Peaches and pears...

I have never in my whole life tasted anything as good as the peaches and pears that are currently in season here, and available at every market stand. It is so hard to try and describe these things without being able to offer a taste and a smell of the perfume-like fragrance from these fruits. Honestly, it is just unbelievably good. So I'm including a picture of the peaches which are about 8 inches/20 cm around. Big. Along with some branches of fresh rosemary and bay leaves that are in plentiful supply right now as people go about canning the summer harvest for enjoyment into the winter months.


I'm also including a picture of the local pears. These are Williams pears which they also use to make a particularly fine brandy called Wiliamovka. Can't explain how it tastes here, because I have NO METAPHORS that do it justice. Anyways, back to the pears. I washed them. Sliced them, and put them in a bowl. I had this wonderful bag of fresh-roasted hazelnuts that I bought from a woman who grows them in her backyard. Using a very sophisticated method, I took a handful of nuts, put them between some plastic wrap, then crushed them with a bottle of olive oil. You don't need to use a bottle of olive oil though as this is one of those rare times when a bottle of cola can be used instead of olive oil ;-)



Then I took the crushed roasted hazelnuts and sprinkled them on my sliced pears. And, well, I had planned on taking a picture, but I'll be upfront here and admit that I pretty much inhaled the entire thing. So you'll just have to imagine the whole thing.

Yum!!!