| "Tomatoes Are My Passion"
I am here to confess that tomatoes are
my passion, or at least one of them. Yes, the
"passion fruit" has been one of my favorite
foods since my earliest remembrances. Living in the
South we always had tomatoes around when I was growing
up. The man who lived behind us had a garden and one of
his proudest accomplishments was his tomato plants.
During the summer I remember lunch
always being tomato sandwiches - two slices of white
bread with lettuce, mayonnaise and sliced tomatoes in
the middle. For supper sometimes we would add bacon
strips to make it more of a meal. I am telling you that
kings didn't eat any better than that.
Tomatoes are also great to eat with
grits and eggs. Just slice them up and stir it all up
and you are eating good. They also go with mashed
potatoes and gravy, on hamburgers, in salads, and a
million other ways. Whenever I go to a restaurant, no
matter what I order, I always add, "And a side
order of sliced tomatoes, please."
Tomatoes are good year round, if you
can get them. I am such a fanatic that I even eat those
plastic things they call tomatoes in the winter. I have
found that in the colder months those oblong looking
ones taste better than others.
But it is in the summer that I am
happiest with the tomatoes I get. I have a friend who
has a garden and he brings me tomatoes by the bucket.
When he first started doing this I panicked. He brought
me a big pail full. I knew just by looking at it that if
I didn't eat them fast they would rot. I couldn't have
that happening. No sir!
So I began to eat those tomatoes like
they were going out of style. I was eating them with
every meal, and as in between snacks too, I even ate
them like fruit - just add some salt and munch away. I
ate so many that I developed acid bumps in my mouth. And
still I ate. I ate through my pain. And just when I had
the pail finished my friend brought me another one.
This time I did use some sense and
gave some of the tomatoes away. My mouth healed and I
had a pleasant, but not piggy time, eating more of these
God-given delights. They were so good and so sweet they
almost melted in your mouth.
Along with sliced tomatoes, I also
love tomato juice. When I say love it, I mean I LOVE IT!
Every morning for breakfast I have a glass of tomato
juice and a package of peanut butter and cheese
crackers. There is something about that combination that
is exquisite.
A few years ago I discovered something
about tomatoes I had never known. Supposedly one of the
ingredients in tomatoes is effective as a cancer
preventative. Have you ever heard that? Well I swear I
read it somewhere in something reputable. That was a
wonderful thing to learn. It just put the cosmos in
order once again.
Tomatoes look good, taste good, and
are good for you. How is that for the perfect nature of
things.
One more thing, yesterday my wife made
potato salad, cooked green beans, and bought some sliced
ham. As I fixed my plate I added so many slices of
tomatoes that you couldn't see what was underneath. But
as I said the blessing I was really feeling blessed. It
just doesn't get much better than this. |
