Too hot to cook? Or too Cold?

Filed in archive Around The Kitchen on October 3, 2005

Janet K. Keeler, food editor at the St. Petersburg Times and co-author of its food blog Stir Crazy, recently wrote:

Food writers in Florida lament the heat and how to help people cook in it until Thanksgiving and beyond. The six-month summer gives us more than enough opportunities to write about salads, sorbet and cold soups. By this time in the year, it gets a little weary.

I can imagine. How many different ways are there to present ice cream and picnic food before it becomes redundant? This led me to wondering: do Like To Cook readers base their menus on season or simply cook what sounds good at the moment? Taking advantage of seasonal produce is smart for your health and for your budget but do you pass up cold sandwiches in the winter and pot roast in the summer? Like Ms. Keeler, I live in Florida so I drink lemonade year round but I'll still have a cup of hot cocoa on a balmy eighty-degree December night. Right after I crank up the air conditioner.