Memorial Day weekend is supposed the start of summer.

On our San Francisco Food Tour of North Beach\Little Italy and Chinatown, we??re not really sure what the means sometimes. For us, our weather doesn??t change very much, it always stays somewhere between 55 to 75 degrees. We don??t get snow here, so that is not a good indicator either. Probably the best indicator is that summer fruits and vegetables start to come in the markets. Being a big fan of stone fruits, it??s great for me. First, we??re seeing cherries into the markets, first will be Bing and later Rainer. The Bing cherries are very sweet, and the Rainer are a little sourer, but still very good. Next, we??ll see apricots, nectarines and my favorites, pluots. Pluots are a cross between apricot and a plum. Between apricots, nectarines and pluots, the combinations are really good. On our San Francisco Food Tours, the fun parts are getting to enjoy all of these combinations in all of deserts. As far as vegetables, everything from fresh peas to spinach and more is here, the result is that we end up with these great dishes that highlight all of those flavors. One of my favorites is swiss chard. Someone made that in a risotto yesterday and it was nothing short of fantastic. So, I guess there is a way to tell that is summer. And, it??s a delicious way.