savoring august.
meals, movies and books to savor in late summer (and a nudge to get your summer bucket list activities on this month's calendar!)
The summer heat is lingering. Tomatoes and cucumbers and zucchini abound. Sweet and juicy summer corn is starting to arrive at the grocery store. At the city beaches near my house, swimmers linger past sunset every night. We are deep in the days of summer 2026, this one precious summer that we will spend at this one particular time in our lives. How is your summer shaping up?
There are countless things that could be making your summer less than ideal (heatwaves and wildfire smoke and illness and economic instability and all of the rest). With all that’s out of our hands, something we have a little more control over is how we fill our calendars and how we spend those precious hours of summer evenings and weekends. What’s on your calendar for these remaining weeks of summer? Do you have a lingering meal with a group of loved ones coming up? A slow pool day with icy cold candy and an old magazine and a midafternoon nap? Plans to venture into a dark, cold theater on a hot and sunny afternoon for a midday movie escape? What could you make time for during the remaining days of this precious summer?
Here is what I will be fitting on to the calendar in August from my own bucket list:
Going for a dip at a Minneapolis lake
Making homemade ice cream
Seeing a movie at a drive-in theater (looping in a visit here with our August camping weekend)
Breakfast outside as many days as possible!
Take a little pause and write down a couple of summer-y activities you want to make time for this month. Then get it on the calendar and make it happen before summer passes! (Psssst…. go ahead and text a friend about it right now, you’ll be so grateful to your past self that you did.) I also would love to hear what is on your bucket list, please leave a comment to share with the rest of us!
August isn’t just a month for bucket list summer activities. It’s also a month to fit in as many produce-packed meals as you can (juicy and salty tomatoes and delightfully charred veggies off the grill!), to savor all the seasonal berries and melons and icy treats straight from the freezer, to tear through a few more summer page-turners on sunny afternoons, and to escape into summer elsewhere by watching a seasonal movie. Here are a few specific recommendations for meals, treats, movies and books to savor this month!
In the month of August, summer produce is at its peak and it is really our duty to eat as much of it as we can manage! It’s a time for meals that come together quickly, require minimal stove-time, and that truly highlight summer vegetables.
If you stumble on a beautiful display of heirloom tomatoes at your store or farmer’s market, you could make:
Tomato dumpling salad - deeply flavorful from heirloom tomatoes, vinegar and chili crisp and comes together SO quick with these veggie gyoza from TJ’s
The easiest summer sandwich formula: bread + cheese + tomato + herb
Crusty sourdough, toasted or grilled, slathered with creamy ricotta, halved grape tomatoes, a hefty sprinkle of flaky salt and shreds of basil
My childhood favorite - a slice of rye bread, slices of heirloom tomatoes, a layer of cheddar cheese broiled to perfection and sprinkled with fresh dill
A summer-y version of grilled cheese with thin slices of focaccia layered with tomato, mozzarella and garlic-laced pesto
On my list to try yet this August (if a cooler day sneaks up on us!): a buttery, parmesan and herb-laced tomato galette
If a pickup truck bed filled with plump ears of sweet corn pops up along the roadside, grab as many ears as you can and make:
A crunchy and savory caesar salad with pops of sweet corn kernels throughout
A spread of corn tacos - kernels cut from the cob and seared in a skillet with olive oil, salt and any of your favorite spices until charred bits appear, loaded into tortillas and spread with a delicious green sauce (jalapeno + basil + yogurt + lime)
Pasta salad with orecchiette, seared corn, crumbles of feta and a vinegar + oil dressing
Corn and shishito pizza (there’s a tasty recipe in my favorite cookbook)
Be daring and try a corn-centric dessert below
If your garden overflows with crunchy green cucumbers, try:
Cucumber dumpling salad - almost as easy as the tomato dumpling salad above and arguably just as tasty!
Smashed cucumber salad - with turmeric and scallions and garlic, loaded with flavor an cucumber-y crunch
Simply sliced and tossed into a jug of water in the fridge for a refreshing summer drink
On my list to try yet this August: quick summer cucumber kimchi
Be daring and try an icy treat that relies on cucumber below
If you find yourself in need of a particularly summery treat as you savor the month of August, you just might love:
These corn cookies made with browned butter and oats - a little savory, quite a bit sweet and so special
A batch of homemade popsicles are IDEAL for savoring summer and hot August days, a few ideas:
Cucumber lime paletas, sprinkled with tajin before serving
Mango and passion fruit
A seasonal shrub - tangy vinegar steeped with sugar and seasonal fruit (plums! blackberries!) Fill a glass with ice, a splash of shrub and seltzer water and enjoy.
A bowl of perfectly in-season fruit. That’s it.
Summer is for getting outside but some days you just need to retreat indoors to a/c and snuggle up on the couch with a summer movie! Better yet if it transports you to the season in an entirely different time and place.
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Set in 1950s New York and the Italian coast, The Talented Mr. Ripley features a young Matt Damon falling in love with the glamorous lifestyle of a young American couple spending a luxurious summer in Italy, played by Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
A Wes Anderson classic set on an island in the Atlantic in the summer of 1965. An epic late summer storm, a daring escape the wilderness, khaki scouts and a blossoming young love (and a completely charming soundtrack!)
Hot Summer Nights (2017)
Timothee Chalamet plays a teenager who spends the summer of 1991 on Cape Cod, where he gets involved with drugs, the most popular girl in town and her powder keg of a brother. Seemingly inspired by Goodfellas, if you enjoy an “in-over-your-head” plotline this is a riot of a watch.
The Worst Person in the World (2021)
Escape to a summer in Oslo in this beautiful tale of a young woman coming of age. It is my very favorite film. If you love it as much as I did, follow it up with last year’s Sentimental Value, which also stars the unforgettable Renate Reinsve.
If you don’t already have a chock-full reading list, dip your toe into one of these sun-soaked books that are perfectly attuned to an August afternoon.
Evenings & Weekends - This drama set during a London heatwave tells the story of a group of young people and their middle-aged parents all on the precipice of major transitions in their lives.
Slanting Towards the Sea - A love story and a story of grief. Despite crippling debt, Ivona is trying to restore her family’s estate and olive grove on the Croatian coast, while maintaining a painful friendship with her ex-husband Vlaho and his wife Marina. I found the unfolding storyline to be both heartbreaking and deeply compelling, a reflection on the sacrifices we make.
The Shampoo Effect - This has been recommended everywhere this summer and currently halfway through, I understand why! Set on the Massachusetts coast, the narration jumps between each of the women in a broader group of friends as they spend days at the beach, a cabin weekend in Maine, and BBQs at each others’ houses. Decades of friendships, romantic relationships, and siblings’ shared histories underlie every gathering. I’m sure I’ll be finishing this in the next day or two!
The Float Test - Lynn Steger Strong (author of Flight) can do no wrong in my book and this novel of adult siblings gathering in Florida after their mother’s death is no exception. The narrative touches on themes of climate change, family, and the meaning of home.
The Summer Book - Set on a tiny, isolated island in the Gulf of Finland where a young girl and her grandmother pass the summer, going on adventures and weathering storms. A beautiful, simply told tale about two different stages of life.
I hope your August is full of flowers and walks and sunsets, as well as meals and films and books worth savoring. If there is anything you’re particularly looking forward to this month (bucket list items, veggies, a favorite rewatch!), I would love for you to share in the comments! Happy August to you and yours.
If you enjoyed this post, you’ll also enjoy:
late summer eats. (2025)
Thank you for reading! If you’d like more nudges to live seasonally, please subscribe to seasonal things.
seasonal things. is where I send out weekly notes about how to make the most of each season. From nudges to savor the season we are in to favorite seasonal books to inspiration for eating seasonally, all the posts I share are simple, accessible ways to embrace the time of year we find ourselves in. Paying attention to the subtle shifts outside and changing my meals and music and books along with the time of year has brought joy and calm to my life. I hope these short weekly notes bring a dose of seasonal joy and calm to you. Thanks so much for reading!
I love all of this!! I really need to check out some of those recipes, are garden is finally starting to produce cucumbers and I'm excited to find lots of recipes we can make with them!!