It's summertime, and we might just be the one place in the country actually enjoying itself, rather than wilting under an onslaught of brain-melting heat and humidity. So get out of the house! Some of our favorite bloggers have already told you where to eat outside this summer. Still, maybe you'd like to find yourself some green, rather than spending it. Forget the food trucks for a minute; let's go hang out with the farmers!

Getting on the electronic mailing list for Marin Organic, promoters and advocates for sustainable agriculture in Marin, is a great way to keep on top of tours, talks, and special events happening just across the bridge. Coming up next month are a dairy tour of Straus Family Creamery, an orchard walk through the olive groves of McEvoy Ranch, and a discussion with bakers Chad Robertson (Tartine Bread), Celine Underwood (Brickmaiden Bakery), and David Muller (Outerlands) about their adventures in sourdough. You can also go to Sonoma Farm Trails to downloads maps and farm guides and plan your own tour of that area's rich agricultural offerings.

CUESA, the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, is best known for running the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market, but they also organize periodic tours of local farms and producers. On August 10, you can join CUESA for an Organic Greens & Blue Cheese Tour featuring County Line Harvest, growers of excellent lettuces, strawberries, and more, and the family-run Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company.

Chez Panisse is planning a series of pricey fundraisers for the Edible Schoolyard in conjunction with its 40th birthday next month, but there is one free, family-friendly OPENeducation event happening on August 27 at the Berkeley Art Museum. (Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance.) The day is planned as a series of "interactive cooking installations" between museum-goers and a posse of farmers, educators, and artists, using corn, beans, and squash planted in the outdoor spaces of the museum.

And speaking of family fun, devoted Bay Area Bites readers may know Devil's Gulch Ranch as one of our favorite sources for locally produced rabbit, but they're more than just bunnies. They also host a ranch camp for kids, with three more weeklong sessions remaining.

Apples in August? For anyone born and bred on the East Coast, where apples mean autumn, the idea of this can seem a little bizarre. However, our California-grown heirloom apple, the Gravenstein, is a early ripener, ready for pie by mid-August. Celebrate its yellow-and-red striped delights at Sebastopol's down-home Gravenstein Apple Fair on August 13 and 14. You can even go up against this one-time grand champion in the Apple Pie Contest.

Most small producers have their hands full just getting their day-to-day chores done, especially when there are animals in the mix--which means your favorite cheesemaker or farmer is rarely available for drop-in visits. On August 7, Bay Area Green Tours is planning a daylong "Tomatoes, Peaches, Corn, and More" tour of Brentwood, with stops at Frog Hollow Farm, Dwelley Farm, and Smith Family Farm. (Don't forget your sunscreen and sun hat, as Brentwood bakes in the summertime. Good for the peaches and tomatoes, a little shocking to fog-dwelling San Franciscans.) On August 18, take a One Valley, Three Milks tour and get a behind-the-scenes peek of Bellwether Farms (sheep), Two Rock Valley Cheese (goat), and Valley Ford Cheese Company (cow).

You can also sign up (for free) as a member of Weirauch Farm, a small sheep dairy and creamery, and save the date for their next members-only tour on Aug. 13. The setting, in the rolling hills of Petaluma, is beautiful, and the sheep (pictured above) are as friendly and inquisitive as puppies. While owners Joel and Carleen Weirauch finish up their sheep-milking parlor (they're hoping to have it completed in time for next spring's milking season), they're making some delectable cows' milk cheeses, available after the tour for tasting and purchase.

But what if you want to stay closer to home, enjoying the flavor of local farms without getting mud on your shoes? Then head over to Potrero Hill's sweet, sunny Plow. Look for the metal pig hanging outside, or the many happy diners inside, all grooving on lemon-ricotta pancakes or (my favorite) dreamy French toast gobbed with mascarpone and topped with thick wedges of brown sugar-and-butter roasted Summer Zee peaches from Blossom Bluff Orchards.

The menu shifts daily, but a recent meal included breakfast and lunch offerings like a soft scramble with lambs quarter greens, mushrooms, and goat cheese; housemade yogurt and granola with fruit and Potrero Hill honey; cucumber-buttermilk gazpacho; green bean and Sungold tomato salad with purslane and fresh mozzarella; and a BLT stacked with Nueske bacon and glowing, gorgeous heirloom tomato slices. Farms, orchards, ranchers, bakers, and producers are thanked in four lines of small type at the bottom of the menu, name-checking all the purveyors we know from markets around the Bay Area: Mariquita Farms, Dirty Girl Produce, County Line Harvest, Hamada Farms, Frog Hollow, Straus Family Creamery, Marin Sun Farms, Acme Bread, and more. Happy summer!

When the weather reaches the 90s, I crave homemade ice cream. But as cool and refreshing as this cold treat can be, making ice cream custard is a bit of a hot and steamy affair. Normally I wouldn't flinch from standing over a pot on the stove while I whisked eggs and cream together, but this week I just wanted the chilly result of creamy ice cream without the fuss.

Now I've made ice cream using only heavy whipping cream and fruit before, but I wanted something with more substance. Remembering some lovely cannolis I had at Stella's a few weeks ago when my mom was visiting, I began to wonder what ricotta ice cream would taste like. After all, cannoli filing is rich and luscious and doesn't contain eggs that need to be cooked. I contemplated adding in a crispy cone of some sort to mimic the pastry shell, but figured those would have to be made from scratch and so quickly abandoned the idea. Seeing a quarter bottle of Muscat in my fridge, I remembered the peaches in wine my parents would make on hot summer days when I was a kid and thought it would be the perfect topping for my cannoli ice cream. I confess that I slowly simmered my wine and peaches -- yes, I did end up using the stove -- but this basically meant simply sticking the fruit and wine in a pot and simmering for 10 minutes with the cover on (no standing next to a hot stove or stirring).

To mimic a cannoli filling, I added vanilla, orange zest and some flecks of chocolate to the ice cream, but you could easily leave out the zest and use chocolate chips if you don't want the citrus flavoring. After churning away in my ice cream maker, the dessert was creamy and rich. Topped with the peaches in Muscat, my bowl of ice cream was the perfect way to end a sweltering Bay Area day.

Cannoli Ice Cream

Makes: Enough for 4 large bowls

Ingredients:
1 15 oz container whole milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup simple syrup
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Zest from 1/2 orange or 1 tangerine
1/4 cup shaved semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

Preparation:
1. Whisk ricotta, simple syrup, cream, vanilla and orange zest until completely creamed together.
2. Add mixture to an ice cream maker and then freeze according to the manufacturer's directions.
3. When the ice cream seems thick but not quite ready, add in the shaved chocolate.
4. When ice cream is ready, serve with peaches and wine (recipe below).

Note: Ricotta ice cream freezes hard, so if you're making this dessert ahead, be sure not to let it sit in your freezer for more than a few hours before eating.

Peaches Simmered in Muscat

Makes: Enough for 4 people to eat with ice cream

Ingredients:
1 large or 1 1/2 medium peaches (you can use nectarines, plums, figs or grapes instead if you’d like)
1/2 cup Muscat

Preparation:
1. Place ingredients in a medium pot and simmer covered for 7-10 minutes or until the Muscat is syrupy.
2. Cool and serve with Cannoli ice cream.

Nectarines & Raspberries

Summertime in California means stone fruit heaven. Peaches, apricots, nectarines, they are all gorgeous right now. If you time it right, you can buy them at a steal at the supermarket when they've reached the peak of ripeness.

I came home with three pounds of juicy, ripe nectarines last week. I prepped and froze some of them for smoothies, for the rest, I quickly dispatched into a beautifully hued Nectarine and Raspberry Crisp.

Makings of a fruit crisp

I adore fruit crisps for the fact that they are a no-brainer. With no dough to fuss with, crisp topping is essentially a super simple mixture of flour, rolled oats, sugar, and butter. You don't even need to bust out the mixer for this. I've found that my own two hands are the best tools to use for cutting in the butter.

Crisp topping

Top this over any fruit that is in season and you are golden. Apples? Piece of cake crisp. Blueberries? Easy as pie crisp. Ok, I'll spare you any more bad puns. My point is, you can top virtually anything with this crumbly, crunchy mixture and end up with something delicious.

Pretty

Peach-raspberry is the traditional combo, I suppose, but the peaches were rock hard while the nectarines were plump and tender when I bought them, so nectarine-raspberry it was. The sweet tart factor was right on, and that shock of pink and oranges was almost too pretty to eat.

This is the ideal, no-stress dessert. Instant home-baked goodness that looks like you spent way more time on it than you actually did. I love a deceptive dessert.

Fancy it up by making individual servings in ramekins, and finish it off with some ice cream or softly whipped cream.

Now doesn't that sound like the perfect ending to a summer night?

Nectarine and Raspberry Crisp

Nectarine and Raspberry Crisp

Ingredients:
For the fruit:
2 pounds ripe nectarines
6 ounces raspberries
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons corn starch

For the topping:
½ cup all purpose flour
½ rolled oats
½ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch salt
1 pinch nutmeg
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Cut the nectarines into slices and combine with the raspberries, sugar, and corn starch in a large bowl. Mix gently to coat evenly. Place in a baking dish or ramekins.
3. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and mix well. Cut the butter into the mixture (using a pastry cutter or your fingers) until the butter is the size of peas and evenly distributed.
4. Bake until the top is golden and the fruit starts to bubble, 35-40 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream or softly whipped cream.

Peach season is (almost here) and I am chomping at the bit to sink my near-perfect set of choppers (thanks, Dad*) into my first ripe one. This morning, I even eyed an old t-shirt I thought would be perfect to wear for the occasion, since I fully intend to let the juice dribble down my forearm and wipe it on my chest.

It's a sensory thing, you know.

Over the weekend, I found myself at the Sebastopol farmer's market with some old friends. As I was dragged along by my goddaughter, who was intent on spending her allotted dollar on honey sticks (one for her, one for mommy, and one for me *sniff*), the pile of white peaches at the adjoining stall caught my eye.

I needed to have them, and I needed to have them immediately. Sadly, they were hard as bocce balls, but they looked so beautiful that I bought two pounds of the little dears and stuffed them into my bag, hoping that they might somehow become perfectly ripe when I pulled them out later.

Of course, they didn't.

When I returned home, I set them gingerly in a bowl and stared at them a moment in the seemingly endless and confusing twilight of early summer. I rested my chin on the cool edge of my granite counter and focused my eyes on my treasure. I smiled at them, I tilted my head a bit to see them at a differing and possibly more flattering angle. These were photogenic peaches. I remained in that position for some time until I remembered hearing somewhere that a watched peach never ripens or something to that effect. Frustrated, I called out to them:

"Hurry up and ripen, peaches, for I'll most likely eat you in the morning."

If you didn't know already, I live alone. You can say whatever you want to produce when there is no one else there to bother you or threaten to move out if he sees you talking to things on the kitchen counter. And the best thing is that you can do it in an accent. I chose Kiwi, but that is another fruit for another time.

Unfortunately for me, these were stubborn peaches. They were simply not ready to give it up for me. I wanted to write about peaches, damn it. I had a deadline to meet. So I did what anyone in a rush to eat stone fruit would do.

I hastened their untimely death. I decided to poach them.

To purists, I imagine poaching a peach might seem like celebrating the 4th of July on the 30th of June. If you just hold tight and go about your business, the proper time will come.

If you're as impatient as I am however, poaching is still a wonderful way to treat a peach-- especially a stubborn one.

White Peaches in Ginger-Vanilla Syrup

I've always been a ginger fan-- it's a little bit zingy, a little hot, and it adds a certain "oomph" to anything it touches. Of course, there's something to be said for vanilla, too-- it's homey, approachable, familiar. I sometimes like to give them equal time.

Now, if I can only find just the right Mrs. Howell ingredient, I'd be all set.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cold water

1 cup white wine (if anything, this is the Mrs. Howell touch)

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons honey (or, if you happen to have a honey stick left over, drop that in.)

A three inch piece of ginger (not capitalized because I intend for you to use ginger root and not a piece of aging flesh from a still-alive actress. I do not advocate such things on this blog.), peeled and sliced.

1 vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise

4 under-ripe white peaches, skin on and cut in half. (If the pit remains stubbornly in one half of your peach, remove it with a melon baller-- works like a charm.)

Preparation:

1. Combine all ingredients except the peaches in a heavy-bottomed, medium saucepan or dutch oven. Bring to a boil, making sure that the sugar and honey have dissolved. Remove from heat, remove vanilla bean, and scrape the seeds from it. Return the battered bean to the pot as well as the emancipated seeds. Return pot to the stove and bring contents to a simmer. Let it do its thing for about 5 minutes.

2. Add peaches to the simmering liquid, cut side down. Gently simmer in this manner for 8 minutes, then flip them over and give them another 8 minutes. The time needed for poaching is directly related to the ripeness and size of your peaches, so yours might need a little more or less. The peaches are fully poached when they are easily pierced with a gentle poke of a knife's tip.

3. When peaches are ready, remove them with a slotted spoon to a bowl or baking pan wide enough to accommodate them all in a single layer. Let them cool slightly and then remove their skins. Since this particular post is about my impatience with the fruit, I should caution you to exercise a little bit of restraint and wait for them to cool sufficiently. It's unpleasant to burn one's fingers with hot syrup-soaked hot peaches. Keep the liquid on the heat.

4. When the remaining poaching liquid has reduced by half, strain out the ginger and vanilla bean and pour the hot syrup over the peaches. And wear shoes.

5. Let cool a bit, cover, and place in the refrigerator to chill out. Of course, you may or may not have the patience to do this either, but it's much, much better this way. Trust me.

6. To serve, eat the peach halves by scooping them out with your fingers and pop them into your mouth, one by one, being careful to let the syrup run down your hands. Wipe hands on the front of an old t-shirt you "happen" to be wearing. When you reach the point where you suddenly feel all hollow inside because you couldn't wait for the real thing, place two peach halves in a serving dish, top with vanilla ice cream, and drizzle on as much of the syrup as you like.

* Father, if you didn't know, is a dentist. Thank G-d.

Frozen yogurt is going through a bit of a makeover. Soft serve that tastes like ice cream is out while creamy swirls that burst with the flavor of real yogurt are in. Shops serving cups of froyo that burst with yogurt's innate natural tartness are opening everywhere. Forget my favorite college flavor of orange, which tasted more like creamy ice cream that had been melded with baby aspirin. Today's frozen yogurt highlights sweet fruit flavors and is enticingly tangy.

After a few trips to some yogurt shops where four servings cost around $20 -- because let's face it, the new frozen yogurt chains are more expensive than the old ones -- I decided to try making my own concoctions. I found that if you have an ice-cream maker (the kind where you pre-freeze the canister), frozen yogurt is remarkably easy to make. It's also nice to be able to control your own ingredients. You can choose to use organic and nonfat yogurt, or luxuriate in a treat made with creamy whole milk. You can also opt to sweeten your dessert with sugar, or go for a healthier alternative like fruit juice or honey -- it's all up to you.

I experimented with whole fat, nonfat and Greek yogurts and found that although whole fat and Greek yogurts freeze better, nonfat frozen yogurt desserts can be creamy and soft -- just eat them within an hour or two of churning. This isn't hard to do as homemade froyo tastes so rich and creamy straight out of the ice cream maker that it's easy to eat the whole batch with a few friends. But if you want to freeze it ahead of time, make your batch with whole yogurt. It will be harder than ice cream, but still scoopable. There are also some frozen yogurt recipes out there where you incorporate your yogurt into an egg custard, much as you would when making homemade ice cream. I had no desire to stand over the stove on a hot day when we all just wanted a quick and fun dessert, but those recipes are out there if you're interested.

Following are a few recipes you can try for your own frozen yogurt adventures. If you have kids or aren't super fond of yogurt's innate tartness, I suggest using vanilla or a fruit-flavored yogurt for your initiation to this homemade frozen treat. Although my kids liked my first batch of peach frozen yogurt (made with plain nonfat yogurt strained overnight), they adored all combinations made with vanilla whole yogurt.

It's also worth noting that even when I used the more expensive organic and local yogurt varieties, the cost of a batch of homemade frozen yogurt still never exceeded $5 -- a pretty nice price for a fun summer dessert that fed four people.

Peach Frozen Yogurt
This recipe uses peaches, but you could easily use any other summer stone fruit (including cherries). I used nonfat yogurt, which was perfectly creamy straight from the ice cream maker. My daughter had a second helping a couple of hours after I stuck the leftovers in the freezer and the texture was still velvety. The peach nectar measurement variation from 1/4 - 1/2 cup is dependent on how thick your yogurt is after adding the pureed peaches. If you're using regular or nonfat yogurt, you will need less, but if include Greek or strained yogurt, you'll probably need to add a bit more.

Makes: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:
2 cups strained nonfat or whole milk yogurt
1 cup peaches peeled, chopped and pureed
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 - 1/2 cup peach nectar (I used Kerns) (measurement varies according to taste and

Preparation:
1. If straining yogurt, do so at least 4-6 hours ahead of time by placing your yogurt in cheesecloth and tying it at the top. Then set the package in a strainer set over a large bowl or container to catch the liquids. After a few hours your yogurt will be so thick and creamy it will look more like cream cheese.

2. Peel, chop and puree your peaches until smooth.

3. Place peach puree and sugar in a small pot and heat until sugar melts into the peaches. Cool mixture. You can also just add simple syrup instead of sugar to the peaches if you have some on hand.

4. Once peach puree mixture is cool, set up your ice cream maker so it's ready to go.

5. Take the yogurt out of the refrigerator and place in a large bowl. Mix in the peach puree and peach nectar. Taste and add more nectar if needed.

6. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and churn as you would normally make ice cream. Serve when frozen and creamy or place in the freezer for 1-2 hours.

Peanut Butter Frozen Yogurt
This recipe uses a heated peanut butter, sugar and water combination, which flavors the yogurt beautifully and provides a nice backdrop for toppings, such as chocolate jimmies, crumbled peanut butter cups, or M & Ms. I used nonfat plain yogurt, but will use vanilla flavored yogurt next time as I think it will nicely compliment the peanut butter flavors. I also recommend against using strained yogurt in this recipe as the peanut butter is already thick enough.

Note: the measurements for this recipe vary according to taste. If you like your frozen yogurt light and tangy, then use 1/2 cup peanut butter and sugar; if you like a more pronounced peanut butter flavor, then go with the 3/4 measurements.

Makes: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:
1/2 - 3/4 creamy peanut butter
1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar
2 cups nonfat or whole vanilla-flavored yogurt (not strained)
1/4 cup water

Preparation:
1. Place peanut butter, sugar and water in a pot and set on medium heat. Heat mixture while constantly stirring until peanut butter and sugar are melted into each other. If mixture is too thick (you should be able to easily stir the peanut butter), add a little more water.

2. Cool peanut butter mixture. You can do this in a cold water bath (setting the mix in a bowl and then placing that bowl over a larger bowl containing ice cubes and water) or just let it cool on its on the counter. Then place it in the refrigerator so it's cool but still stirable.

3. Set up your ice cream maker so it's ready to go.

4. Take the yogurt out of the refrigerator and place in a large bowl. Stir in the peanut butter mixture.

5. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and churn as you would normally make ice cream. Serve when frozen and creamy or place in the freezer for 1-2 hours.

Banana Frozen Yogurt
The Banana Frozen Yogurt recipe uses vanilla yogurt mixed with bananas that have been pureed with a little juice. This was hands down my kids favorite froyo and was also the easiest to make as you don’t need to heat anything.

Makes: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:
2 cups vanilla yogurt (whole milk, lowfat or nonfat)
1/2 cup mango, apricot, orange or any other full-bodied juice
2 large or 3 medium bananas cut up

Preparation:
1. Chop up bananas and then puree with the juice.

2. Set up ice cream maker so it's ready to go.

3. Take the yogurt out of the refrigerator and place in a large bowl. Stir in the banana mixture.

4. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and churn as you would normally make ice cream. Serve when frozen and creamy or place in the freezer for 1-2 hours.

Some things stay with you forever, no matter how hard you might try to forget them. Sights, sounds, smells, words. You name it. You might not think about them on a daily basis, but they are filed away, ready to jump you at the strangest of times. Things like the scent of glue sticks or the melody of some Bangles song playing in the background the night your first boyfriend broke up with you. You think you've buried them, but they keep rising up and biting you on the ass like directionally-impaired zombies who hunger for your brain.

My personal undead companion of the summer has been a small chunk of lines from T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." which I learned in high school and, evidently, never quite unlearned. I think of them every time I encounter a peach, which is often, given the season:

I grow old... I grow old...

I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?

I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

When I first heard the poem as read to me by a wonderfully hammy, Scottish-brogued English instructor, I didn't take away any sense of Prufrock's failure, isolation, or tortured psyche. No, all I took away at the time was:

What's with the peach? Why can't an old guy eat a damned peach? It's a soft fruit for God's sake. He could probably gum the thing to death.

And then I went back to reading Sylvia Plath because I was so sensitive.

Well, like Mr. Prufrock, I grow old, though I doubt very much that I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled, since I can usually be found in shorts. I am, however, much older than I ever thought I would be. And I happen to like that just fine. It's just that half of the men on my mother's side of the family never made it past their 30's. In a few days, barring accidents, I will have reached 40-- mid-life or, if put into seasonal terms, Midsummer. Not old, but, as I see it, just about right. To borrow from another literary source, I may be, like Miss Jean Brodie minus her attraction to Fascism, in my prime.

I think it more than just coincidence then that Midsummer is when peaches are in their prime. Fully ripened, barely hanging onto the tree, easily bruised, and fuzz to be found in nearly every nook and cranny. God, I'm like a peach in more ways than I had previously imagined. No wonder that bits of a monologue-style poem I learned about an older guy briefly wondering about fruit has come to back haunt me.

And so I leave you with a simple recipe that will help keep me and my fellow peaches in good, supple form for just a little longer than the typical season allows.

Oh, and Mr. Prufrock? Go ahead, eat me. You know you want to.

Brandied Peaches (adapted from the Linton Hopkins recipe at Food & Wine)

What better way to preserve the beauty of a just-ripe peach than with the help of a little alcohol? It's like fruit botox, but vegan.

Serves: 6 to 12

Ingredients:

6 small to medium-sized peaches. Free stones. Really, cling stones are a real pain in the ass.

1 ½ cups water
2 cups sugar
2 cups brandy
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon of cardamom

Preparation:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then reduce to simmering. Cut a small "x" on the bottom of peaches with a sharp knife and gently lower them into the water. Leave the peaches in the water until their skins loosen and their screaming stops. Remove with a slotted spoon and let cool.

2. In a large saucepan, combine sugar, water, cinnamon, and cardamom over high heat, stirring occasionally to ensure that the sugar is dissolved. Simmer for about five minutes, until a lovely syrup is formed. And I do mean lovely.

3. Excorticate peaches when they are cool enough to handle. Cut in half, remove pits (or stones, if you are English or Canadian), then transfer them to a hot, 2-quart canning jar or 2 1-quart canning jars, equally hot.

4. Add brandy to the syrup and bring to a boil. Ladle the hot syrup over the peaches and close the jar(s) tightly. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least one week before serving. The pickled peaches can be stored in your refrigerator for up to three months. As if they would really last that long.

Good morning, brunchers! What's in your glass? Let's see: mimosa, mimosa, bloody Mary, screwdriver, mimosa, Calistoga with lime, bloody Mary, and just coffee for you, thanks.

Oh, has it come to this? Can we not break out of the orange-juice rut, spread our wings and flap a little, veer a little to the right or left in our quest for a morning pick-me-up that lets you down easy. Personally, I like to be able to recall my name and address (and yours) post-frittata, rather than ending up in the Jacuzzi at 5pm with three pairs of new shoes and no idea how I got there.

The LA Coffee Mill, très chic in Silverlake, does a very fabulous morning mojito, made with muddled mint and lime in a a base of chilled green tea, topped with a splash of soda water. It's tangy and refreshing, very post-Pilates. But what if you want something a little more lush, a little more beignet-friendly? Welcome to your new favorite brunch drink: white peach Meyer lemonade.

Now Meyer lemons, which really should be growing in your backyard if you have one, and in your friends' backyards if not, make the most flagrantly, fragrantly delicious lemonade.

But with white peaches and nectarines in full sugary swing now, you can one-up even Meyer lemonade by adding a little pale and luscious peach puree, turning your lemonade into a coral-colored quaff even better than a Bellini.

Anytime you buy white-fleshed stone fruit, you know a few of these dainty little princesses are going to get bruised on the way home. But hard knocks don't matter to a puree. Pit your peaches and throw them in the blender or food processor. (Or just thwap the heck out of them with a potato masher.) Drip the puree through a fine-mesh strainer into your lemonade, so you get all the lovely tequila-sunrise color with none of the skin.

A very good trick, when you have the time, is to skin off all that aromatic rind and infuse it into a sugar-water syrup. Use this lemony-sweet syrup to sweeten fresh lemon juice to taste. Finish with just enough water, sparkling or still, to make it drinkable over ice.

Even better, try rubbing a few heads of fresh lavender into your sugar, or infuse the blossoms into your lemon-rind syrup. If you're really lucky, all this—Meyer lemons, lavender, white peaches—could come from your own garden right now. Lavender white peach Meyer lemonade: effete, yes, but oh, oh, so good.

White Peach Lemonade

Ingredients:

2/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar, or to taste
1 tablespoon lavender flowers, optional
1 tablespoon honey, or to taste
3 to 4 lemons
2 to 3 white peaches or nectarines, pitted and chopped
Water

Preparation:

1. Peel off the rind of your lemons in long strips. In a small saucepan over medium heat, dissolve sugar in water. When sugar is dissolved, add lemon rinds and lavender flowers, if using. Bring to a slow simmer and let bubble gently for 5 minutes.

2. Remove from heat and let cool. Meanwhile, juice your lemons. When syrup is cool, strain and add 3 tablespoons to lemon juice. (You can always add more later).

3. Puree peach chunks, honey, and lemon juice mixture in a food processor or blender. Pour through a fine-mesh strainer into a pitcher.

4. Add water until it's dilute enough to drink. Add more honey or lemon syrup as needed. Serve over ice.

I love all summer fruits, but peaches are close to the top of my list of favorites. There's nothing tastier than eating a plump fresh peach, juices bursting. But after eating my fill of peaches, I crave more. I still want all that sweet and fragrant peachiness, but in another format. This is where peach pies and tarts come in, not to mention grilled peaches and peach jam. My new favorite peach recipes, however, may be the simplest of them all: peach ice pops and creamsicles.

If you have a blender and some ice pop molds, making homemade peach ice pops and creamsicles is a breeze. And if you don't have ice pop molds, you can use short plastic cups and popsicle sticks. The only hard thing about making these frozen treats is waiting for them to freeze before you can eat them.

Preparing homemade fruit pops is also fun. My kids enjoy making them with me and, better yet, they love to eat them. So, instead of grabbing some high-fructose Big Sticks or Rocket Pops (although I must admit I do love both of those), my children are licking pops made of real peaches, with all of their vitamins and nutrients, and having a ball doing it. Best of all, they're not just fun and good for kids, they taste delicious.

As with anything homemade, you get to decide how the final product turns out. If you want popsicles with fruit chunks, just puree the fruit until you have a smoothly flowing texture that retains some small chunks of peach to bite into later. If you like smooth ice pops, puree the mixture until you get a velvety consistency. And, if you're in a tart and fruity mood (and who doesn't feel like that sometimes), you can make non-dairy ice pops, but if you're feeling a bit decadent and want a treat with more of an ice-cream flavor, the creamsicles really hit the spot.

As much as I love peaches, however, I don’t limit myself to using just this one fruit for homemade pops. Stone fruits -- such as nectarines, apricots and plums -- work well with the recipes below, but you could also try using raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, or whatever you'd like. Just use a little less juice or heavy cream when using berries as they have a more water consistency.

So if you're looking for something to do with your summer fruit, I highly recommend making homemade fruit pops and creamsicles. They're easy and fun to make, and are a great way to indulge in a delicious, and low calorie, summer dessert.

Note: To remove the popsicle from the mold, just dip the mold into a cup of warm water for about ten seconds. The mold should then release the pop.

Fresh Peach Ice Pops

Makes: 6 ice pops

Ingredients:
2 large peaches peeled
1/2 cup simple syrup
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup peach nectar, mango juice or orange juice

Preparation:
1. Cut peach meat off the pit and place in a blender along with all the other ingredients.
2. Blend to desired consistency
3. Pour mixture into popsicle molds.
4. Freeze until frozen through.

Peach Creamsicles

Makes: 6 ice pops

Ingredients:
2 large peaches peeled
1/2 cup simple syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream, half and half, or whole milk
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Preparation:
1. Cut peach meat off the pit and place in a blender along with all the other ingredients.
2. Blend to desired consistency
3. Pour mixture into popsicle molds.
4. Freeze until frozen through.

Note: Although I like to peel my peaches before making ice pops and creamsicles, this step is optional. If you don't mind the peel, feel free to leave it in.

Simple Syrup

Makes: 3/4 to 1 cup syrup

Ingredients:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water

Preparation:
1. Place sugar and water in a medium sauce pan
2. Bring mixture to a slow boil and stir until sugar dissolves.
3. Cool.