By Teri Cayton
The Parsons Advocate
Summer is upon us once again and I am glad to see some sunshine after all the smoky haze we have had from the Canadian wildfires. My sinuses are happy about that too. If you don’t have sinus problems you cannot understand what that stuff does to your head. OMG!!! Momma Said, “It makes you feel like you are going to drown in your own snot and mucus.”
I think the air quality is getting so bad that people who never suffered from allergies and sinusitis are now living in my world. I have had problems with sensitivities to smells my whole life. I think I was some sort of dog in a former life because I can smell things that other people can’t. Or catch a whiff of something long before anyone else can smell it. Momma Said, “My favorite (NOT) is road-kill skunk.” Yuck times ten.
I do love the smell of fresh cut grass in the hayfields. It takes me back to my childhood. Hot summer days running through the tall grass before it is cut and then helping to put it in the barn after it is cut and dried. The neighbor paid us 50 cents an hour for helping in the field and barn. I loved it then and I still loved it years later when I was doing it for myself.
I miss the simple days and that special smell of summer. I can’t put a finger on it but if you could bottle sunshine, fresh washed laundry dried on a clothesline and fresh mowed grass that would be it. The air freshener they have out today that is called fresh linen doesn’t even come close. I bet the people that invented that smell has never smelled clean sheets coming off the line after being dried in the sun. Momma Said, “Bah Humbug.”
OLIVE SALSA:
- 1 CLOVE garlic
- 1 CUP pitted black olives
- 1 CUP pitted green olives
- ½ CUP roasted red peppers
- 2 TABLESPOONS capers rinsed
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 2 TABLESPOONS olive oil
- 2 TEASPOONS red wine vinegar
- ½ TEASPOON dried oregano
- PINCH crushed red pepper flakes optional
- 2 TABLESPOONS chopped fresh parsley
Use a food chopper to chop the ingredients, starting with the clove of garlic first. Then add the olives, red pepper and capers to the chopper and pulse until the mixture is rough chopped. Stir in the chopped celery and remaining ingredients and let the salsa sit for an hour.