3 salads & seared scallops

in this hot weather i've made do with salads. certain someone has been back to work and i haven't bothered to cook much of anything, the searded scallops being an exception (they took mere 5 mins to cook).

cantaloupe and jamon serrano became dinner earlier in the week, with some nice bread. some notable tv-chef (i think it was mario batali) mentioned that eventhough jamon serrano and prosciutto are basically the same thing, the spanish version is actually better because it has been aged longer. go figure, i usually buy the one thats costs less...







not the traditional way to serve, but i'm all about easy (besides, even this broke a sweat...)







stayed at my apartment earlier in the week and went to a shopping mall to cool myself...naturally happened to spot this cute little colander that got to come home with me. how did i ever manage without it?







corn (from a tin), button mushroom (huge one), avocado, cucumber and salad greens. now, this would have been very healthy...







...if i hadn't found this blue-cheese dressing in the fridge







another huge lunch salad. greens, cukes, avocado (seems i'm graving it lately), thinly sliced red onion, crumbled feta with black pepper and olive oil







these salad bowls are huge, but i ate this all myself. i had taken the dog for a walk (and a swim) early in the morning and i was hungry






i went grocery shopping yesterday and i had kinda decided that i'd get squid to grill. the shop that i went to (because i was feeling lazy and didn't want to spend too much time walking around a huge shop) didn't have squid. then i remembered i had some scallops in the fridge, called certain someone to take them out to thaw, and bought this wonderful bread to go along the scallops.

the bread had wonderful crust and authentic french taste (like i would know what that is!) but i'm afraid the nutritional value must be close to zero...other than carbs, that is. anyways...








...as i seared the scallops in butter with thinly sliced garlic and flat leaf parsley, the bread hardly mattered







i don't think i had ever had scallops before so i don't how these were supposed to be like. they were super-tasty (c'moon, butter & garlic!) and not chewy at all. we didn't lick the pan, but scraped all the goodness with that bread...