WITH APOLOGIES TO DUANE:

Dare to eat a peach: ... or plum or nectarine; a luscious crop awaits (Los Angeles Times)

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?

I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach ...

From The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot

This year's luscious crop of peaches, nectarines and plums would bowl over Eliot's timid protagonist. Thanks to hot weather early in the season, California stone fruit is sweeter than usual.

What's more, new, late-ripening varieties mean you'll have until early October to indulge. Peach pie? Why not? Cobblers and crisps? Of course.

It doesn't get any better than Prufrock and peach cobbler.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 28, 2004 6:41 AM