With bated breath I await that first tomato from my garden.
Currently, all our tomato vines are prospering. Nancy’s little cage and above-ground potted plants on the patio looks like a tomato jungle with lush vines and lots of small to medium size green tomatoes. My tomatoes in the ground garden also look healthy. This year I planted one cherry tomato plant for salads, and I had one volunteer Abraham Lincoln hybrid tomato plant that sprung up. I also have three other vines from plants that the folks at the Corner Garden Store in Ruckersville gave me because someone had removed the tags and they couldn’t sell unidentified plants. I planted the mystery plants just the same, hoping they would be large tomatoes, and they are. Right now I have one big, plump tomato that is just beginning to turn color. By next week, I hope to be making my first bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich with real tomatoes, not cheap imitations trucked in from Bolivia.
My idea of the ideal BLT includes the following. Two pieces of fresh Texas Toast – substantial bread that will hold a lot of goodies. Maybe I’ll toast it, maybe not. On the bread, I think I will spread a slather of Hellmann’s Mayonnaise. Dukes is a close second, but recently I have enjoyed the smooth, eggy consistency of Hellmann’s. No BLT is complete with a couple strips of Wright’s Bacon, extra thick and fried to a crispy brown. Add some crisp lettuce, loads of kosher salt and coarse black pepper and you’ve got yourself a genuine BLT. I can’t wait.
Now, if I can just keep the damned squirrels from eating that first tomato, I will be okay.