During the long, hot days of summer, dinner-time seems to get pushed back further and further into the evening.

In some places it's just too hot to think about cooking and eating a big meal until well after the sun has slid below the horizon.

Families who have kids running a hundred different directions - to day-camps, to the pool or the lake, to friends' houses - can't seem to get everyone collected back home for a meal until the evening is well advanced.

But maybe we can all stand to wait for dinner a little bit longer because during these high days of summer the best things to eat are simply slurped down hand-to-mouth any time of day. Peaches, plums, nectarines, cantaloupes, raspberries, blueberries: all provide us with the most sumptuous snacks of the year.

Who needs a sit-down dinner …