Summer L-O-V-E Rolls

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, officially marking the first day of my summer agenda. From here on out the next three months will consist of taking in the morning sun while reading in Dolores Park, waiting for an hour in the Bi-Rite Creamery line for 10pm emergency banana splits and an extra daily dose of LOVE.

There is something about the combination of heat, sun and long days that makes love undeniable. Perhaps it's the reappearance of my collection of summer dresses, or the smell of fresh flowers on my hilly walk to work, or maybe it's simply just the lifting of the fog, but whatever it is I'm feeling extra loved up. I'm not talking about summer romance or the occasional vacation fling, I'm talking a surge of pure, raw emotion.

We had a bit of a rough one at work last night, feelings of frustration and agitation were apparent as groups flooded into the under-staffed restaurant. I left feeling tense, annoyed and honestly a tad bit angry (a very rare emotion for me). I went directly to the supermarket intent on cooking dinner for some friends, where I quickly purchased the basics for Spaghetti Bolognese. After huffing and puffing up the stairs to my apartment I realized I had forgotten olive oil, only the most essential of ingredients....perfect. I put in a quick phone call request and proceeded to unpack the grocery bag in a irritated frenzy. As I opened the fridge the box of cherry tomatoes I had sitting in my hand exploded open, resulting in a quick down pour of tiny, red fruits. As I squatted down to pick them up cursing under my breath, I couldn't help but start to laugh at myself.

For a girl who was so seemingly happy with her life I was getting pretty worked up about absolutely nothing. I mean wasn't there a saying about not crying over split cherry tomatoes? When it boiled down to it, all I had was love in my heart and pasta on my mind, so why think of anything else? As I lay in bed that night I couldn't help but wonder how I could make the staff feel the same way. We all have hard days, sometimes hard months or even hard years, but, at the expense of sounding cheesy, the one thing that keeps us going is love.

When I went into work today I was determined to spread the love. But how? In the middle of a meeting it came to me! Spread love by encouraging others to give it. So today our focus was for each and every member of the staff to say something nice to every one of their co-workers. It worked. The vibe went from tense to completely relaxed. The comments were wonderful, truly inspiring. They remembered not only how much they loved each other, but how much they loved themselves and what they were doing. As the staff members bounced around from table to table greeting customers with a smile and a warm heart, I could feel the summer love.

And what does one do when life throws them summer love? Well of course, make summer rolls...or something like that. Light, airy and packed with a melody of flavors, the rolls almost emulate feelings of love. While they do take some effort to make, the process can be meditative and very relaxing. I like to use Rachel Ray's recipe, the combination of mint, scallions, shrimp and rice noodles hit just the right spot while still leaving room for a very big ice cream sunday. Go ahead and love it up, summer only comes once a year.

Shrimp Summer Rolls

A recipe adapted from Rachel Ray

Serves 4

• 24 medium shrimp (about 1/2 pound), peeled and deveined
• Salt and pepper
• 3 ounces rice noodles (rice vermicelli)
• Eight 7-inch rice paper wrappers
• 24 mint leaves
• 1 large carrot, shredded
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 cups finely shredded romaine lettuce
• 1/2 cup jarred sweet chili sauce sauce
• 
  
• 1. Preheat a grill to high. Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Arrange on the grill, cover and cook, turning once, until the shrimp are just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Let cool, then halve lengthwise.
• 2. In a pot of boiling, salted water, cook the rice noodles until tender, about 3 minutes; drain and rinse with cold water.
• 3. Fill a shallow bowl with warm water. Working with 1 rice paper wrapper at a time, soak a wrapper for 30 seconds and transfer to a work surface. Arrange 3 shrimp halves across the bottom third of the wrapper, top with 3 mint leaves, one-eighth of the noodles, about 1 tablespoon each carrot and scallions and 1/4 cup romaine. Fold in the sides and, starting from the bottom, roll up the rice paper, stopping at the halfway point. Top with 3 more shrimp halves and continue rolling. Cover with a damp paper towel and repeat to make 8 summer rolls. Cut in half diagonally and serve with the sweet chili sauce.