It’s the Fourth of July, a searingly hot day that turned mildly stormy around the time that fireworks lit up the New York sky. Sadly, our deck doesn’t offer a grand vista of the East River. But we celebrated by eating well. Lunch. I made a cool dip with cottage cheese and radish. I put my own spin on it by throwing in a few stalks of finely sliced scallions. We spread a heap on toasted sourdough and that was delicious. Dinner. Pasta, tossed with a flavorful mix of with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, red chili flakes, kalamata olives, feta and parsley.