Life is certainly . . . well . . . messy.

Which is, of course, one of the many things that makes it interesting and, consequently, worth living.

Now, against the backdrop of that simple truth, picture about a million tomatoes thrown hither and yon by a bunch of crazy, screaming Spaniards on a hot day in August . . .

"La Tomatina" is a food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the town of Buñol in the Valencia region of Spain. On the 27th of August, tens of thousands of participants hurled more than one hundred metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes at each other. I'm not making this up. ABC and a bunch of other new agencies have reported on it (and Wikipedia discusses it at length), so it must be true.

You can find more pictures here.

Mmmmm...Brushetta

We made our first batch of salsa and very yummy brushetta this weekend. My hubby, Joe, has a very simple delicious recipe:

Yummy Brushetta

sliced italian or french bread--sliced on a diagonal is pretty
3-4 medium to large fresh tomatoes--any variety will do
2-3 sprigs fresh basil
olive oil--extra virgin is best
asiago cheese--shredded plus extra for garnish
chopped sweet onion--optional, to taste
freshly ground black pepper
fresh parlsey for garnish--optional

Chop tomatoes, basil, and onion. Mix gently and place in bowl to chill while preparing bread.

Drizzle olive oil over bread slices, and top with asiago cheese. Broil just a few minutes until cheese melts. Top with freshly ground pepper. Spoon tomatoes and basil onto bread. Garnish with shredded asiago cheese and a sprig of parsley. Serve while bread is still warm. Makes about 4 servings.

Enjoy. This is a wonderful side for grilled chicken, or steak. It also makes a wonderful meal by itself.

This is a very simple, but delicious recipe. It's one of our favorites!!

save the date • September 20th

Hi fellow One Hundred Positives! I have set a date for our end of summer celebration — I hope this date works for everyone. The date is Saturday, September 20, 2008. The One Hundred Positives celebration will be held in along with the closing reception for my work “I will see you in the Garden” in the garden space of moxieDaDa Galley from 1pm until 4 or 5pm-ish. (1416 Arch Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15212) It will be a picnic-style potluck party celebration. I would like all the One Hundred Positives people to included tomatoes in their pot luck contribution — BUT — this is not a requirement! If you’d rather bring cheese and crackers or a large plate of double dark dark chocolate chip cookies — by all means do so. :—))

It will be helpful to me to know what dishes people are planning to bring to this celebration, so that I can fill in with whatever will be needed to make a nice balance of food items — so let me know either by leaving a comment here, emailing, calling, carrier pigeon or in person.

Things I might need — if you can help me out with any of these things I would greatly appreciate it:
1) Portable charcoal grills
2) Tables for food

( I will be sending out an email invitation soon.)

What a difference a month makes.

It's been one month since I last posted...and, man oh man, have those two plants grown! I can't even see the flowers I planted or the silver globes below the tomatoes anymore. Lots of little yellow flowers, lots of baby tomatoes, lots of not-so-baby tomatoes, but I'm still waiting for the first tomato to ripen – but it seems from this link (albeit from a completely different growing zone than us) that I should just appreciate everything a tomato plant does and just be more patient. [twiddling my thumbs]

!!! fellow tomato-ees, check out this site !!!
www.tomatofest.com

A name is not just a name

Before Rose started her tomato projects this year, I must admit I thought of tomatoes as plants. They were plants with wonderful tasty fruits and "itchy" leaves. Nothing else. I enjoyed them, but they were just plants. Now that all of this has taken place, all of that has changed. I am seeing tomato articles and recipes EVERYWHERE! Were they there in past years? I don't know, I didn't take much notice. I also never paid much attention to the names of the tomato varieties we planted. That started to change as I heard Rose talk of different types of plants she should grow this year. The names were interesting. Then I ran across an article in our local newspaper magazine about a guy who stumbled upon heirloom tomatoes 30 years ago from a chance meeting with an old Portuguese farmer. He spoke of sampling "Kellogg's Breakfast", "Brandywine", and "Cherokee Purple", and how these flavors blew him away. The vision of stumbling across this old farmer on a hot, dusty summer day drew me in. This was a website I had to check out. It took me about a month, but finally I typed in that web address. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. Anything and everything about heirloom tomatoes was there. About 600 varieties of tomato seeds for sale? I didn't know that many even existed! I looked farther to see wonderful descriptions and any known history these tiny seeds held. Families send seeds to this guy, Gary Isben, to grow and preserve for future generations to enjoy. You need to check out this site also: http://www.tomatofest.com/ . I started to notice names like: "Indian Moon", "Early Annie","Hillbilly", "Ella's Pink Plum", Elmer's Old German", and "Homer Fike's Yellow Oxheart" . They suddenly were more than just names. Ella and Elmer were instantly a couple. My vision for next year is as follows: Ella and Elmer will stand at the entrance to my garden welcoming visitors, and reminding them to visit again soon! Homer Fike and that old Hillbilly will be fussing further into my garden near my sweet onions and wonderful bell peppers. Tender herbs will grow at "Belle's" feet, being protected from the summer sun under her tall strong leaves, all ripening perfectly to become the world's best salsa. Along a meandering path, will be rambling cucumbers, and my girls giant pumpkins growing strong in the summer sun. My girls will be the ones darting in and out of their sweet corn maze, playing hide and seek. "Ruth's Perfect", and "Pink Accordian", also heirloom tomatoes, will grow in a special place in honor of my Mom and Dad. It may seem odd to plant a "pink" tomato for a dad, but my Dad was from Ireland, and quite the jovial accordian player. It seems like a good fit. "Beam's Yellow Pear" and "Austin's Red Pear" cherry tomatoes, will grow for you, Rose, to create more wonderful edible works of art! This is my vision of the perfect garden. Beautiful, plants grown and enjoyed with love, by people who love each other, all the while having fun on a lazy summer day. Yes, fresh squeezed lemonade will be sipped under the old apple tree!!