Recently I ran across an article on Filipino cooking where they talked about lumpia, the egg roll of the Philippines. The article talked about how Filipino cooking is dually inspired by both Spanish and Chinese cuisine, so Lumpia has the Spanish influence of garlic and onions sauteed in olive oil -  but they are packaged in a egg roll wrapper.

Of course the small flaw in the plan of cooking lumpia is the fact that – boy howdy – I'm not a huge garlic fan. But Jedd is.

So, inspired by the massive amount of garlic scapes from our CSA, I decided to put the garlic scapes “on the side,” so Jedd could enjoy them.

Which also makes this a nod to Nora Ephron who recently passed away, but managed to teach an entire generation of people that “on the side” was a viable way to order dinner after they saw When Harry Met Sally. (And probably managed to irritate an entire generation of chefs and line cooks. But because of my garlic aversion, the concept has made my life easier, at any rate.) So, thanks, Nora. This one's for you.

After a morning of too much coffee and a scattered list of unrelated tasks and errands finished, my mind was jittery, numb and disconnected as I splashed to the end of the dirt road that brings you to Stone Hollow Farm in Bakersfield. I was picking up our first CSA box of the season.

I had met Ken Carter and Melissa Dion years ago as a reporter covering farming issues in Franklin County, but before summer 2012 Launie and I had only bought their produce at the Northwest Farmer's Market in St. Albans. Their supple heads of lettuce - the size of a newborn baby - and bright, fresh-cut flowers are always some of the prizes that make a trip to the market worth it. Now I was picking up the first of the batches of summer food we'll be bringing home every other week.

A few weeks ago I saw an intriguing thing on Twitter. Muir Glen tomatoes asked food bloggers to contact them. So I did. And they offered me a chance to receive a free gift basket of their 2011 Limited-Edition Reserve Tomatoes. Now normally I eschew promoting products – in fact this is the first time that I've done it. But, I agreed because we love Muir Glen tomatoes. I mean, we really love them and I was excited to try a new products from them. Then I kind of forgot about it, because I had one of those weeks that was constantly surprising for its awfulness.

So on Saturday when there was a knock on the door, I answered it with trepidation. I half expected to see Pauly Shore asking if he could “crash on the couch for a couple of weeks,” or even worse Pauly D. from the Jersey Shore asking the same question.

There wasn't anyone there, but when I looked down there was a big box from Muir Glen. With the events of the previous week still rattling around my head, it looked like a gift from the gods. Even more than that – it felt like a present. An actual present! I waited for Jedd to get home from doing errands so we could open it together. When we opened the gorgeous gift basket we found 2 beautiful cans of Harvest Sunset Reserve, a blend of yellow and red tomatoes along with a can each of Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies and No-Salt Added Diced Tomatoes. They also enclosed an elegant booklet with recipes, in-which they thanked the farmers (sweet!) and a sticker of a tomato.

Having new ingredients to cook with cheered me up immensely – Jedd too. Then when Jedd left for his workshop I looked at the happy sticker of a tomato and I thought of a line from one of my favorite poems: “This foretold somehow a good night .”

When it's too hot to eat - but you need to eat - there's nothing like a salad. In this case, there's a salad of peppery lentils and chili-spiced beet greens along with scallions, carrots and celery with a refreshing vinaigrette that's perfect for when just sitting still makes you sweat.