Cooking in Heat

When I look at food magazines this time of year, what with their near porn pics of pies (keep the crust cold!) and cobblers never mind roasted peach salads, all I can think is: "Do these people all have central air conditioning? Are they all shopping locally and cooling thoroughly?" Because, seriously, how else could you keep the pie crust cold if you don't have some kind of cold air blasting mechanism in your kitchen.

Needless to say, I don't make a lot of pies.

It's not that we're without some window units. We've got them (not that I like them so much). But even if we did live in a hermetically sealed perfectly cooled kitchen zone, I don't think I'd be baking all that much. This time of year, it's almost impossible at the end of the day to do much more than throw stuff in a bowl and hope for the best. Some nights even that seems over-whleming, because it requires, like, planning and shopping for what will go into the salad bowl.

Once I read in Gourmet that come summer one editor relied on store bought roast chickens, charcuterie, and sliced vegetables. Now that's some inspired summer cooking. Right?