As July moved into its groove, so did the two cherry tomato plants in the kitchen garden, spreading wildly and overtaking everything, and me standing alongside powerless and clueless about how to make their vines more manageable. And the output! The Candyland cuties were first to reach the abundance target, and the joy of daily harvesting grew to be joined with a realization that there sure were a lot of 'em! I was putting plenty of them on the occasional salad and I was giving away as many as I could. And still they came. From a search of the interwebs, coming to the rescue in the face of this general summertime dilemma, emerged a recipe for cherry tomatoes galette, another chance to work with pie dough, and a fine result that was less worrisome because it was turned into a very forgiving galette.
That was the evening meal this past Sunday night.
The dessert was worth writing home about, too: another slice of the previous evening's strawberry cake, plus some of the remaining dense and chewy vanilla ice cream that I'd kept stowed away in the freezer. Since Sunday was National Ice Cream Day, well...
I'd also decided to try making salsa using cherry tomatoes (not that there's anything wrong with that), and the first batch of it was made the previous weekend. A fresh summer treat like this is hard to mess up, and I loved the kick and bounce of that terrific blend.
The other snackable I made while I was at it was pimento cheese, aspiring towards what's come to be known as the Palmetto style for this appetizer. I pretty much go with my instincts each time I throw it together but you can grab a guiding recipe I wrote up by clicking on the link below.
Finally, a quick dip into the negativity pond: the pleasant sunshine and relative quiet of that Sunday morning was shattered, literally, by the asshat circled in this photo, who felt the best use of the Corona bottle he was holding, just as he passed a row of regular and recycling sanitation carts, was to smash it with all his might between my neighbors' two vehicles. (This stretch of North Spring Street lies between the bus stop to the south and the methadone clinic around the corner to the north, so lots of folks who do not live around here are using that route.) Because this occurred just as I was poised to scoop Sumner's poop as he was doing his business, I had timely eyewitness positioning while obscured from their direct view.
Two quick photo snaps that they were unaware of helped me record them for posterity and possible future reporting; then, to the tool collective I went to fetch work gloves and sweeper and dustpan so that I could get up all the shattered fragments that I could see. Quite the sight for neighbors and passersby, the old man sweeping in the middle of Spring Street, the story of his determined labor an enigma. I'm glad they all accept me for who I am, to the best of my knowledge.
Based on "Cherry Tomato Tart," from Hank Shaw of Hunt Gather Cook. [Published 09 August 2021]
"Quick & Easy Cherry Tomato Salsa," from Kari Anderson of SouthernBytes.com. [Published 03 September 2020]
"South Carolina-Style Pimento Cheese." Recipe worked out by me, based on Sharon's Palmetto Pimento Cheese.
