Monday, March 14, 2011

Tomatoes eleven ways.

I was a fat and happy baby.

The pediatrician asked my mom what she was feeding me. She nervously said she was feeding me formula. And they both looked at this big, fat, chubby baby on the examining table with big blue eyes looking up at them. I was grinning ear to ear.

He then asked my mom how she was diluting it. Because back then the formula came in a concentrated form in a can and you had to dilute it with water.  My poor mom had one of those "Uh oh." moments. "Diluting it?" she asked? "I didn't know I was supposed to dilute it. I just pour it in the bottle." she said. I'm sure the doctor acted very professional but was cracking up inside. He then calmly explained to my nervous mom that by not diluting it she was essentially feeding me heavy cream. No wonder I was so fat and happy!

I went on my first diet when I was about five months old.

this is me at 5 months
Needless to say, the new diluted-formula-diet trimmed my chunky body immediately.

I don't think I was really digging this new formula though. I was hungry. So I started grabbing food off the kitchen table and eating it - including tomatoes. There must not have been any bread and butter within reach.

I can picture how my mom would have reacted as she turned around and saw me stuffing my face with a tomato. Especially after being scolded by the pediatrician. I would bet anything she immediately grabbed the Dr. Spock book to see if tomatoes were ok for babies.

In the meantime, I sat in my little wooden high chair, with the spindle columns, and my pudgy little fingers were grabbing tomatoes and stuffing them in. Imagine how fun it must have been smashing juicy tomatoes on the tray of my high chair, sucking the juice, and gumming the meaty flesh with juice running down my face and my fat little arms. (I know saying "flesh" sounds a bit creepy and weird like something out of an Anthony Hopkins movie. But that's what it's called, right?)

Tomatoes are still one of my very favorite vegetables. I know it's technically a fruit, but to me it's a vegetable. Here are my top ten 11 favorite ways to eat a tomato.

#11 Spicy Bloody Mary. Cheers!
#10 Mediterranean Herb Dip with sun-dried tomatoes
#9 Vodka Sauce over lobster ravioli
#10 Roasted plum tomatoes served with a steak
#7 Homemade Salsa with fresh tomatoes, cilantro and lime
#6 Creamy tomato soup with a gooey grilled cheese sandwich
#5 Homemade pasta sauce with turkey meatballs
#4 Caprese Salad with fresh mozzarrella and basil
#3 Heirloom tomato salad with basil vinaigrette
#2 BLT on sourdough toast
#1 Cherry tomatoes right off the vine (or straight out of the carton)




What's your favorite?

Sorry for the lameness of the TRDC post. I was having an off day. It happens. Today's topic: tell us about your favorite fruit or vegetable. I have so many favorites I had a hard time deciding. I settled on the tomato. I could easily have written about corn, or strawberries, or raspberries, or apples, or potatoes. I was so hung up on picking the perfect one it totally ruined the moment for me. Oh well.

1 comment:

Thanks for your feedback!

~Kris