Essence of Summer at Indian Lake

Tuesday 24 July

We drove up to see our friends Vaden and Ginger at their summer place on Indian Lake, a not-too-far-off part of Ohio, though we'd never been there before. It turned out to be idyllic, an archipelago of little islands strung together with bridges and lined with quasi-Venetian canals; but instead of palazzi, you have little cottages all along the edges. We enjoyed walking, boating, and even swimming among them, and we could see going back next year to take a census on which type of sculpture is more popular locally: the wooden Indian, or the wooden lighthouse.

Ginger and Vaden prepared us a perfect summer dinner, which went in stages. It started with fresh local corn, just boiled; the best we've eaten so far this year.
Then on to what I've started to think of as Ohio Ambrosia: fresh farm tomatoes, both yellow and red, cut up and salted in a bowl, so their juices come out; then some hot linguine is thrown into the bowl and stirred, and it's served with a scattering of basil on top.
Caesar salad came next, with eggs that not only had been coddled, but praised and told repeatedly how brave and pretty they were. And they were, too: these were Amish farm eggs, with yolks yellow as marigolds. The next day, we visited the farm, saw the contented chickens who produced them, and managed to spirit away a dozen for our own.
For dessert, Vaden baked a pound cake, also with the aforesaid eggs, so it was lovely and yellow. It went beautifully with her home-made lemon yogurt ice cream topped with candied lemon peel.
We ate out on the terrace, looking out over the water; and by the end of the meal, it was actually so cool that we had to get sweaters and go inside! That's paradise for two denizens of steamy Cincinnati, and we thank Vaden and Ginger for introducing us to it.