Because where have all the good memes gone? Indeed.
1. What is your favorite part of summer?
You know that part, at the beginning, where the whole thing stretches out before you like summer will never end, and you’ll get all the things done, and where it’s 75 degrees and sunny? Yeah, that part.
2. What’s your favorite quintessentially summer food? Least favorite?
Most favorite? Lebanese tomato salad. This involves: garlic (ideally crushed with mortar and pestle, but diced very very fine can work, too), lemon juice, olive oil, lovely home-grown tomatoes, and mint. Seriously: it’s more than the sum of its parts. Least favorite? Watermelon. I maybe like it once a year if it’s sweet and if it doesn’t have seeds. Generally, though, I am not a fan of watermelon.
3. Best beverage to beat the summer heat:
Seriously? Water.
4. Least favorite/most annoying thing related to summer?
Mosquitoes. Also, the smell of a citronella candle. Yes, I realize that my hates are paradoxical.
5. Pick one: the lake /the beach. Why?
I am from Cleveland, Ohio and I do not understand this question. When you’re from a place with a great lake, your freaking lakes have beaches. I also don’t understand this question because where I live now, I prefer a pool for my day-to-day sun and water needs. More convenient, and less related to brown disgusting water.
6. Most amusing summer vacation trip you’ve ever taken?
Lebanon!
7. Most ridiculous/cringe-inducing/blush-provoking summer outfit you have seen? (Bonus points if you yourself were wearing it!)
Dude: shorts that show people’s butt-cheeks. Just, no. FAVORITE summer outfit is anything involving the color that Chelsea Handler terms “summer whore.” Except butt-cheeks shorts.
8. Your absolute dream summer afternoon would be:
Oh, goodness. Well, the first thing that occurred to me is actually a nap on my porch. The awesome thing about this is that I can have that any time I want.
I live on an island – yes, the UK is actually several islands – so I went to the sea a lot. When I worked in Canadia and went to our ‘local’ Great Lake on trips ‘to the beach’, lord, what a letdown! It LOOKED like a beach, sure, but there were no proper tides to tidy it up twice a day, it didn’t smell of anything fresh and salty and iodiney (just the odd dead thing), and the combination of beach-like visual (water to the horizon etc.) with the lack of the other sensory inputs actually kind of freaked me out. Amazing what early training does to the responses…
I thought I was the only one who hates watermelon!
In what tone or range is Summer Whore? I don’t think I’ve ever heard that term. But hellz to the yes on the butt-cheek shorts. Even if you’ve got great butt-cheeks, I really don’t want to see them.
Also: jorts. And watermelon (and all summer melons, really) are scientifically proved to make your butt-cheeks look better.
H’Ann – “Summer Whore” is a hot pink color that only appears in summer, but it does appear every single summer. Here’s a great example: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-62kPQXS4-zs/TcBy6LFQCvI/AAAAAAAAAWg/ckC43UDgI9E/s1600/blake-lively-at-2009-cfda.jpg I love it because it is a color that I wear very well. I also enjoy wearing things that are tangerine-y, in the summer time.
Also, it’s worth noting that I enjoy cantaloupe and honeydew. I think my problem with watermelon comes down to a) seeds and b) texture. The graininess of it just doesn’t do it for me.
Jane B – it is totally a childhood acculturation thing. In general, people who haven’t grown up with the Great Lakes find swimming in them disgusting, whereas if you are born near one you are raised to think of the murky waters as one of the most awesome parts of summer. Also, FWIW, some spots do have decent tides, but from what I recall it depends on where you are along the lake… More than there not being tides I think the problem with Lake Erie in particular is the lack of real waves 90 percent of the time.
Thanks for the education on Summer Whore. I kind of dig it, too! (Although I don’t wear it.)
Water??? That’s the best you can do for a beverage? ;P
I often read and enjoy this blog, though I never leave comments. However, I feel a pressing need to inform you that Ann Curry was wearing Summer Whore on the Today Show this morning.
I am afraid to google “butt-cheek shorts”.
It feels very appropriate that “summer whore” is my favorite color!!
I’m with you on watermelon. I don’t hate, but I never buy it, and rarely eat it. I’ve never understood why people were so excited by it. But other melons, with normal texture and actual flavor, yum.