Up All Night

 

The Fruits of Summer

So, yes, I am a Nite Owl. 

I am starting this at midnight. The Man in the Moon is barely visible from the window over my kitchen sink; he's risen so high. Most of the living room lights in the neighborhood are out. 

I am putting away the remains of my tomato sandwich supper.  I was thrilled, absolutely thrilled when offered a few garden tomatoes yesterday from a stamping friend. My husband has purchased some from the market and made sandwiches already, but those were just not real tomatoes; they did not grow in Rich's garden. They were not picked by Rich's hands once they had ripened after the watering and the staking. They just were not real tomatoes. (Rich, by the way, is just a name. I do not know who grew my tomatoes; they came from a New Jersey garden, though.)

One disadvantage (perhaps) to being a Nite Owl is that I am not up for the sunrise very often so I do not get to the farmers markets before they close or the orchards before the sweltering southern summer heat and humidity makes it impossible to function.

So that ripe, juicy home grown tomato and mayo sandwich was so delicious. The simplicity of white bread (stick to the roof of your mouth white bread), slathered with mayonnaise, stuffed with thick slices of tomato generously salted and peppered is summer paradise.

If prepared correctly, you don't even make it to the table to sit and eat it; most of the time you don't even cut it in half and you just may have to eat it standing over the sink. Now, if you think I have lost all of my manners and sense of decorum, you are wrong. This is just how you do tomato sandwiches.

Sorry for a stock photo, but I was already finshed before I even thought about taking a picture. And upon closer inspection of this photo, it appears as though the bread has been toasted! Heresy! Do not toast your bread, please. If you want to add other ingredients and make a different sandwich toast away, use artisan bread and gourmet dressing even.

There was one occasion just a couple of summers back in which the tomato sandwich rules were broken, but for the best of reasons. It was a girls weekend away. We traveled to the mountains of North Georgia. A cozy family cabin was home base for our daytrips. We brought only breakfast foods because we were planning to eat locally all along the way. 

Our hostess supplied fresh tomatoes, mayo and bread. Breakfast! And I added the chips.  We sat around the kitchen table all morning long catching up over tea,  sandwiches and chips. Of course, I was always the last to the table because even though we chatted all night, they still got up with the sun. Someone always has to be last, and I am ok filling that role.

One of the nicest things about our girls get aways is that there aren't any rules.  On our last morning that trip we ate ice cream cake for breakfast. We eat whatever and whenever; we buy whatever. We stop along the road whenever one of us spys an interesting shop or hole in the wall, or food establishment.

Besides tomatoes, I have been thinking about peaches lately. I have not been peach picking; it was on the summer to do list and I thought the grandboys might like to go along. The grandboys start school this week! 

I have been busy crafting peachy cards, though. Perhaps that's driven my appetite. Oh, no; we're coming into everything pumpkin season, I am in trouble!

This card design reminds me of a vintage kitchen tablecloth.

And this reminds me of picking in the peach orchards on Rt. 17

If you haven't had your fill of peaches yet this summer, the You're A Peach Suite is available in the 2021 - 2022 Anual Catalog; see pages 60 - 61 and the gorgeous Designer Series Paper is shown on page 134.  Click on the Shop Now button on this website to shop, or contact me to order. 

You know, that peach stamp could serve as a tomato...

Let's stamp!