Ebony's Pearls

Tomato Stackers
Originally uploaded by nodigio

In the spirit of using up as many ripe tomatoes as possible, I present to you a yummy, simple tomato salad called Tomato Stackers.

You'll need large slicing tomatoes (I grew Whoppers this year), basil, toasted chopped pecans, shredded mozzarella, mesclun mix of fresh greens, olive oil, red wine vinegar, pepper, garlic powder, sea salt, summer savory, thyme, parsley, rosemary, oregano, and chamomile flowers.

Chiffonade the basil - roll the leaves up and slice it very thinly. Toss the basil with the shredded mozzarella and toasted pecan pieces and set aside. Mix the olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and herbs to make a vinaigrette.

Core the tomato by cutting out the stem in a "V" cut. Turn the tomato on its side and make 3 or 4 deep gashes without cutting all the way through the tomato.

Spoon a small amount of vinaigrette into each cut of the tomato.

Stuff the cuts with the mozzarella mix.

Arrange the tomato stackers on a bed of mesclun and drizzle the rest of the vinaigrette over it

Chill at least an hour before serving.

I don't offer exact amounts because it depends upon how big your tomatoes are and how many you're making.

I cut each of my tomato stackers in half so they make an excellent small side salad. Left whole, they make an entire meal.

Tomato Trifle
Originally uploaded by nodigio

Today was a potluck at work.

I was planning on making monkey-faced cupcakes and adding a note that said, "Time to quit monkeying around and get back to work." I felt it was appropriate because 2/3 of our staff usually takes vacation during the summer months and next Monday is the day when almost everyone has to be done with their vacations and back at work (ain't "seasonal" work grand?). Sure, we can still take vacations during fall, winter, and spring (that's when I generally do), but few people take much time off during those months, opting for summer vacations instead.

Summer heat is what stopped me from baking all those cupcakes. I have no real air conditioning in my house and I don't have the wiring to support more than one small window unit (which cools the living room because that's where all the caged critters are and they need the cooling). The rest of the house can get Very Hot even without the oven being on.

So I decided to a little something with all the tomatoes, basil, cilantro, parsley, savory, rosemary, and sage growing in my garden.

I made a Tomato Trifle.

It is insanely simple to make.

Go to the store and buy 32 ounces of creme fraiche (or crema de salvadorena, or even sour cream or whole milk yogurt), 6 ounces of pine nuts, 4 limes, some olive oil, some red wine vinegar, ground cayenne pepper, and sea salt. If you don't have a loaf of stale french bread, buy a day old loaf.

Cube up the bread, toss it lightly with a hint of olive oil and a blend of Italian herbs, then toast it (unless you've already done so and vacuum sealed quarts of seasoned bread crumbs back when it was cooler).

Go out to the garden and harvest tomatoes, basil, cilantro, summer savory, rosemary, and sage (I have 3 kinds of basil growing: lemon basil, Thai basil, and purple basil).

Now make your pesto - 2 cups' worth - with basil, oil, pine nuts, and a touch of red wine vinegar.

Now make the lime cream: Mix cayenne pepper, sea salt, chiffonaded basil, the zest from all 4 limes, and the juice from all 4 limes. Chill the pesto and lime cream while you chop the tomatoes.

About 2 or 3 hours before serving, assemble the trifle: put a thin layer of half your bread cubess in the bottom of a trifle bowl. Spoon a layer of chopped tomatoes over this. Top this with 1 cup of pesto - spread a ring around the outside edge so the pesto shows through the trifle bowl, then dot the middle - spreading it is hopeless because the tomatoes want to cling to the pesto and your spoon and it's an exercise in frustration to get a nice even layer, so I don't bother. Dotting works for me. Then, top that with about half the lime cream. Repeat your layers: bread cubes, chopped tomatoes, pesto, lime cream. Garnish with a row of cilantro, a mid-row of chopped tomatoes, and a center of purple basil.

Let it stand to soften the bread cubes and the flavors sort of meld for a couple of hours (chill it if it's really hot, but if the temp is in the 70's or under, you can leave it out for an hour or so)

Scoop it up as a yummy salad.

No, but only because we haven't developed the science yet to explain the inexplicable. We may never develope the science to learn it all. We may also choose to not explore every little nuance and event.

I don't feel the need to explain everything.

Oh,and no running,which istoughwhen training puppies

I'd hoped the healing would be farther along by now. I expected it to be farther along by now. Usually,I heal fast, When I know what the problem is, I can speed the healing tremendously. Broken bones heal in 2-3 weeks, cuts and scrapes in days, and bruises in hours.

I know the damage to my knees. I've taken the treatments the doctor prescribed, but I think that's what's caused the delays in healing. I should do what I usually do, which is use the doctor for tests and a diagnosis, them go off and handle the healing on my own.

Now, I not only have to heal the damage from the accident, I have to heal whatever it is the doctor did.

I don't want to spend any more time than I have to healing from what should be a straight forward injury. It's not like I was seriously or permanently injured.

So,I got a few more kiddie wading pools so I can get a fall garden in.

I've got a new tomato up and almost ready to transplant.My fall peas and beans are sprouting in their beds. The fall radishes and lettuces are planted, and I've got the strawberries moved to their new bed. Here's hoping the roly polies don't follow.

With the extra pools, I'll put in a perennial herb garden and a dedicated basil bed.

My blueberries gave up their harvest, but the heat did permanent damage to them. Perhaps next spring,I'll try them in a different location and be better prepared for the extreme heat waves we get up here. A burlap canopy and a water bag will both be helpful.

One thing I want to investigate next year is using horse water troughs as kind of "earth boxes" - a blend between hydroponics and a soil garden. They are 2' deep, 6' long and 2' wide, so they'll be good for root crops like carrots, parsnips, beets,and such.

And next week, I check my potatoes to see how well they've done. I'm glad I only did 3 bags this year, because the bags I used were too small. The potatoes had to be flailed early,so I doubt I'll get the size crops I've gotten in the past. Since the potato blight never reached here (too dry, too hot), I should still have a decent crop anyway - maybe 15 pounds per bag instead of the usual 20 pounds per bag.

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