Cucumbers are coolness personified as far as I’m concerned. I love them in so many ways. yum! They show up in so many different cuisines and with so many different herbs. In Mexico street vendors marry their coolness with mayonnaise and cayenne. Ay Caramba! (and yum!)

And then, still wandering along that coast, I was at a spa that had a whole big vat filled with oranges, mint and cucumbers. It was the most decadent thing I could imagine. Soaking in a hot tub after a mud bath sipping on icy cold cucumber drink. Drink the drink and I’ve got the whole experience!

In Sweden, cucumbers were ubiquitous. That’s the first time I met the “English” seedless, burpless cucumber. All year long, you piled them high on your open-faced cheese sandwich and my mamma often had a bowl of them in a vinegar sugar mixture in the pantry. I don’t make a cheese sandwich that I can’t feel her love.

Back at home, my mom used to slice them up alongside the carrots and celery that often made an appearance on the lunch table. Filling up with fiber and goodness (with just a little salt.) She also made the vinegar/sugar dish from time to time…

When Debbie married into a slavic family I was introduced to the creamy version of cucumber salad… and that was all over New York when I lived there. Then I discovered them chopped finely on my favorite cold sesame noodles. There really is no end to the ways I enjoy my cucumbers.

And so as I was thinking about cucumbers last night, it dawned on me that as hot-headed and blooded people worked to make peace, a cool cucumber drink might go a long way toward soothing the atmosphere. And consider… it’s good for you. All that green vitamin C and no sugar? Yum.

So soothing, cooling cucumbers to you, my dears, and may we all be united in the Peace of a summer afternoon…