Grilled Corn + Garlic Lime Butter

When I was in the 5th grade, ten years old, my family moved from Cincinnati Ohio to Seattle Washington. At this point, twenty years later, I don’t remember the move being too traumatic. I’m sure though that at the tender age of 10 I was quite dramatic about the whole thing.

What I do remember vividly was the first time I was introduced to my new 5th grade classmates. We must have visited the school a few days before I was to begin because I remember being walked into my new classroom by Ms. Smith and introduced. Ms. Smith had each of my new classmates stand up and then say their name and their favorite food. The responses were what you’d expect from a bunch of 9 and 10 year olds: ice cream, hamburgers, pizza, candy bars, chocolate, potato chips, etc. When finally, it was my turn to tell the group of 30 eager onlookers what my, the new girl in the class, favorite food was I blurted out CORN.

That moment will forever be etched in my memory as the very first time I cringed at my own self. I mean really, I was in the market for friends at this point. I’d need someone to sit next to at lunch the following day. Someone to show me the ropes at the handball wall, someone to teach me how to play Horse on the basketball courts, someone to invite me to a sleepover. And what did the Cincinnati girl come up with for a favorite food? Corn.

At least I was being honest. I still love corn to this day. I wait eagerly for summer to hit mid June when the farm girls are selling their bushels of corn from the back of pickup trucks at the Farmers Market. I’ve been known to buy 10 ears at a time to feed Mr. Zoom and I for a week.

And finally, after another long year, fresh corn season has arrived. We’ve been gobbling this stuff for the past couple of weeks and it’s every bit as good as I remember it being last summer. Last summer as we waited impatiently for Little Zoom’s arrival, my mother and I made a couple trips to the farmers market and she showed me how to grill corn on the cob. I was somewhat skeptical at first, but that first sweet bite had me hooked. Corn on the grill has a smoky popcorny taste and I adore it. Add this lime garlic butter and you’ll never go back to boiling corn again.