Frozen by Katie Baum

Hello collectors! It's Sara today, attempting to combat still sweltering temps in NYC with a delightful mirage of frosty freshness from Bay Area-based photographer Katie Baum.

When Jen and I were plotting our summer editions and first spied Frozen, I swore the popsicles featured were a very particular kind: paletas, the fruit-full, homemade treats from Mexico. I found myself flashing back to a time when I was peering into this very freezer in Sayulita, a sleepy-ish beach town in Nayarit, on the Pacific Coast. About four years ago, I had ventured south with my little sister—a last hurrah before I moved far, far away from her—to New York. We shared a small room with a big fan and spent everyday in the water, where I tried (unfortunately, unsuccessfully) to teach her how to surf. Mostly, we got bruised and battered and sucked down a lot of saltwater.

In the hot, hot, hot late afternoon, we'd wander up the dusty streets—tumbled, tired, thirsty and hungry—seeking refreshment. Whole avocados, mangos and tacos al pastor were washed back with Pacificos and followed up with paletas. We were tempted by the foreign flavors, but guava, tamarind and piña, made with water, usually lost out to the milk-based arroz con leche and coconut. We weren't about to tempt Montezuma, deserting on dubious (frozen) tap water.

Happily, I read Katie's artist statement: "It's already hot and sticky outside as I aimlessly wander through the early morning streets of Sayulita. My eyes glide back and forth from street to sidewalk: a pile of dirt against a turquoise wall, a bright purple blanket on a concrete bed." These *were* those popsicles in that town in Mexico! Like the other photographs we've released from Katie, Peeps and Gumball Machine, Frozen makes plain and playful the role that food plays in memory and nostalgia. We link sweet thoughts—sometimes surprisingly accurate, and sometimes totally imagined—with the things we taste, savor and delight in. Today will no doubt be marked by this afternoon's 20x200 field trip to Shake Shack as much by the shimmering heat we're escaping with this little jaunt back in time.