Tomato Cucumber Salad

by Rebekah Kuk
Tuesday was my three year anniversary with my wonderful husband. This past year has held a lot of new adventures: getting chickens, opening up our home to renters in need, becoming board members of our neighborhood farm, writing new songs together…the list goes on. There is never a dull moment in our relationship between our to-do lists and our fun friends.
For our anniversary we decided to bike to a BYOB sushi restaurant in our old stomping grounds, Fells Point. We used to have an apartment not too far away so the area is very nostalgic to us. Asahi Sushi is a nice little place on Broadway. My favorite part is that we can bring in our own wine to enjoy. We ordered a few different sushi rolls, miso soup, and seaweed soup. Everything was delicious.

Afterward we took a stroll along the water, talked about favorite memories from the past year, and enjoyed the nice temperature. Baltimore hasn’t been unbearably hot lately, and I’ve really enjoyed it. We stopped at Pitango to get the best gelato in my world (Italy might be able to beat it, but that’s about it). Three flavors, shared in a large size: chocolate noir, hazelnut, and yogurt. They were rich, light, and tangy — in that order.

As we sauntered back to our bikes to ride the three miles home, we pondered the threatening clouds. “Is it dangerous to ride a bike in lightning?” I asked. Shrug. We hopped on and headed to the market, less than a mile away on the way home. Justin had to get ingredients to make a tomato cucumber salad to bring to a potluck. The heavens opened up and dumped on us. Soaked.

As I waited with our bikes while Justin ran in, the rain stopped, and our ride home was glistening, dark, quiet, and beautiful. There’s something about biking at night after it just rained that’s exhilarating. A perfect anniversary.
Tomato Cucumber Salad
Serves 4
This salad has many variations. Here is mine. Feel free to adjust or add according to your tastes. Some recipes call for bell pepper, others for oregano. With a good dressing you can’t go wrong. This dressing is so tasty that I drink it up after the veggies are eaten!

2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil
salt
pepper
Whisk together at bottom of a large bowl.

3-4 tomatoes (the real kind that’s in season now; not the laboratory kind)
2 cucumbers
1 small, or half of a large, white onion
2-3 tablespoons basil
Peel cucumbers, leaving on strips of skin if you like. Dice cucumbers and tomatoes into 1 inch cubes.  Slice onion super thin, making half moon strips. Roll basil leaves in a stack and slice thinly on a diagonal. Add everything to dressing and toss. Let marinate for at least one hour. To make a meal out of it, serve over toasted bread, or have bread and cheese on the side.

Printable Recipe

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