Mouthing Off

We've just started working on our December issue—-big roasts, lots of holiday baking—and it's 91° outside. It's always a bit hard to wrap my head around testing cold-weather foods in the summer and warm-weather foods in the winter, but this year seems especially difficult. The newest addition to the Test Kitchen, Chris, suggested we listen to Christmas music, which sounds like a great idea. We're Christmas music fanatics in my home, so I've generously offered my collection. My favorites are Jingle Belles by the Del Rubio Triplets and Merry Xmas from the Space-Age Bachelor Pad by Esquivel. They always raise my spirits during the holidays, no matter what time of year they come.

I wasn't too sure what I was getting myself into yesterday afternoon, when, armed with some tabbouleh, hummus and pita from Taïm—one of my neighborhood standbys—I plodded off in near-90-degree heat to my friend's Cold Foods Potluck Party. She lives in a tiny West Village walk-up, doesn't have central A/C... and had invited 34 guests. While my particular seat—on a shaggy couch that felt like a massive Saint Bernard in heat—wasn't too comfortable, I delighted in a ton of cold snacks, from summer rolls packed with shrimp, lettuce and cilantro (a pared-down take on Emeril Lagasse's version), to my favorite, my host's Caprese salad wraps, which she daintily tied with chives. She says she no longer eats salads, and instead prefers to turn them all into easy-to-hold, more-bang-for-each-mouthful wraps. With that in mind, my project for next weekend—or whenever it nears 90 degrees again: turn Nick Fauchald's zesty, no-cook salads in our August issue into wraps, using Trader Joe's private label ones, a favorite of our executive food editor Tina Ujlaki.