It's Saturday morning in late summer in California's Central Valley. It has been hotter than normal this year and another dry one resulting in wild fires up and down the state. The air is acrid, brown, and tastes of dust literally older than the hills. My son went for a bike ride and returned home with farmer's market delights and a surprise for me."Here Ma", he said with a twinkle in his voice, "Look what I got for you." I took the white plastic bag bulging with little lumps and bumps and peered inside..."Raw peanuts!!??" A rare find in this dry climate and a relic from my childhood summers in eastern North Carolina.
My Brother, sister and I often spent our summers with my mother's family in our home state spending a few weeks at each of her siblings homes until at the end we would go to cousins in Wilmington. As often as we could, in Wilmington we went to Wrightsville Beach and spent all day chasing the waves, digging for sand fiddlers, and eating boiled peanuts that were sold in little paper bags by strolling vendors on the crowded beach. The peanuts were boiled in sea water and tasted like the ocean, and eventually, like the beach itself as gritty sand would find its way from our fingers onto the outer shells.
Thank you, Chris...you know how to make your mama smile...now if we could just get some ocean water to boil these peanuts in and some sand to add to the mix.
My Brother, sister and I often spent our summers with my mother's family in our home state spending a few weeks at each of her siblings homes until at the end we would go to cousins in Wilmington. As often as we could, in Wilmington we went to Wrightsville Beach and spent all day chasing the waves, digging for sand fiddlers, and eating boiled peanuts that were sold in little paper bags by strolling vendors on the crowded beach. The peanuts were boiled in sea water and tasted like the ocean, and eventually, like the beach itself as gritty sand would find its way from our fingers onto the outer shells.
Thank you, Chris...you know how to make your mama smile...now if we could just get some ocean water to boil these peanuts in and some sand to add to the mix.
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