These are the days, the warm days of May and June, when women get spring fever of a feminine kind. It's a spring fever different from the lustier urge that men feel. In spring, men yearn to cast lines into cold waters, hear the crack of baseball bats, linger at motorcycle showrooms and bring out well-worn, but bright, short-sleeved shirts.
But women yearn for gentler things; they yearn for pastel clothes, spring flowers, perhaps for a new fragrance and salads instead of steaks and pasta.
"Salad days," after all, mean youth and, regardless of age, women think of youth in spring. Even seniors feel welcome stirrings of youth again. Everything seems lighter.
This lightness brings up the subject of tea sandwiches -- the small, sometimes fanciful-shaped sandwiches that are more savory than sweet. Subs, packed and stacked, and hot truck-stop sandwiches fade into the past in May and June. Of course, July's picnics will bring back heartier fare, but for now, these days of graduations, showers and weddings, small and dainty bites are in order, and their fillings should be light and delicious.
When I was a girl, the most special of all after-school activities was to go to Anne Hardy's house. Anne, a classmate of mine, came from a much-admired family. The Hardys were looked upon as neighborhood royalty and wonderful people. There, after school in the Hardy's large kitchen, Anne showed me how to make food for ladies.
Mrs. Hardy and her four daughters knew about ladies' food. They used delicate spices with names strange to me, and their refrigerator held wonders -- cold cuts with pickle, olive and pepper specks, smoked meats, pates and aspics. Moreover, their breadbox had several kinds of bread. (Our breadbox held one loaf of white Wonder Bread.) All the Hardy girls were proficient in the kitchen -- that is, they were able to produce marvelous lady food without their mother's help.
I was staggered at the privileges they were allowed. They were permitted to raid the refrigerator, to use the very last of the ham, to open new packages, and even to turn on the stove if they wished to. They cut bread with cookie cutters and showed me how to make croutons (strange and new to me) out of the scraps. And they made tea sandwiches -- three- and four-layered things with three kinds of bread and two kinds of cheese, chicken salad pinwheels sliced from chilled rolls, and funny open-faced concoctions on crackers.
Astonished, I learned that anchovies were fish and capers were flower buds. I remember my first taste of caviar there. Anne scooped a bit out of a tiny jar and held out a spoon of the black slimy stuff. "Open your mouth and close your eyes," she said. Today, I can taste that first rush of salt and sea in my mouth. "See?" she said. "It's special." Yes, it is. I have loved caviar since.
Here are some observations about food that appeals to women:
•If it isn't truly dainty, it has to be artful. This food might be paper-thin cucumber slices, set off by a thick slice of an heirloom tomato in a sandwich. It might mean a delicate touch with herbs with a visible twig of thyme in a dinner roll or Provencal sauce.
•Women like distinct tastes, e.g., a lemon dessert that differs in taste and texture in two or three lemon layers or salad toppings that add a definitive taste of walnut and goat cheese.
•Presentation is integral to the preparation process. An uncomplicated salad of white beans and shrimp is appealing when whole shrimp are reserved to garnish the salad and arranged atop the beans, then drizzled with lemon juice and olive oil, and sprinkled with minced herbs. Shape, texture, contrast in color and symmetry are elements of presentation. Alternate rows of cooked chicken breast, tiny green beans, roasted pepper strips scattered with toppings of hard-cooked eggs or bacon bits served with a choice of dressings to entice a discriminating diner.
Although spring food may have resulted from a woman's yen for lighter spring food, they might also appear in a man's tackle box. Surely they will be eaten ... and there, by the handful. Welcome spring. Eat lightly.
Spring fillings for savory sandwiches, toasts, English muffins or crackers
Cream cheese with herbs (chives, dill, parsley, etc.)
Orange zest with tarragon
Lemon zest with chives
Lime zest with ginger
Cream cheese with any type of chopped nuts
Anchovy mixtures
Herb-flavored butters
Red pepper jelly.
All can be topped with a sprig of edible flowers like violets, pansies or a rose petal.
Sally Ketchum is a northern Michigan journalist. Her new book, "Bread Garden," will be published mid-summer. Sally can be reached at ketchum1985@gmail.com.
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