I was very excited about using our first cucumber. I watched the little guy grow from just a pretty yellow flower to something big and beautiful…
Oh my oh my! Could anyone possible be more excited than I was at this moment?!
Well, those dreams quickly dissipated as I returned to my garden a few days later to discover… NOTHING. Nothing at all in the spot where my beautiful cucumber had been. Nothing!
Now our garden is on the 8th floor communal balcony of our building. It is however, not accessible to the residents, unless they were to climb over the fence (which I have done a few times for easy access). We access it through a back door that I’m pretty sure most residents do not go through. Our cucumber plant is right next to the railing by the deck. Very easy to spot a beautiful cuke growing on the other side. We do not have squirrels on our 8th floor balcony. That would be impressive if we did actually. SO. I am not making accusations…..HOWEVER, we have come to only one conclusion. Cukey was stolen. 
It is a risk we take with a rooftop garden I suppose. If I had not watched the little guy grow from just a bud I may not have been so disappointed; but we spent a good few weeks together.
And life goes on, with no cucumbers yet in sight.
On to my plan number two for lunch:
Roasted corn & cherry tomato salad with sweet onion & basil vinaigrette. (A cucumber would have been a nice touch)
We are not growing corn in our garden. I feel like that would be obvious since we are surrounded by corn fields, and corn takes up a decent amount of space… So this corn came from the Green City Market, of course.
I first sautéed the corn in my favorite Le Creuset skillet with some salt & pepper and olive oil.
While this was cooking I roasted about 1/2 a pint of my cherry tomatoes with some olive oil, salt & pepper in the oven for 20-30 minutes. I added the sliced sweet onion and roasted tomatoes to the cooked corn, garnished it with basil and chives, and tossed the dish in a basil vinaigrette.
The basil vinaigrette I found from my Tupelo Honey Cafe Cookbook. I have never actually been to Tupelo Honey Cafe myself… but I have heard it is pretty well known in the south… I suppose their own delicious looking cookbook is testament to that! The book was a gift and I am definitely enjoying it. I really need to gain some experience in southern cooking. It’s a whole-nother fried-chicken-green-tomato world down there and I LOVE it!!
Here is their recipe for the basil vinaigrette:
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic
3 tsp. diced Vidalia onion
1/8 tsp. dry mustard
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tsp. Whole grain mustard
1/2 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
(I personally prefer not so much canola oil, so I reversed those two actually and it turned out quite great.)
Directions:
Blend the vinegar, garlic, onion, dry mustard, Dijon & whole grain mustard, sugar, basil, salt & pepper in a food processor. With the motor running, drizzle in the canola oil followed by the olive oil until the mixture is blended. They say it will last in the fridge for up to 30 days.
This recipe made quite a bit of dressing for just the two of us, so it will be going on quite a few dishes in the near future!
So overall, very simple: Roasted Corn & Cherry Tomato Salad with Candy Onion & Basil Vinaigrette:
2 ears of corn, cut off the cob
1 medium sweet onion, sliced
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, whole, roasted
freshly chopped basil and chives for garnish
AND Basil Vinaigrette, of course.
Source: citygardenlife.com (defunct blog)
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