Peterman's Choice*
Homegrown Tomatoes...

You say tomAto and I say tomARto....

My favorite topic.

Or flavouriite topic.

This time of year, you can buy mail order 'plugs' of the cherry tomato plants - I put them in patio pots and hanging baskets - I have red ones, orange ones, yellow ones ... on a hot day there is nothing finer than popping a mini tomato in your mouth and getting that taste explosion.

So will we ever determine whether or not inclusion of condiment catsup should properly have been classified as a vegetable to satisfy critics that school lunch menus were nutritious? Inquiring minds want to know.....

Growing tomatoes. Having friends who grow tomatoes. Listening to Guy Clark sing about tomatoes. Calling a beautiful dame a tomato, Firing up the stove and puttin' em in the pan. Then cover. simmer, stir now and again until tender and the tomatoes are saucy, Just a few minutes. Add some sugar and salt. Saucy Stewed Maters. The sun is actually a giant tomato or an orange or both and Donne wrote as I was reminded this morning in "The Sunne Rising" a "Sawcy pendantique wretch," a term I call myself. The messier a food the better. I used to keep my albums in classic wood tomato, peach, and orange crates and believe me in my vinyl daze Guy Clark was there right next to Doc Watson who died this week and who performed so well on The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Album playing Tennessee Stud.  

Tomatoes are wonderful, especially the non-commercial ones that are not grown to be transportable and in the process lose all flavor.  I love our house and the yard with many trees, but tomatoes require some area that has a lot of sun.  We have a wonmderful forest of trees, and consequently have no sunny area.  I tried growing tomatoes a couple of times and wound up in late October with large green tomatoes.  They fried up nicely, but we had no juicy red ones during the summer.  Oh well!  The farmers' market has stalls offering "heritage tomatoes" which are excellent.  And we do indulge.  We have enough trees that the wildlife, mostly birds, take our yard to be a sanctuary.  We planted some dwarf fruit trees and have never eaten a thing.  The birds take the cherries before they are ripe.  And the squirrels gorge themselves on peaches.  Never a one, and I love a juicy tree-ripened peach as much as a juicy vine-ripened tomato.  Alas!  But the birds and critters are a boon.

I'll have some fine crusty bread, thick slices of tomato, salt, pepper and Hellman's.
Now that's a meal.

Lynn,....all those critters make a fine stew,with tomartoes

Nothing is better than a home grown tomato in the summer.  I could live on green beans (a mess of green beans), a tomato, and slice of onion!   I always miss good tomatos in the winter.

Yummmm, nothing finer than a good juicy tomato!...Have one lonely mater in a pot on my deck now, giving it another try, but Thank God for 'Farmer's Markets'...I sure could go for one of my Dad's yummy beefsteak tomato's right about now (he had a huge garnden of just tomato's)...............days gone by!

Make a big screw top jar of olive oil and cider vinegar with slightly crushed whole cloves of garlic. Every time you go to the 'fridge, give it a good shake. Keep for  at least 24 hours. Now for the good bit - slice your home grown tomatos, a couple of red onions, shred a handful of basil and build up layers adding salt, sugar, pepper and a drizzle of your pre-made salad dressing to each layer. Cover with cligfilm and patience .... leave for 24 hours in the fridge. That bowl of goodies with some nice bread and butter will be a real treat.

I don't have much luck with tomatoes. Not enough sun I suspect. The chipmunks don't help either.  I was considering not bothering this year, but maybe I'll try again. I do love them. In any event, I will visit this summer's local farmer's market regularly for their tomatoes. I love them fresh; tomato sandwich!!!, and I enjoy making and freezing tomato sauce.  Sunday Gravy, mmmmm.  I have a couple jars of Sunday Gravy left inthe freezer, I think we'll have spaghetti with my meat sauce this Sunday. 

Started love affair with tomatoes with father who kept salt shaker in the garden for apple-like eating, uncountable fabulous tomato sandwiches with Hellman's mayo on white bread (or ANYthing), never enough fried green tomatoes, 5,637,242 tomato applications to recipes and finally, my latest tomato love is oven roasted tomatoes.......... When there are just too many or just a few...sliced and put on a sheet in a low slow oven for hours....keep for an amazingly long time and add a nuance of flavor to anything they are included in. Simple 20 minute sauce with onions and/or garlic and oven roasted tomatoes...no way to describe appropriate sigh of satisfaction.

Where we live the season is so short that it is very difficult to grow vegetables unless
one has a greenhouse. Also the elk and deer love to consume anything and everything they can reach. Does anyone have thoughts on types, looks, brands of greenhouses?

I'm trying again this year.  Our weather has been less than ideal, being very stingey on sunshine--which is basically the elixir of life for tomatoes.......so keeping fingers crossed.  Squirrels have, thankfully, found greener pastures or friendlier surroundings, so I'm not too worried about them this time, altho' I will be vigilant, of course.   Excitement is building as I anticipate that first juicy jewel fresh picked off the vine!

Knowledge is knowing that the tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in the fruit salad.

My dear, deceased wife, who trained me to say "tomahto" as her grandmother did, grew Zapotec Pleateds (rich, creamy) and Mister Stripeys (tart, apple-like).

We dabbled in Mesoamerican archaeology and realized that both "tomato" and "potato" are closely derived from words in Nahuatl, the Aztec language, and the A was most definitely pronounced 'ah'. So why indeed does nobody say "potahto"? Maybe that is too high-falutin' for the humble root vegetable (without which cooking is impossible), indicating that nothing is too high-falutin' for the noble fruit (same).

I need to break down and grow my own instead of stealing them from my mom's garden.  But Mr. P is wrong, money can buy homegrown tomatoes, mine does regularly at our local gardener's market...they just aren't grown at MY home.
 
Bring on tomato pie, BLTs, tomato grilled cheese, salsa fresca, and caprese salads!  *sigh*  Home grown fruits and vegetables get me through the summer just like the promise of daffodils and tulips gets me through the winter.  I long for early September and my first Flaming Fury peach!

By the way, several of the homes in our rather small and crowded subdivision have had topsy turvys hanging from their porch roofs, and none of them have survived.  Don't know if it has more to do with the product or the gardeners, but I've yet to see one produce a tomato.

sunvalleygirl******I have a friend who lives in Pagosa Springs, Co. and has a grow dome greenhouse.  I don't know if that's the brand or type, but she always calls it her grow dome and raises lots of things besides tomatoes successfully.   

Just planted the last of my four heirloom tomato plants.  The instructions that came with them said to plant on a cloudy day with no wind and to mulch well because weeding damagges the root system.  Got two plants in about 10 days ago, and then the weather went either very sunny or very rainy. 
 
If these guys make it, and they produce till cold weather I hope to bring them inside and hang them upside down on the back porch root and all.  Did that before, and we had ripe tomatoes for Thanksgiving dinner.  What a treat!

Sorry abouot that extra "g"

No help for the poor speller. 

Rusty, I have had my plants covered with green tomatoes in the fall and if I pick them and bring them inside, they ripen nicely on the counter. Maybe not quite as good as they would have been ripened on vine, but better than nothing. I don't think you need to bring in the whole plant. Does anyone know?  Is it better to bring in the whole plant in the fall?

It sounds silly but when you pick a fresh, ripe tomato and eat it while it is still warm, you can taste the sunshine.  Definitely don't get that with the grocery store varieties.

Sliced tomatoes, best thing since sliced bread.The Earl of Sandwich said that, I believe.Lunch time!!! MMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...Where is Miss Bebe?

Tomato preserves (jam).....yummy.

What a great "dispatch" from Mr. J Peterman...I can taste the tomatoes between the words...Thing is I've got deer.  And they love tomatoes and sunshine too.  I've tried before, it was wonderful to plant a dinner salad to be picked right before that dinner, and show off that real tomato red of real tomatoes in on or around the greens....But the deer, who are awfully dear, eat everything in the backyard from roses with thorns to peanuts and bird seed, and tomatoes don't last 5 minutes here.  I do have a lot of country road "neighbors" who plant gardens full of them, so a drive to their farms in the afternoon might not be the same as a walk in my own garden, but it works quite well.

I had tomato basil ice cream once, I think I prefer my tomatoes more savory than sweet.
 

Sugar on tomatoes, salt on watermelon - that was my dad.  I like most fruits un "re-touched" - as they are, clean and simple and just plain good.

Just roll a tomato by my front page and.....

I'm shaken,  awakened, inspired, and wide-eyed and bushy tailed by the promise of a ripe tomatoes that are yet to be.

 My parts are a bit sore and angry at the prospect yet they will revel in the task and my taste buds will praise their noble deeds when the veggie like fruits of their efforts are eventually picked and all of their toothsome expectations exceeded.

They will join a loaf of crusty-on-the-outside-soft-n-chewy-on-the-inside french bread that has not even dreamt of being baked and sea salt that is all revved up and waiting to be shaken.....

By the gods....i am on a quest!

Peace out.......and remember that any tomato is better than no tomato.  Just ask a rabbit and other such critters.

P.s., there is a very good reason that the men of the EyE refer to the wonderful ladies of the EyE as 'real tomatoes' when they are herded around the bar in the club car.  It is such a universally high compliment of course, on any world.

Park4 I like a little salt on my summer apples when they are still tart.

Making my mouth water!

I never tried that nachista, but I will.  The other culinary "rule" my dad followed without fail is the one that says cantaloupes must be served halved, seeds scooped out, and replaced with homemade vanilla ice cream...so good.   

HELLO Mr. PeterLake!  How good to see you!  And how sweet of you to be your normal sweet self,is it any wonder all the ladies on the Eye love you....no there is no wonder at all.  Perfectly obvious.    Now here's a question for any and all:  why the term "hot tomato" for a hot looking chick, way back in .. well, my Dad's day...like after WWII?   Is there something about a hot tomato that I don't know?  That I should have known decades ago?  Are we missing something by eating cold tomatoes?  Why are women tomatoes any way?  Men don't have a "he" vegetable - is there one?   I think if men were a vegetable, they would be ... okra.......;)  Or lima beans...;)

Why is my favorite thing to ask.  Did you notice?

I was just thinking about you,  Peter Lake, the other day--haven't heard from you in awhile, I was afraid you'd dropped out!

Park4, I can't think of any reference to a man as a vegtable, but I have heard the phrase, a long cool drink of water. When I hear that, I think of Gary Cooper. He fits that description.

Park, there was a commercial a few years back, or was it yesterday that was pro-tomato and their catch line was 'now nobody calls a woman an orange, do they?'

Men are refered to as 'couch potatoes' but would prefer 'stud muffins' i'm sure.

i marjorie, i doubt I could 'drop out' unless of course i happened to 'wink out' or as my Dad used to say...wear out my welcome. Just trying to follow the advice of Mr.Ed, the talking horse who never speaks unless he's got something to say and exercise those old listening skills i ket get out of shape.

I serve Tomatoes at almost every meal ... thick sliced, with some Sea Salt, Black Pepper, and a little Fresh Lime Juice ....... A marvelous Fruit, and so Healthful too ...
 
 
Time for me to Wish All the Village a Great Weekend  !!!
 
May You All Be Covered Up With All Good Things, and Everything That Makes You Happy !!!
Be Safe, Be Well, and Enjoy Yourselves With Family & Friends ... Leave Work Go Until Monday, and Eat Lots of Chocolate !!!
 
To Those of You Who Do ...   GOOD  SABBATH !!!!!!!
 
" O' Magnify The Lord With Me, and Let Us Exlat His Name Together ..."
 
May Our Rest Be Pleasing to Him Who Made The Sabbath For Us ...
 
 
Blessings Upon You All .......
 
 
IVAN

Thankyou Ivan and blessings to you and yours,x

Gonna do 'em in big pots this year...also did my herbs in pots, as they were taking over my lawn last year!  Back patio is lovely...no flowers this time, just yummy and very pretty salad stuff.  Cheers, and let's have some tomahtoes!!!

And to you IVAN!

Gary Cooper - oh Marjorie, now if he were a woman he'd be a hot tomato definitely.  Since he's not a woman (and we hot tomatoes are awfully grateful for this fact), and he's no lima bean or okra ;) - I like long cool drink of water.  He was tall and slim and (like PeterLake) listened more than he spoke,  and right now I'm thinking of Howard Rourk - and Patricia Neal who I was told when I was younger that men considered her a hot tomato, I didn't see it, but now I do...... I thought Paul Newman was cool as hell too.  But he wasn't tall, so long cool drink of water won't work for him, but oh that grin....always looking for trouble and smiling when he found it.  Okay, it's Friday, day to embarrass myself, so I'll just admit right here and now that I really liked Paul Newman, I thought Joanne Woodward was the luckiest woman in the world, and when Paul Newman died, I was really and truly upset, as though I'd known him.....And I'm not usually a person who gives one good goshdarn about movie stars, so that's why I'm embarrassed to admit to my lifelong crush on Paul Newman......"The Long Hot Summer" was and is one of my favorite movies ever.  So there.I said it.There's no artsy intellectual film that comes close to whatever kind of movie "The Long Hot Summer" is.....taught me a lot, gave me some good advice,  including: "Don't go slammin' the door in a fella's face before he's even knocked." ;)

Thank you Ivan and Good Shabbos to all.

Off to Outback for skinny margaritas ... Been a bad, bad week.

On subject. I believe I read that Paul Newman started his business with home grown tomatoes.

Growing up we would eat to atoes like apples....love them.

Park, you're secret's safe with us.

When I was a kid, I used to pick tomatoes to earn coins which I would exchange for tickets to the ball games and movies and to buy soda pop and popcorn.

It was a good life.

I would pick a basket of tomatoes, then choose the best ripe tomato I could spot and eat it right there in the hot, sunny tomato field.

All with the tomato farmer’s blessings, of course. That was part of my payment.

Then it was on to picking another basket of tomatoes.

Then eating another tomato.

Good life indeed.

Those were the days.

Wish they had gone on forever.

And, in the 20-20 vision of memory, they have.

I can taste those just-picked tomatoes to this day.

And all of that was more than a half century ago.

Park4, I'm with you on both Gary Cooper and Paul Newman.  Throw in Gregory Peck, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum and I think we could just refer to them as the 6 pack.

The Bloody Mary was first discovered during the great tomato glut of '54. Faced with a shortage of grapes, vintners put tomatoes in their stomping vats, hoping to create the first tomato wine.A Russian named Borolovsky was was quite enamored with a tomato stomper named Mary. While chasing her around the vat, he slipped on a tomato skin and spilled a bottle of vodka he had hidden in his pocket. And also sustained a minor cut. The vintner thought he had indeed created the first tomato wine. But Borolovsky knew better and named the drink Bloody Mary , because Mary was some tomato.  Author Unk.

Nachista, I'm with you 100%.  Oh yessss...............!

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..............Peter Lake how you DO turn a girl's head with all your sweet-talkin'! 

George: that is just such a "you" kind of joke...if you could see me I'm smiling so wide my new dental work hurts...but it's worth it.  ;)

Park4~ Smiling is a good thing!

May you all cruise through your weekend in a 1938 Hispano-Suiza Dubonnet Xenia with a crate of the finest Beefsteak Tomatoes for taking to your bungalow to prepare the summer treat insalata caprese - the simple combo of the juiciest, ripest fresh tomatoes with fresh basil, fresh mozzarella and rich green olive oil and I add Balsamic vinegar and onion (with preemptive antacids) and a Chianti Classico and put on some Dick Dale surf guitar...

TT:  wow that sounds good...I don't know who Dick Dale is though...I just spent an hour listening to 'Journey' and then another too-long period of time listening to the Eagles.  That's what happens when I trip and fall into YouTube.  It is a very time consuming place, in a very pleasant way, but I wish I hadn't listened to Henley and "The End of the Innocence" it makes me sad, and I forgot that Steve Perry's voice sends me into a semi permanent 80's reverie ... so I can't go there and look up Dick Dale, for my own good, I have this life here that I'm ignoring in the name of musical memories...

It is George.  I try to do it every day, a lot.  With your jokes, it isn't hard. ;) 

In honor of today's topic, just had a large salad loaded with all sorts of greens, beans, feta cheese and what seemed like a few pounds of cherry tomatoes.

Ah, happiness is mine.

Carol and all........ I just calls 'em as I sees 'em'....

Ivan, blessings your way and may the hair on you toes grow long and curly.

Park, i must have seen 'Cool Hand Luke' a dozen times when it was at the theartre. Gotta respect a man that can eat 50 eggs.

The Second Street Market in Dayton, OH--which used to be a railroad warehouse/depot for incoming and outgoing materials (maybe even tomatoes)--has a farmer's market two or three days a week, plus market stalls that sell the best lunch in town, in my opinion. One of the stalls buys up fresh beefsteak tomatoes from the farmers each morning the market is open, and serves them up in sandwiches on freshly baked multigrain bread.

Two slices of bread, a smear of their decadently delicious pesto and a slice of tomato that is as thick as my little finger. It doesn't need salt or any other condiment to make it awesome....

The Market is open tomorrow... maybe I should stop in for lunch after a morning at the pick-your-own strawberry place. Mmmmmm!

(Now if only my tomato starts that I got from Burpee will rejuvenate... I opened the box up, watered them, set them in indirect light for a day or so, and put them outside to get used to the environment before transplanting into the big pots by our front garden... and all of the leaves withered away and the stems drooped despite watering. One of the three plants has sprouted three tiny new leaves but I don't know if the others are going to survive or not... )

I am watching the clock.

Our farmer's market opens in a few hours.

The first of the home-grown tomatoes of the season should be there.

Plan to be first in line to buy some.

Then I plan to make my sin sandwich:

White bread.

Loads of salad dressing.

Thick slices of tomato.

A little salt and pepper.

That's it.

Then consume it in as few bites as possible.

Heaven.

Hurry sunup!