You know I love eggplant. I can get beautiful ones at the farmers market, so I feast in the summer. Charlie was distinctly cool about eggplant, so our deal was we only ate it during the summer, which I tried not to take advantage of. Of which I tried to not take advantage. As Brother Dave Gardner used to say, “You smart-alecky innelec-chuls ain’t gonna mess up my thinkin’.”

ANYWAY, I cut one in half — one eggplant, not one intellectual — and cross-hatched each half. I rubbed in olive oil, salt, and shawarma powder, then grilled it for about 15-20 minutes on the indoor grill.

Pretty spicy, so I had peaches — also from the farmers market — to cool things down.

A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: Write about something both hot and cool. Mark Sheppard doesn’t count, although he is.

MA