Last week I watched the paint melt off the walls in my kitchen. It was that hot here in San Francisco. It won't surprise most of you to hear that during this heat wave I spent most of my time in the kitchen - with the oven (and all burners) blazing. My sister is seven months pregnant and Sunday I threw her a baby shower. Other than a spending a couple days in an overheated kitchen, pulling together the food was fun, and a welcome change for me. I mean, you see how I typically cook - for two (with lots of leftovers!). I made lots of different things for the party and it was tough for me to decide which recipe to share with you first. This macaroon cherry tart won out. For those of you who think tarts are too fussy - as far as tart-making is concerned, this is about as unfussy as they get.

The tart came about on a bit of whim. Cherries are flooding the markets here right now. I had a couple baskets of Brooks cherries on hand and decided to go for it. I grabbed for other ingredients in my immediate vicinity - coconut, eggs, a favorite sugar, and decided on a press-in-pan, coconut, too-lazy-to-roll-out, crust. For the effort that goes into making a tart like this (minimal), the payoff is excellent. I also love the way they look - but I suppose I am biased ;)...

For those of you who might be curious about some of the other plates that were served (you can see some of them in the photo up above):

- a big farro salad with citrus dressing and lots of springtime goodies.
- a new version of ravioli salad with a cilantro pesto and other tasty bits
- a big butter leaf salad with a a few crushed pistachios
- goat cheese garlic-rubbed crostini (similar to the one in SNC)
- special split yellow peas
- a big bowl of lemon-zested toasted pepitas
- big bowls of citrus wedges
- Mark (my beer-brewing, fantastic brother-in-law) grilled up a platter of lemon chicken skewers, and Wayne did the spicy-lemon tofu version for the vegetarians

Unfortunately, the heat wave has now passed. We're officially fogged in, and I'm sitting here bundled up in a sweater with a hood. If anyone sees the sun, could you send him back to SF for a few more days - perhaps dialed down just a touch? It would be much appreciated.