One of my favorite parts of summer is the fruit. I can remember a song from a commercial from my childhood--it was for Jewel or Dominicks or one of the other Chicago-area grocery stores: "Fresh summer fruit! Luscious peaches (peaches) juicy plums (plums) and nectarines! Fresh summer's in the bag." Ripe fruit, beaded with water, rolled around on the screen while the peppy music played.

I have had some amazing fruit this summer, from the farmer's market, and from friends' gardens--green and purple figs, tender apples, peaches that drip their juice down my arms. My favorite fruit this summer has been a certain variety of pluot (a mix of a plum and an apricot.) I've had uninspiring pluots before, tart and pale, but these pluots are a vibrant gorgeous garnet inside, almost electric, and are so fragrant and sweet and delicious, I can hardly stand it.

I love how people have figured out how to make fruit hybrids--and I'm not talking about genetically engineered food, like tomatoes with fish genes woven into their flesh, or bug-resistant potatoes, or other food that disrupts the natural order of things; I'm talking about trees that have been grafted together by hand, their roots melding into something natural but brand new. A friend told me his parents grow apples and pears from the same tree. This is so magical to me--I would love to see it, to taste it, to see if the pears are apple-y, if the apples are pear-y, or if they manage to maintain their separate identities even when they've been grafted together...