Well Earl’s right. Deborah and I were in Europe. Italy to be exact. We got back last week and I’ve been trying to get caught up ever since.
The gardens were/are a mess and the tomatoes are particularly depressing. I talked myself out of putting up my fencing this year and I’m paying the price. The deer have eaten the tops off most of the plants around the perimeter and the raccoons, rabbits, opossums and squirrels have been having a feast on the nearly ripe fruit. I spent most of this past weekend constructing a make shift fence in hopes of salvaging something from this year’s effort only to find more fruit on the ground this morning. It might be time to hire Elmer Fudd to sit in the garden with his shotgun.
If things don’t improve I will be bringing precious little in the way of tomatoes to the Taste Fest. Can I bring peppers instead? Maybe an eggplant or two? The varmints seem to leaving those alone so far. Don’t worry Tom-Ato (Ken) we’ll still bring brownies.
I did smuggle a few tomato seeds home in my suitcase. I scooped up what appeared to be some San Marzano seeds from my dinner plate one night while in Florence. Then we went to a COOP Market in Sienna (like a Sam’s Club or Costo with a full grocery). We asked a few folks if we needed to be a member and they said ‘yes’ but we didn’t let that stop us. I found some nice tomatoes down the produce isle. Picked out a ‘Rossi Nostr’ and a ‘Canestrino’ and headed for the register. Found out I was supposed to weigh them before I got there. I shrugged my shoulders. The cashier just stared at us with a disgusted look and headed off to the scales. When he came back he said something in Italian (I think he was asking for our membership card). I just said ‘no capire’. He kind of grunted and said ‘one Euro’. I handed him a 1 Euro coin, said ‘Grazie’ and headed for the exit. I think he was muttering ‘stupid Americans’ as we walked out the door. So, I’ll plant a couple of seeds of each next year and see what I get.
Even if my offerings are a bit less than usual I’m still looking forward to seeing everyone, tasting great tomatoes (we can always count on Earl for a great selection) and sampling fine food.
See ya’ll on the 18th.
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Jerry
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