Good story, KYH! (and GREAT delivery!)

Yep- Garrison is a special man... His tales are so average- so every man/everyday.... but his intonation & inflection, his phrasing, his spaces of silence... He's a true talent, that's for sure!

One of my favs, since it's nearly the 4th of July, is "The Living Flag". If anyone finds one of his books on tape at the library or at a garage sale, give yourself a treat and listen to "The Living Flag" and if you can get through it without falling to the ground and rolling around like a Baptist speaking in tongues I'll mail you a quarter!

...although I do love a good story too.

With a summer glut of cukes I mix up a pitcher of cucumber water...slice 'em longwise, leaving out the seedy glop, and throw 'em in a big pitcher of ice water with some squeezed lime quarters and maybe a bunch of mint leaves.

Refreshing!

My favorite way to eat tomatoes is with fresh-picked basil, some fresh mozzarella, all drizzled with olive oil. Coarse salt and FG pepper. Yum!!!

Another way to enjoy cukes as a drink is with white gazpacho---basically a cold cucumber soup.

And, it goes without saying, that real gazpacho is one of the best ways to enjoy tomatoes.

For a fun small bite, combine the two. Make small cups by hollowing out short sections of cucumber (maybe 1 1/2"), and fill them with a sip of gaspacho.

Ahhh there are easy to prepare small bites;)

I am with KYH on eating the veggies straight away as soon as they are picked, if it were only myself many of my veggies would never darken the door to the kitchen! FRESH CORN OH MY, WARM TASTY TOMATOES OH ME OH MY!!! And forget about the strawberries, blueberries, and fruit it never stood a chance!! Asparagus, sugar snap peas, and.......................FRESH AND RAW IS BEST for my tatse buds YUMMY, and my body must crave the vitamins and nutritional value as it is very hard to resist not chowing it all down standing right there in the garden!!! O-o-o-weee

Actually, Cathy, there are lots of easy ones. The trick is to learn basic techniques, rather than recipes.

You remember when we were doing the what's for dinner threads? That every one of my menus included starters. They wouldn't have if producing small bites was all that difficult.

Those cucumber cups, for example. They can be filled with sips. Or with more substantial fillings. Why not smoked salmon with dill and creme fraiche, for instance. Or go a step further. Make the same sort of cups out of zucchini, steam them, and then fill with a couscous & lamb filling. Or.....

While I hate to say it, cuz I dislike the lady so strongly, Martha Stewart's Hors D'Oeuvres Handbook is the best book on the subject. In it she teaches you how to create bases and assemblages---which to my mind are more important than the recipes themselves, because they spark your own creativity.

Granted its a little out of date. But not enough to matter.

Here's one example. Martha shows you how to make breadboxes. These are nothing more nor less than 1-inch cubes of bread, toasted, and hollowed out. They then become packages for whatever you wish to stuff inside.

Sure, she has suggestions for fillings. But, once you have the technique down, the world is your oyster. Hmmmmmm? Speaking of which......