Here’s to summer, to fresh ingredients, to simple meals that come together quickly. And here’s to summer reads! I hope you’ve found a few good ones for those beach days or backyard afternoons.

In an effort to simplify and downsize my life, I've begun going through my belongings. You know the drill. Saving this, chucking that. It's a process I haven't done to this extent in the entire six years I've lived in this house. Needless to say, I've accumulated a lot of crap. OK, it's not crap. Well, some of it is crap. But mostly it's just stuff that when push comes to shove (or when the day comes that I need to fit myself and my life into a much smaller space...), I can do without.