What’s on Your Last-Gasp Summer Checklist?

My college-age daughter, Abby, was on her own working in Chicago for most of the summer, so when she came home to New York for the briefest of windows before heading back to school, I asked her an important question: What do you need to eat while you’re here?

Since the last time she was home, a new bagel spot in our neighborhood has been blowing up the family group chat, so I assumed she’d want to see what all the fuss was about. I also figured she’d want to beeline for steamed rice rolls at Joe’s or make a pilgrimage to Sal & Carmine’s for her favorite New York slice. But her answer — and I swear I didn’t pay her to say this — was, “I want to eat at home.”

What she missed most, it turned out, was home-cooked meals, specifically the foods she associated with summer. Tomato sandwiches. Blueberry pancakes. Grilled salmon salad. Veggie burgers. Oklahoma-style burgers that cook over steamed onions.

Sliced tomato salads with feta. The potato salad we make with dill. Corn on the cob dripping with butter. S’mores.

Needless to say, working our way through the Last Gasp Summer Checklist was an assignment I could get behind, and we managed to sit down to a good number of them before sending her off to school earlier this week.

What’s on your last-gasp summer checklist? What do you still hope to squeeze in before Labor Day?

P.S. Coming home dinners and five things to do with corn, tomatoes, or both.