TOMATO AND BASIL

What a wonderful food pairing suggestion from my Facebook page (as well as the many others!).

Tomato

Though our tomatoes are not quite ripe yet, I had to include them...because of my mom. She has been asking me daily, "are the tomatoes ready yet?".

I am personally not a huge tomato fan, but my mom lives for them.

You can learn more about her tomato infatuation here...and more here (I seem to write a lot about this tomato craze).

Toma-Gnome (tow-may-gnome)

Did you know there are gnomes that work in your tomato patch at night? Maybe they can coerce me to like tomatoes more.

Thanks to my 8-year-old daughter for the name of this gnome. If you have some creative ideas for foodie gnome names, let me know and I just might include it this month.

Oh, and I wanted to mention that these gnome illustrations are painted on some neat oval drink coasters...that my neighbor found at a garage sale {thanks Leila!}.

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The Tomato Wagon

Sometimes we have so many tomatoes that we run out of places to store them. Often the wagon serves this purpose. Of course, this location allows visitors to grab a few for themselves too.

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Free Food: Coffee and Tomatoes

It seems there is always an abundance of two things...coffee and tomatoes. This overpopulation often results in free giveaways. Why, oh why do I not like either one?! Why can't I walk into an office and have someone offer me a piece of cheesecake or a bowl of ice cream? Or have someone leave a basket of brownies, day after day, in late summer with a sign that says "free for the taking." {print available}

24 Pounds

Americans eat approximately 24 pounds of tomatoes per person, per year (BellyBytes.com). Not liking tomatoes and all, I wonder if I consume that much just through ketchup and tomato soup? Hmmm....

Did you know that I have tomato notecards available? I almost forgot!

Good for You

Americans obtain more vitamins from tomatoes than from any other vegetable (BellyBytes.com). Ugh, I guess that means I should eat more tomatoes?

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The Tomato/Cucumber Swap

I love cucumbers and my husband loves tomatoes, but neither of us like the opposite. The result is the "swap". When we are at a restaurant peering into our mixed salads, we each poke the appropriate vegetable with our fork and gently place it in our spouse's salad. The result is a salad monoculture making us both happy.

My Obsessive Husband

Yes, my husband enjoys tomatoes too...and let me point out he does nothing small.

He collects RedWing dinnerware and pottery (we have a whole room dedicated to it), he loves hostas (we have over 200+ cultivars in our yard), he is a crafty carpenter (with a whole workshop full of tools), and he enjoys vegetable gardening. One year he planted hundreds of pumpkins and our whole front yard was covered in smiling jack-o-lanterns. The same year he planted over fifty tomato plants (about 15 different kinds).

Remember...I don't like tomatoes and my mom didn't even live close enough to enjoy one of them. I'm not even sure where they all went..neighbors, friends, canning??

Happy Tomato

Okay, so my mom is a tomato madwoman. In my childhood home rows of tomatoes often lined the countertop...all happily waiting to ripen for the next perfect tomato snack. Tomatoes on cottage cheese, tomatoes on burgers, or sliced tomatoes with a simple sprinkle of salt. I just lived my parallel tomato-less life.

Gravel, Grass and Growing Tomatoes

Imagine living in a 1970s ranch with a gravel driveway, a sloping lawn, one single mulberry tree, and a lone tomato plant. That is my garden history.

My parents were not gardeners, so our yard was devoid of all those shrubby extras. There was only one plant that my mom mastered: the tomato.

Her love for that juicy vegetable meant one green plant always grew between our small concrete path and the house foundation.

Vegetable by Law

Botanically speaking tomatoes are fruit. In the culinary world they are vegetables. Here is an interesting tidbit...in 1883 the tomato was legally defined as a vegetable. Why? Find out more here. Thanks to Leila for sharing this via Facebook.

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A Culinary Term

The word "vegetable" is actually a culinary term, not a botanical one. When cooking, the tomato is indeed a vegetable, but if studying botany it would be referred to as a fruit.

Does that clear it up for you?

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Fruit or Vegetable?

We've all heard someone say this at one point..."Did you know that a tomato is really a fruit?" Botanically speaking, tomatoes are indeed fruit, as well as, cucumbers, peppers, and anything with seeds inside it.

A broad definition from Wikipedia: a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.

The fleshy part is a trick to encourage animals (including us) to eat seeds and in-turn disperse them. You know, the plant kingdom has to survive somehow.

So what exactly is a "vegetable"? Check in tomorrow.

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My Secret

I don't like tomatoes. So why in the world am I dedicating a whole month of illustrations to them? Two reasons...first, I have a lot of personal tomato stories (strange as it is) and second, I really love drawing tomatoes. They are quite happy-looking. It's not that I hate tomatoes, it's just that I really don't love the taste of them (at least in the raw state).

The Tomato Chronicles

This month I'll be sharing my quirky relationship with the tomato. It will include the good, the bad and the saucy. I hope to see you around the garden!

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Three Tomatoes

As we wind down the year I thought I'd mention that by February I should have a new, updated, snazzy website. I'm trying to pull all my thoughts and art together more cohesively. If there is anything you'd ever like me to do or try with food art, please let me know. I love trying new things. {oh, happy b-day juls!!} {print available}

Birds and Tomato

I think it's really interesting that I keep drawing something that I really don't love to eat. It just shows that aesthetics are most important to me when it comes to painting food. {print available}

Carrots Popping

My husband just pulled a ton of carrots out of the garden. Tomatoes are now dwindling and the carrots are popping.

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Flying Tomatoes

It seems that tomatoes are just flying out of our garden. I think we picked about 50 the other day. It made my mom very happy - being the tomato lover she is.

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