Vol. 11, Part 1: From the Table of a Hot Summer in the City

If there’s one thing that’s certain this time of year in New York, it’s the weather — hot, humid, with a chance of evening showers and a month or two of similar days ahead. In a city where air conditioning is optional and brownouts (or offices shutting off the A/C during the afternoon to avoid them) are likely, you need to have a few strategies to get by. Save this for the days and weeks ahead.

For those of us who are transplants to NYC, those strategies are often hard-won during the hottest summers. 2010 was one of those for me. My roommate and I lived in a 6th floor walk-up — a historic tenement building that didn’t allow residents to install window A/C units. This was the summer we broke down and put one in anyway. I remember feeling so exhausted from the heat one weekend after taking a shower that all I could manage was to lie face-down on my bed for the next 30 minutes or so, letting the slight breeze from the window cool my naked skin.

We both started demanding new corporate jobs that summer, putting in the hours to prove our worth. Neither of us made enough money to eat out regularly or afford take-out. Dinner happened when, and how we could manage — usually a solo affair, quick, fuss-free, and with as little time in front of the stove as possible. Any more heat in the apartment was unbearable.

I started making this salad during that exhausting, hot summer, picking up a few things I could schlep in a tote bag on my way home from work. They were just a few ingredients that looked delicious and easy to eat in the heat, but have become something of a pantry uniform for any time I need an easy, no-cook vegetarian meal. The trick is having one high-flavor element (in this case, marinated mozzarella) that serves as both a substantial salad component and dressing. Add it to your rotation or use it as inspiration for creating a few dinner recipes to keep in mind for days when it’s too hot to bother with more than a few minutes in the kitchen.

Read on for more of my favorite ways to beat the heat and embrace summer in the City. Many days will be long and hard. Sweat dripping down your legs in crowded subway cars, and the putrid smell of sun-baked garbage will make you long for escape. But stay a while (and carry a fan) — you’ll find a wealth of options to enjoy summer in the city.