Ah, it is Autumn and the leaves are changing color and the temperature hovers around 100F. I have explained in the past how September is really hot in Northern California. On Tuesday we experienced the hottest day of the year and Monday wasn’t much better. If you do not live in close proximity to the ocean you can expect to be really hot in September.

Foodwise this means that I need to find dishes that do not take much cooking and definitely do not need cooking in the oven. Here’s what we did to beat the heat.

Monday we augmented and heated up in the microwave the Sicilian swordfish sauce from last week. This time we put it on quickly seared tilapia and precooked rice

On Tuesday we experienced a “Smart Day.” This is when PG&E, our electric and gas utility company, asks us not to run appliances and air conditioning during peak usage hours. So we started out the day by going out to lunch at a sushi restaurant where we enjoyed a bento box.

Keeping in the spirit of not cooking and not using electricity we had hummus, pita, tabouli, and tomatoes for dinner.

On Wednesday it is supposed to cool down and we are really keeping our fingers crossed that this spell of hot, hot weather is the last for this year.