I made this appetizer for a neighbourhood deck party last night. It is simple, but effective.

• cherry or grape tomatoes
• marinated mozzarella balls
• fresh basil
• lime juice
• cracked pepper

As usual, I left it to the last minute to make. I should have got my tomatoes from Dan, the tomato man last Tuesday at the Healdsburg Farmer’s Market. But I didn’t. I wasn’t thinking this far ahead last Tuesday. I just bought both the tomatoes and the mozzarella balls from Trader Joe’s half an hour before I needed to leave.

I did however, harvest fresh basil from my friend Carol’s garden. Then, I cut the mozzarella balls in half, added a basil leaf and a grape tomato and skewered them onto a toothpick.

I guess it is something like my tomato, mozzarella ball salad, but this summer, when my nephew Jorden made that salad, he’d added lime juice and cracked pepper. And something that he won’t tell me. But it definitely added a palatable zing.

So, as a finishing touch on these appetizer sticks, I decorated the plate with the extra basil leaves, squirted lime juice over the plate, and cracked some pepper.  Jorden, what did you add that gave the salad that zing???

Easy. Tasty. Fast.

We headed over to the party.

A few years ago, one of our neighbours organized to install a secure mailbox to help address the problem of mail that was getting stolen.  A few of us pitched in for the cost and in return, have a secure mailbox up here on Fitch Mountain.

Having mail that didn’t get stolen has more benefits than you might imagine. One of my favourite benefits is a few times a year, we get together and have a mailbox party. Sometimes, it’s a galloping dinner between neighbours. Sometimes, like last night, it was a simple deck party (and it was a good night for it too!).

Last night was a special night. The original organizer of the secure mailboxes had recently passed away. We honoured him with a plaque which will be installed beside the mailboxes. It says: Dedicated to Mike Barbie. Our neighbourhood advocate.”

Thank you Mike. For making our neighbourhood a safer place.