Summer flavors recipe and patio design ideas

Each year during the summertime, our office is showered with a bounty of Walla Walla sweet onions from Dawn’s visiting relatives. Everyone from the designer staff to the mail man is sure to go home with a few! They are typically enormous, sweet, and delicious and challenge our design team and staff to imagine every possible use. This is our favorite recipe this year:

CUCUMBER WATERMELON SALAD

6 cups seeded cubed watermelon

4 cups peeled seeded cucumber

1/2 cup diced sweet onion

1 t. Salt

1 T. Sugar

1/2 cup white wine or balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup feta cheese

Place the watermelon, cucumber, and onion in a large bowl. Toss gently with salt and sugar. Drizzle with vinegar and toss. Let this chill then drain some liquid. Add feta about an hour before serving.

Makes 10 servings.

Summer design ideas for the patio

Of course, developing this bright and vibrant salad got us thinking about how these colors could be turned into a fresh and inviting patio look.  The organic tones of our ingredients and kitchen tools would make for a fun splash of color in a pulled together backyard scene.

Thank you Madeline for pulling together this material and for taking that gorgeous picture of the salad!

Collection of patio design items inspired by the melon salad recipe on top of page