Last night, I got a craving for melon so fierce, it made me writhe. Lucky for me it’s melon season.
Today the girls and I went to the store and paid a lot of money for a local melon. The smell of it drove me wild in the car.
I cut the thing open, and we went at it with spoons. There was juice everywhere. I put a stop to the frenzy after we had finished one half.
Then, we made agua fresca.
With lime.
They gathered mint. And Rosie zested the lime.
And then we drank the second half of that melon.
Melon Cucumber Agua Fresca
adapted from Deborah Madison, Local Flavors
1/2 of a medium sized cantaloupe or honeydew or strange heirloom local melon
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
juice of one lime
10 mint leaves, finely chopped
optional: 2 tablespoons maple syrup
Combine the melon and cucumber and maple syrup, if using, in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour into a pitcher and add the lime, zest, and mint. Add 2 cups of water and chill until ready to drink. Serve over ice.
Occasionally I teach workshops, and I have one coming up this fall. Join me and stellar novelist 
we are hoping that the solitary watermelon in our garden makes it another week or two. btw, there's a guy in Adams on Friend Street that sells home grown melons.
my mom made a granita the other day by cubing and freezing a (kinda mealy) watermelon. and then blending it and adding a limonata and arangciata and it tasted like the brightest most delicious slurpee.