Summer Hours
dinner-plate dahlias, blueberry sundae, summer cookie box, August viewing and reading suggestions, donut peaches = fuzzy peaches
Here are some micro-utopias for the early, slow days of August:
Blueberry Sundae
I love creamy fruit ice creams and blueberry has been my favourite so far this summer (although it may be replaced once I make peach). Above is a sundae with the last of my blueberry ice cream topped with ripe peaches and cream and toasted buckwheat groats. I put toasted buckwheat on both salads and yogurt and now I can also recommend it as a sundae topping. The colours of this sundae were also very good for the mood.
Summer Cookie Box
There’s a line in Sandra Doller’s Leave Your Body Behind that reads “Enjoy your summer. Have a cookie.” I take these instructions seriously every summer (any season, really.)
Last August I made a couple of cookie boxes to bring to my mom and aunt (cookie boxes are not just for the holidays). These summer boxes had homemade fig newtons and almond butter cookie sandwiches (and a ripe apricot in each for some colour). The fig cookies (basically homemade fig newtons) come from the Chez Panisse Fruit book and the toasted almond butter cookies come from The Greens Cook Book by Deborah Madison. Some of the almond cookies got turned into sandwiches with strawberry jam, some left on their own.
Dinner Plate-Sized Dahlias and Marigold Season
In spring I love the dinner-plate-sized peonies but as we get deeper into summer I look forward to the giant dahlias and marigolds. The other day, in need of a mood lift, I walked to my favourite flower store and picked up these fuchsia dahlias. Red dahlias symbolize strength and pink symbolize kindness and beauty, so these ones must be a combination of all three.
Three perfect summer films
Summer Hours, 2008
Olivier Assayas is one of my favourite directors and Summer Hours is my favourite film of his. Taking place in the French countryside the film deals with what happens to family memories and valuables once Hélène, the matriarch of the family, dies. I love how elegant the tone is (starting from the opening credits and score) and the focus on art and objects throughout (the film was produced by Musée d'Orsay).
Watch if you like: movies concerned with art and fine objects, the French countryside, Juliette Binoche, pitch perfect ensemble casts, soothing classical scores, outdoor dining, glass bubble vases and tea sets, silver trays that are like the imprint of a leaf.
Janet Planet, 2023
I was so eager to see playwright Annie Baker’s directorial debt Janet Planet (I ended up buying it the second it was available on iTunes since it didn’t come to theatres in Canada - at least now I can revisit it anytime :) ).
Watch if you like: running through American malls of the early nineties, sun-drenched colours, oversized t-shirts, extremely cute kids, Julianne Nicholson, rural Massachusetts in the summer.
Summertime, 1955
Another favourite is David Lean’s Summertime starring Katharine Hepburn. This I watch anytime of year, but it is undeniably a high summer film and a beautiful technicolour escape to Venice.
Watch if you like: red glass goblets, Italian antiques, beautiful wardrobes, gloves and full skirts, monochromatic dressing, gardenias, doomed love affairs, the expression ‘okeydokey’.
Reading
I recently reconnected with a friend who recommended I read Griffin Dunne’s new memoir The Friday Afternoon Club. I’m enjoying it very much so far - gossipy and very well written and exactly what I feel like reading at the moment.
Other August reading suggestions: Lives of the Saints by Nancy Lemann, Latecomers by Anita Brookner, Speedboat by Renata Adler (classic), August Blue, Hot Milk and Swimming Home by Deborah Levy, Plant Dreaming Deep by May Sarton, Cigarettes by Harry Matthews, The Waves by Virginia Woolf, Fierce Attachments by Vivian Gornick…
Donut Peaches
The other night after dinner, my friend’s four-year-old was distributing slices of cold donut peaches from a mug and I had forgotten how much they taste of fuzzy peach candy. Perfect meal finisher.
Thank you for reading and Happy August <3
Pauline at the Beach plate of fruit postscript
I love Summertime movie. The first time I watched it I ended up rewatching twice again in quick succession. Also love the photo of the gingham and peaches.