My Cup (or rather, my pail) Runneth Over

Mmmm, I love this time of year. The tomatoes are ripening faster than I can eat them. And I try really really hard to eat them. There is nothing like the flavor of a home grown tomato. I just wish the season was a little longer. It won't be long until the nights are too cold for the plants and fall is upon us.

My favorite thing to do (besides just eating them plain or in a tomato sandwich) is to whip up some salsa fresca. So yummy I want to eat the whole bowl. Just finely dice a whole bunch of tomatoes, a couple of sweet white onions, a few hot peppers to taste and a medium sized bunch of cilantro. Add a bit of salt, and a squirt of fresh lime juice if you are so inclined (but I rarely have fresh limes hanging around), mix and eat. That's it. So simple. So good. Even Ben, my eight year old tomato hater, loves the stuff. He asked suspiciously the other day "hey, are there tomatoes in this?" and then proceeded to eat a bunch more after I told him it counted as a serving of 'vegetables'.

I give away all the tomatoes I can't eat to other tomato lovers, so if you live close by and read this, give me a call! Otherwise I will be forced to take a pail into the office so the extra tomatoes can find a good home! I'm not much for canning or freezing, I'd rather eat them fresh and share the bounty with my friends.

I always start my tomato plants from seeds. Around the end of March, the grow lights in the basement are snapped on, and away I go, dreaming of summer. I always grow my old favorites, Fantastic, Stupice and Celebrity, sometimes Early Girl, but every year, I try some new varieties just for an experiment. Polfast was a winner this year, I will definitely grow this variety again. Lots of beautiful medium sized fruit, tasty, early, good texture. I also tried Monster, and this one I didn't like much. It's a later tomato, and grows very large fruit that are quite flat, but the texture is quite mealy, and not very appealing.