It's Day 2 in my week-long tribute to summer corn and I want to get to this recipe while corn is at its best. Because when corn is this fresh and seasonal it is so good you could it it raw. And sometimes I do.

In fact I have been known to gnaw on a raw ear of corn while still standing in the market. But that can be a bit inelegant. Especially when you are having that nice young couple down the street over for a poolside luncheon. I think in that instance I should be on my best behavior and actually remove the kernels from the cob and serve them on a plate. Because I may not mind having my dear old friends see me chomp away on an ear of raw corn, but the new kids on the block deserve a slower introduction to my wiley ways.

And I do mean kids. Have you noticed that adults are coming in younger and younger versions? Anyway they're new I wouldn't want them to get the wrong idea. It's not that I am uncouth or easily unlikeable, but young people are so impresionable, you know. I think I'll start them out with forks and napkins. Their parents would be proud of me.

That is why I am serving this corn raw, off the cob– and in a salad.  Raw corn, arugula and lemon balm from my garden served with a nicely grilled chicken breast, and chunks of toasty bread. Do you think the new neighbors will notice I took the kernels off the cobb? I hope they don't think I can't trust them knives. Although at what age is it appropriate to let children handle sharp objects... thirty... thirty-two?

Today I am handing over my kitchen tongs to a chef. A real chef. A working chef! His name is Jason, but you may know him as the The Well Done Chef.

Now Jason is a dude with strong opinions. I admire that– and though he may be an actual chef, and though he may have a fancy French name for the method he wants to discuss today. I want you to know that I have a little non-chef secret of my own. What he calls Système Débrouillard, I have always called default. As in the default pasta that makes random appearances here on Sippity Sup.

As proud as I am of my default dishes, I am not sure this qualifies me to the title of chef. Because Jason takes the concept of default to an art.  Still, whatever fancy name this style of cooking goes by– I like to call it "cooking by the seat of your pants!".  And just so you know, if I were indeed a chef I would call default cooking cuisiner par le siège de vos pantalons!

So please read on and welcome Jason as he proves what I have always known, Default Cooking (or should I say Système D?) is what the love of the kitchen is all about! GREG

My mother was quite a cook. She was a foodie long before there was even such a word. I suppose she thought of herself as a gourmet cook. She adored Gourmet magazine and saved every issue for years. I wonder what ever became of those...

I am spending an entire week presenting recipes from my mother's personal collection. After my mother passed away in 1993 my brother had the good sense to seek out the large collection of recipes she had begun to store in her computer and print them out cookbook style as a very special remembrance for the people who loved her and loved having her cook for us.

He called that collection Judi's Bistro. This simply bound book remains one of my most cherished possesions. But the funny thing is until I decided to do this weeklong tribute to my mother and her recipes I had never cooked from this book. I pulled it out many, many (many) times to seek culinary inspiration and quietly remember my mother. But I never sat down, followed a recipe and cooked from it.