my tomato advise

when the garden gods present you with a perfectly ripen HBPL tomato...... EAT IT!!!!!!

oh the horror. another HBPL ruined by my old friend procrastination. you'd think that with the HBPL shortage in the garden, i'd get right to eating them. but no, i just keep telling myself "i'll eat it tomorrow." well that attitude has lead to not one... not two.... but three ruined HBPL tomatoes. the first two rotted right there on the vines. i saw that they were ripening, but i keep telling myself "i'll cut them off and eat them for dinner tomorrow." oops, not so much, yucky white slimy mold. and then this little miracle, pictured above, was found one night when i was out watering the garden. there she sat in the dirt. a perfect little tomato broken free of the mother plant. just sitting there hanging out in the oregano. no bruises, no blemishes or cracks, no spots where the buggies had been munching on her. just ripened HBPL perfection. so i picked her up, dusted her off, and brought her inside to hang with the other garden treasures on the breakfast table. everyday i admired her, but still i kept telling myself, "i'll eat it tomorrow." well "tomorrow" finally came on sunday. i was ready to eat her, and that's when i discovered the horror!!!!! funky black circles of mushiness and some sort of strange pinkish powdery mold!!!!!!!! urgh!!!! so folks, my advise is this..... when the garden gods present you with a perfectly ripen HBPL tomato...... EAT IT!!!!!!

so, to follow my own advise i, right then and there, took my other HPBL tomatoes and made a tart. and not just any tart. i made THIS most awesome of all awesome tomato tarts. so easy, soooooo delicious. you see, i have a secret. i don't like tomatoes. no wait, hear me out. i don't like tomatoes on their own. some folks can cut up a tomato, put it in a bowl with a bit of salt and pepper and go to town. i can't. something about the texture of a tomato on it's own freaks me out. but a sliced tomato on a piece of toast with a hit of pesto and cheese, now that's heaven on a plate. hence the procrastination with the tomato consumption. to eat it, i would have to make something, and lately i've been lazy. but sunday was a day of discovery. from now on, i am all about savory tarts. especially when i got a perfectly ripe HBPL tomato sitting on my table.

a mix of tomatoes and oregano from my garden. 

easy as pie tart shell.

before and after. yummy!