By Fourth of July, year two. If Memorial Day is the opening credits of summer, the Fourth is the blockbuster episode — loud, colorful, and someone always gets burned (usually Mama, reaching into the oven for the baked beans without a mitt, because Lorraine Mitchell does not believe in oven mitts, she believes in calloused hands and a high pain threshold).
The cookout was at Mama's again. Kevin and Crystal drove down from Campbell. Amber and Darren up from Chattanooga. The whole crew. The apartment was too hot and too full and too loud and absolutely perfect. Darren grilled steaks again (it's his thing now — he's the designated steak man, a title he takes seriously). I brought cornbread and coleslaw. Mama made everything else. Crystal brought a blueberry cobbler that was so good Mama asked for the recipe, which is the Lorraine Mitchell equivalent of asking for your hand in marriage. Crystal is IN.
Amber is deep in wedding planning mode. She showed us fabric swatches for the bridesmaids dresses (champagne — she finally chose champagne, which I can now identify from a lineup, a skill I never expected to need). My maid-of-honor dress is ordered. It's simple, knee-length, and it will be the nicest piece of clothing I've owned since prom, which I went to in a dress from Goodwill that I told everyone was "vintage."
Chloe watched the fireworks from Mama's yard this year without fear. She sat on the grass with her head tipped back and her mouth open and said, "They're painting the sky, Mama." They are, baby. They're painting the sky. And you're painting me. Every word you say paints me into someone better than I was the day before.
Jayden fell asleep before the fireworks started. He was passed out in Kevin's arms by 8:30, worn out from running and eating and being two and a half. Kevin held him the whole time — through the fireworks, through the cleanup, through the goodbyes. He held my sleeping son and looked at Crystal and I saw it again: the future. The Kevin-as-father future. It's coming. I can feel it.
I made a watermelon feta salad for the cookout — something I saw in a magazine at the dentist's office and decided to try. Cubed watermelon, crumbled feta, fresh mint, a drizzle of balsamic. It sounds weird. It IS weird. But it works — the sweet and the salty and the cool mint, all together, tasting like July in a bowl. Mama looked at it and said, "What IS that?" I said, "Watermelon salad." She said, "That's not a salad. A salad has lettuce." She ate three servings. That's Lorraine. She judges the concept and eats the execution.
So here’s the thing about that watermelon salad — the one Mama stared down like it had personally offended her, the one she said wasn’t a real salad because it didn’t have lettuce, the one she went back for three times while the fireworks popped over the yard and Chloe painted the sky with her words and Jayden slept through all of it in Kevin’s arms. That salad is the easiest thing I’ve ever brought to a cookout, and it earned me more compliments than anything I’ve made in two years of feeding this family. If you need a side dish that tastes like summer and takes about ten minutes, this is it.
Watermelon Feta Salad
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 8 cups seedless watermelon, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons balsamic glaze (or balsamic vinegar reduced by half)
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Cube the watermelon. Cut the watermelon into 1-inch cubes and spread them on a paper towel-lined sheet pan for a few minutes to absorb excess juice. This keeps the salad from getting watery.
- Assemble the salad. Arrange the watermelon cubes on a large platter or in a wide, shallow bowl. Scatter the crumbled feta evenly over the top, then sprinkle with the sliced fresh mint.
- Dress and season. Drizzle the balsamic glaze and olive oil over the salad. Finish with flaky sea salt and cracked black pepper.
- Serve immediately. This salad is best served right away or within 30 minutes of assembling. If making ahead, keep the watermelon cubed and chilled, and top with feta, mint, and dressing just before serving.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 95 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 4g | Carbs: 13g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 210mg