last tomato standing

You may remember when Sam and I picked the last of the green tomatoes before some hard frosts back in early December. Yesterday we ate the last four of those kitchen-ripened tomatoes. The one above was the only one of the four without rotten spots. Overall we probably ended up composting about 20% of what we picked, but otherwise that huge harvest has been slowly ripened and consumed. I never did figure out how to use green tomatoes because I was too busy making salads, sandwiches, stirfries, sauces, and snacks. The texture and flavor was not as good as summertime vine-ripened tomatoes, but fresh homegrown tomatoes in January? No complaints here. Last night I added them to homemade pesto from the freezer for a simple pasta meal. Delicious.

scene: kitchen table, sam and me munching on chips and salsa

sam says: mmm, I like salsa.
me: I like salsa too....in fact, I love salsa.
sam: in fact, I love salsa too.

to know me is to know why this post is blog-worthy.

hello 2010

When your 3-year-old asks to save a dandelion and "put it in water," and discovers soft moss in all the sidewalk cracks,


And when even your boring suburban neighborhood has a bit of pretty open space,


you can forget for a little while all the challenges 2010 has thrown at you, your family, and your fellow humans around the world already. 2010, I really hope this is just a bad start to a great year.