Make this right now: fresh peach salsa

Oh my god, you guys (by which I mean my five readers. Hi!) - it's peach season in southern Ontario, and we Eastern Ontarians are lucky enough to get access to baskets full of the things. If you can catch them on the right day, they are eat-over-the-sink ripe, sweet and juicy. In fact, that's exactly what Chris and I did when we got home from work today.

But the problem with buying a basket is that they all ripen at approximately the same second, and if you wait too long they all turn to mush. That's where this recipe comes in so handy. If you know your way around a kitchen and vegetable prep, a batch of this salsa should only take you twenty minutes to whip up - and then you get to mow down on a bowl of it with a big handful of tortilla chips (not that I just did that or anything). I beg you, if you have peaches in your vicinity, go make this. It's one of the nicest things I've ever done to a peach.

Fresh Peach Salsa
Makes approx. 3 cups

4 large ripe peaches (I used freestone)
4 large ripe beefsteak or salad tomatoes
1 large scallion, chopped
1 big handful fresh cilantro (could sub half mint half basil if cilantro tastes of soap to you)
1/4 tsp garlic powder (or a minced clove of garlic if you can handle the raw stuff, I cannot)
1/4 tsp cayenne (to taste)
1/4 tsp espelette pepper
salt and fresh lime juice to taste

Have a large bowl of ice water ready. Boil a medium pot of water on the stove. Cut an x into the bottoms of the peaches and tomatoes. Drop peaches and tomatoes into boiling water two or three at a time; blanch one minute, then remove to ice water. This should make them extremely easy to peel.

Once peeled, halve peaches and remove pits; core tomatoes. Dice both into cubes and dump into food processor bowl. Wash and chop the cilantro and scallion, add to fo-pro bowl along with remaining ingredients. Pulse until salsa is minced the way you like it. You can leave it in large chunks too and it would work nicely as a fish or chicken topping. (Pulsing it makes it easier to scoop up with chips.)

Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Devour with chips of your choosing. Revel in the awesomeness that is late summer in Ontario.

A trip to Northern Europe

Chris and I have just returned from an utterly delightful two-week vacation in Finland, Sweden and Estonia. We are fortunate to have friends who live in Helsinki who generously invited us to come and visit them, and we took that opportunity to also see a little of the surrounding areas. All told, we had about a week in Helsinki, four days in Estonia (in and around Tallinn, the capital) and three days in Stockholm, Sweden.

Not only did we see many beautiful places and enjoy the company of our friends, but we also ate very well. Our friends are serious foodies and fed us beautifully in their home (gorgeously prepared whitefish, roast duck breasts, and tiramisu were some of the many highlights) and we also ate in several top-notch restos in Helsinki.

The pinnacle was certainly Olo, a Michelin-starred restaurant where we experienced our first blind tasting menu. Nine courses were served, supplemented with four amuses-bouches and a dessert treat presented with the bill (which itself was spectacular, of course). I won't list off all of what we ate here, and I refused to take photos, preferring to enjoy the experience in the moment, but some of the highlights were a beet and goat cheese dish where the items included beet pannacotta and frozen goat cheese, complemented gorgeously with raspberry meringues. Beets and raspberries - surprisingly perfect partners. We also had an incredible plate of pike-perch cooked two ways (poached and fried) and a meat course that included sweetbreads, veal shin and beef tongue all perfectly cooked. I discovered that I do not care for sweetbreads (for shame, I call myself a foodie?) but my friend was happy to receive my morsel, so all was well.

After Olo, the most interesting meal was our final lunch in Helsinki before leaving - three delightful courses at Gaijin, a pan-Asian spot run by a locally famous chef. I began with two ssam-style lettuce wraps enclosing a morsel of gorgeously braised and glazed pork belly, pickled cucumber, mushroom, scallion and togarashi mayo. I could have eaten ten of those with delight and gusto. However, the main course of roasted and wok-fried eggplant and choi sum in a miso and black vinegar broth won the prize for best thing on anyone's plate that day. The broth was so richly and deeply flavoured and the eggplant so tender and melting that we all kept dipping our spoons into the family-style bowl. Even our friends' pork shoulder and kimchi hot pot paled by comparison. A tiny but rich chocolate cake set off with mandarin sorbet and lime cream was a fantastic end to the meal.

We also had lovely sashimi, gorgeously seared scallops, top-notch tempura and tuna tartare at Domo, on our first night in Helsinki.  Fish was a resounding theme throughout the trip, and one of the most fun things we ate was a plateful of tiny whole vendice fish (like whitebait or sardines) fried in rye flour and eaten outdoors at the waterfront market.

In Stockholm, we ate fairly simply, as prices there are astronomical for the simplest things. However, we did eat some beautifully prepared mussels and frites at Akkurat, a Belgian style pub in Sodermalm, and a terrific Turkish meal including a gorgeous mezes plate at Aya Sofya in SoFo (the hipster 'hood South of Folkungsgatan on Sodermalm island). Our last night in Stockholm we decided to have traditional Swedish food at the "Bakfickan" ("hip pocket", or small side project of a larger resto) of the Opera Bar. Chris got his meatballs with lingonberries, pickled cucumbers and buttery mash, while I enjoyed a plate of cured salmon and dill creamed new potatoes. We shared crayfish toast for a starter and all of it was extremely good.

Estonia was also home to some delicious tidbits. At Kompressor in the old town of Tallinn we had pancakes the size of platters, folded like crepes around fillings of meat and cheese, washed down with excellent local cider. And at the feudal estate of Palmse, near the Baltic coast, we had delicious soups, salmon tartare and chocolate cakes overlooking a duck pond and manicured gardens.

All in all, it was a holiday fit for a gourmand such as myself, and now I am craving salads and vegetables and grilled chicken, but I know that won't last. I shall remember, and build an appetite for when we return to this beautiful and truly interesting part of the world.

Mini-vacation report: Burlington, VT

Be warned in advance; I took almost no food photos on this trip because I was having such a good time. I do have a photo of the delicious jumbo shrimp I ate on the last night, but you've all seen shrimp on a bed of ice before, so I don't think I really need to post it. I'll let you know where to imagine the shrimp, OK?

So: now that we've dispensed with the formalities and everyone who only reads foodblogs with lots of photos has sloped off to check Smitten Kitchen or the Pioneer Woman, I will tell you all about the delicious food we ate in Vermont this past weekend and where you can get some of said food.

We were in Burlington from Thursday night until Sunday afternoon with our friends from Boston - it's an excellent meet-halfway point and a cute college town to boot. We stayed at the Lang House on Main Street, which is an excellent B&B Inn that we loved the last time we went. I'd venture to say we loved it even more this time because we managed to score the two rooms situated in their renovated Carriage House at the back of the property, so we had the place to ourselves and could make a bit more noise than we otherwise might have. We also had our own dedicated tea-making station, and a staffer brought a thermal carafe of coffee out to us at 7 a.m. the first morning. We let them know that no one really drank coffee so they wouldn't waste it on us, but it was thoughtful.

The breakfasts at the Lang House are a huge deal. You begin with a tiny baked good of some kind - we had three breakfasts there, and on two days it was a wonderful mini-scone; on the middle day, a warm zucchini-walnut muffin. This is followed by your choice of three mains: one is always housemade granola with yoguert and fruit; one is a savoury egg option; the third is a sweet option like waffles, pancakes, or french toast. I had the savoury option the first two days: Friday, a potato-squash hash topped with fried eggs, ham on the side; and Saturday, a huge and utterly delicious breakfast burrito with eggs, black beans and cheese, alongside guac and salsa. Sunday I had the challah french toast with bacon, and it too was mouthwatering. Other items included cornmeal waffles, berry pancakes, and an onion-dill popover filled with cheesy scrambled eggs.

Obviously, we didn't need to eat huge lunches, so we stuck with burritos and salads on two of the days and saved our appetites for dinner. The first night we arrived past 9 p.m. so we simply went for cocktails and snacks at the Daily Planet, a restaurant we've loved in the past. I had a very nice tuna tostada that comprised small cubes of raw tuna and a cabbage slaw atop crispy corm shells with guac on the side.

On Friday night we tried a new place, the Farmhouse Tap and Grill. It was buzzing all evening, and they don't take reservations, so we waited, but fortunately it's just off Church Street, which is filled with shops that stay open late, so we wandered and occasionally checked in with the restaurant until a table was available for us. It was worth the wait - the food was yummy and the service impeccable and friendly. I had a turkey burger that could have used a bit more seasoning and maybe a little more dark meat (the patty was dry) but was topped with good gouda, yummy cramberry chutney and perfectly caramelized onions alongside divine french fries, dark golden brown and crispy.

Chris had his mind blown by the house meatloaf with mushroom gravy and mashed potatoes. He also had some very good ice cream for dessert, while I tried the maple bread pudding with pumpkin caramel sauce. It was good, but a bit finely-textured (almost custardy) and not served hot, which I prefer. The resto specializes in beers but had a nice draught cider from upstate New York called Original Sin that I enjoyed immensely.

One of the best things about the Farmhouse, though, was the low noise levels despite a full and busy room. They have taken a number of sound-dampening measures including fabric-covered walls and acoustic ceiling panels, and apparently they even have sound-absorbing stuff stapled to the bottom of all the chairs!

On Saturday night we splurged on a really lovely meal at another new-ish resto, Church and Main. This was much more upscale bistro-style food, in a pretty (and only sliiiiiightly pretentious) atmosphere. I found our waiter a bit cool and distant, but the rest of the staff were wonderful, and the bartender knows her stuff.

I started with five delicious and perfectly cooked chilled jumbo shrimp on ice from the raw bar (here's where you imagine the photo!) while Chris had the cauliflower cream soup, which was perfectly balanced - not too sweet, salty, creamy, grainy or bitter. Yum.

His main was lobster and mascarpone risotto - again, not too heavy or creamy, very nice restraint - while I enjoyed the ale-braised beef short rib with cheddar grits and broccoli rabe. The meat was cooked perfectly and gorgeously flavoured, but the entire dish needed to be much hotter - it was served nearly room temperature, which was unkind to the grits in particular.

My friend D and I splashed out on a really, really good bottle of Chateuneuf-du-Pape (his latest obsession) and while it's not something I would do often, it was wonderful with the meat.

Desserts were a standout as well - my pumpkin-date cake with brown butter frosting was a generous-but-not-huge portion of moist, flavourful cake, with a tiny scoop of cinnamon ice cream and a fresh cherry coulis. Chris's coconut cream tartlet was pronounced a huge hit, as was D's pear-cranberry cobbler. J had some of that cinnamon ice cream and called it the best example of it she'd ever eaten.

Our farewell Sunday lunch was at the Burlington branch of American Flatbread - excellent wood-oven pizza I've written about many times on this blog. It lived up to the usual standards. I should also mention the apple cider doughnuts at Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury, which were some of the best doughnuts I have ever tried.

Bottom line: Vermont is a great place to eat, and I think everyone should try it. I know we'll be back again and again, because it's also a great place to hang out, shop, drive around and look at pretty things.