Foodie's Fruity Fun

Easy dessert ideas for your hot summer nights.

Dear Mr. Foodie,
My girlfriend’s parents are coming in from New York next month. They are food snobs. I’m pretty good at smoking meats and fish in the backyard, but what’s a good dessert?

Can you pour a drink and wield a knife? If so, make fruit salad tossed in a beverage for grown-ups. Fresh local fruit suffered this year because of the April cold snap (thanks, climate change), so sex up supermarket food with drinkies.

For example: Wash and stem fresh strawberries, then slice in half in a big bowl. Pour in enough orange liqueur (Grand Marnier or Cointreau) to coat. Toss. Refrigerate an hour before serving in martini glasses. A mint spring on top would be classy. (Find fresh mint in produce departments of good groceries.)

Variations are endless. A $9 bottle of prosecco (Italian sparking white) would go just as well as a $40 bottle of Grand Marnier. If you have a sparking-wine stopper, you could even open the bottle early, pour in a few tablespoons of fruit-marinade, stopper the bottle then reopen to drink with dessert. Save money while impressing the Yankees.