Journaling prompt: What are your favourite summer-associated foods?

Not so much food, as the memory of summer picnics.  Which conjures up ideals of everyone sitting round a check tablecloth, relaxed and enjoying a selection of delicate foods.  Whereas the reality is the wasps after everything sweet.  The sudden gust of wind blowing over a tub of mini sausages and taking off with the pretty, carefully chosen, paper serviettes and causing children to rush madly after them, thus falling over and returning with muddy hands etc.  Trying to drink a mug of hot tea, because the calendar might say July but otherwise you'd never know, and having hair blow in the mouth.  And just when you think it's going to be okay after all, half the tablecloth blows up and falls on top of the iced cupcakes.

Of course, all this may be alleviated by sitting in the car because it's raining and still enjoying the bread rolls, packets of crisps and chocolate mini rolls - which certainly haven't melted.

Or even better, giving up on the whole idea and spreading the tablecloth out on the living room floor and picnicking at home! 

FutureLearn

Italian for Beginners - Part 4 (Open University)
Much to my surprise I'm finding I'm able to complete the quizzes with fewer mistakes and understanding more, which is encouraging.

What do Popular Songs Mean? (University of Leeds)
Like the previous music course I've done with Leeds Uni, this was aimed at potential music students, which I imagine is only a very limited proportion of those taking FutureLearn courses.  Some things were interesting, some were a reminder of things I learnt on an OpenLearn course; at other times they would teach about analysis, but then when I came to work through an example for myself the answer would come up 'you may think xxx, but in this case yyy applies'.  And in at least one occasion there seemed to be a contradiction between something stated earlier and than later in the course.


OpenLearn

Egyptian Mathematics
I read through the course, but it lacks the presentation of later courses.  It was interesting to see a little about Egyptian mathematics, although very little has survived, probably because most of their maths had to do with practical problems they encountered rather than matters they deemed sufficiently important to save for posterity.

Babylonian Mathematics
Similarly with this course, although there was a small amount that was presumably kept for teaching purposes.  Unlike our modern maths, with a decimal system of counting, the Babylonians worked in 60s, so comparing then and now isn't always easy.

The Science of Nutrition & Healthy Eating
My latest badged course.  Definitely interesting and made me consider what I do eat.  Not sure it will change my diet - but I'm more aware of food labels and what I should be considering.