The First BLT of the Season

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One of our favorite traditions revolves around the very first home grown tomato of the summer. We typically see this special tomato somewhere around the Fourth of July. This year, we saw it the week before that.We watch our plants in anticipation, awaiting the ripening, and planning it around a Saturday afternoon. As it ripens we evaluate. Picking it too soon ruins the entire event. We don’t know what would happen if we picked it too late, because that, somehow, has never been a problem.When it reaches just the right ripeness, we sping into action. We buy the best fresh loaf of hearty bread that we possibly can. We have a nice goat cheese on hand. We make sure that there’s arugula…. and then we put together the best BLT of the year.

Served with a bottle of wine and a bit of jazz while sitting on the back deck and enjoying the summer, it is something that we look forward to all year long.

The First Tomato of the Season

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At our house, there is nothing more anticipated than the first tomato of the season. Not the first tomato that we buy… but the first tomato that we go to the backyard and pick off the vine. There is nothing that comes close to that unbelievable taste.

Tradition dictates that we make a BLT out of our first tomato, and so that is what we did this year. It was no ordinary BLT, though. This year it was layered with the usual bacon and tomato, along with crumbled chevre, fresh basil and arugula.

Heaven!

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