That being said, I am not above this behavior. We’ve had some beautiful days weeks past (we even reached EIGHTY! WOO!) which inspired the return of this quick and fresh lemon mint melon salad to enjoy in the sun.

I threw this together for Easter Sunday and had everybody over for brunch out back. Melon, mint, lemon, and love. I want it every warm day.

Cooling watermelon and honeydew Parisiennes are tossed with a sweet simple syrup, lemon, and mint dressing.

Ingredients
1 small watermelon
1/2 small honeydew
1/4 c. sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 T chopped mint
1/4 c. boiling water

Tools
Large Parisienne scoop (melon baller)

Directions
Using your large parisienne scoop,  spoon out uniform pearls from watermelon and honeydew. Prepare your dressing by dissolving sugar in boiling water to make a simple syrup. Add lemon juice, zest, and mint to simple syrup. Drain melon juice from your bowl that has accumulated. Toss melon parisiennes with dressing. Serve and enjoy! So simple!

And when you’re done, make sure to tell the sun to show itself in SF more often so we can eat this frequently. Thanks.

“Attends!” (wait!) I cried.
“You want zeese old tsings?” she asked.
“Bien sûr,” (of course) I replied.

I grabbed the nut cracker and started on the mound of walnuts in the corner, remembering to peel away the tough membrane in the middle. An hour and a half later, sweet wafts of caramel floating through the kitchen, I pulled out a loaf of banana walnut bread.

“C’est quoi?” (what is it?) she asked.
“It’s banana bread!” I explained.

She and the children each took a slice.

“Mais non, c’est un gâteau à la banane,” (no, it’s a banana cake) she decided.

After that day, I found more brown bananas in the basket than we’d ever had before.

And that’s how I made Gâteau à la Banane 10 times in 8 weeks when I lived in France.

Ingredients
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
4 bananas, very ripe, mashed
4 tablespoons crème fraîche
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
optional- 4 T golden flax seeds

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Cream sugar and eggs together with a whisk until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. In a separate bowl, combine bananas, crème fraîche, and vanilla. Mash until smooth. Slowly drizzle oil into creamed eggs and sugar. Combine wet ingredients. Fold in dry ingredients, nuts, and seeds. Pour into a parchment lined loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, or when a toothpick comes out clean.