Of radishes and unpopular salad

The weather here this year has been pretty unreal. The past two summers have been cool and wet. Last year we had the furnace on until mid June. This year we turned the AC on in May. It's been crazy.

That heat, along with the adequate rainfall, has produced abundance. Some of it quite early. It's not July yet and the cherries are ready. Strawberries abounded weeks before strawberry festivals took place. Our peas are finished in the garden already. And just this morning I harvested the best radishes I've ever grown. They are called Cherrybelle and they are round and red and crisp. My 2 year old loves them. Hubby is the other one in the house who eats them (yes, as proud as I am of having grown them, I will only eat them diced into macaroni or potato salad). I am well pleased.

Speaking of salads, my gourmet group met again last night. Portuguese was the theme (our hostess having just returned from there). But as often happens with internet recipes, I fear that something was lost in interpretation with the recipe I was given. Perhaps there is a recipe for a Portuguese salad of winter squash and beets with a thick sweet dressing. I don't know. But my recipe had me roasting butternut squash (could not find pumpkin) and opting to roast some beets rather than opening a tin of them. I also roasted the chopped onion rather than sauteing it separately. It was all seasoned with salt, pepper and an undisclosed amount of Thai sweet chili sauce. I used 1/3 of a cup for about 3lbs of veggies (uncooked weight). Just enough to bring it all together, but not swamp it.

It looked pretty. Like a fruit salad, actually. I wanted to like it. I mean, squash, beets, onion, sweet heat... Alas it was not to be. Of the 9 of us, 3 were honest and said that we just did not like it. The rest claimed that it was good, but I don't imagine any of them will be adding it to their salad repertoire. LOL