Hello Summer. It’s too hot. Like, way too hot. I am not a heat person. I’ll take 5 feet of snow over 90 degrees any day. Maybe I’ve chosen the wrong profession? Anyways, to deal with the heat I make tacos and drink a beer. It helps.

These tacos are super refreshing – salmon is a nice lean and light protein and this salsa is so crunchy!

Seriously everything in this salsa is crunchy. And juicy.

We just started picking our pickling cucumbers and they are perfect for salsas and salads. And for making pickles if you’re so inclined (Greg is asking me on a daily basis when we can make pickles so you might see them on here soon). They are, of course, smaller than a regular cucumber but they also have fewer/smaller seeds. They also have a lighter and thinner skin. Peel them if you want but you probably won’t mind eating the skin on these guys.

The pickling cucumbers we grow will continue to produce for 4-5 weeks and we pick them by hand every other day. You can see in the picture above – the blossoms and both small and ready to be harvested cucumbers. My niece, Selma, used to enjoy going to the field and picking some of each size and she’d call them her cucumber family. When you grow up on a farm you generally don’t get in trouble for playing with your food ;)

For me, the apple is the star of the salsa. But you’ll want to find a crunchy one which can sometimes be difficult at this time of year. We are pretty much out of last year’s apples and this year’s crop isn’t ready yet. This time I used a Golden Delicious from Washington state. I like using a sweeter apple to contrast the vinegar but you can also use tart variety like Granny Smith. You can read more about apple storage in this post in you’re wondering how we can still eat apples that were picked last fall.

I get my salmon from Penn Avenue Fish Company in the Strip District. I could go on and on about how much I love this place. And it’s weird because I only really started eating fish about one year ago. We didn’t really grow up eating fish – probably because we live far from the ocean and raise our own beef and pork. But Greg loves it so I’ve been trying all sorts of fish now.

Even though I have little experience, I’m pretty confident you can’t find better quality fish in Pittsburgh – Penn Ave is the place to go. I think raw meat is gross but I LOVE watching them gut my fish. They also serve prepared fish and sushi. Check them out if you haven’t. I don’t make it over to the strip district weekly, so I buy a bunch of salmon and freeze it in individual servings. Even after I freeze it, it tastes better than what you can find at the grocery store.

Hello gorgeous.

Ok enough gushing about Penn Ave. This taco is delicious, fresh and super easy to make. Happy summer!