepared without the use of the stove, or meals that can be cooked in the toaster oven are summer musts in this household. Here is one of my favorite, favorite, favorite foods with a little twist that requires no source of heat to be turned on in the house. Remember, foods taste best when made with local and/or organic ingredients!

Smoky Gazpacho

Ingredients:
1 16oz. can of stewed tomatoes
1 16oz. can of fire-roasted stewed tomatoes (if you can't find these, you can always roast them in your oven a la Sr. Bittman, although this means that the whole "keeping your apartment cool" thing is negated)
1 each green, yellow, and orange bell peppers, diced
1 cucumber, cored and diced
about 2c of diced tomatoes
1/2 vidalia onion
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped, plus stems for garnish
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 limes
dash of chipoltle pepper
salt and pepper, to taste.

Yogurt or sour cream

Directions:
Using your blender or food processor, puree together the 2 cans of tomatoes, along with the included juice. Stir in the peppers, onion, tomato, cilantro, and cucumber. Juice the limes, and add the juice. Add the chipoltle pepper, salt and pepper to taste. Chill. Serve topped with yogurt or sour cream and topped with cilantro. Preferably with quesadillas that were made in the toaster oven. Enjoy!