Last night I stopped at the little produce cart the man down the street from me sets up every Summer. I go by his cart almost every day and if he has tomatoes or cut flowers, i stop and buy them from him. There is something so satisfying about buying from this man who takes so much pride in his produce and flowers. And i like eating food that has been raised in the soil very much like my own. This may be the last time i get tomatoes from him as we had temperatures close to freezing last night. These tomatoes show the ravages of late Summer/early Fall weather on their mottled skins. But they are still delicious!
I have been buying up all the local tomatoes i see around me and bring them home to make a simple sauce, and then i spoon the cooled tomato sauce into zip lock bags and freeze it. I never did learn how to can, so this is the next best thing for me. I just clean and chop the tomatoes and put them in my favorite pot to stew a bit. Sometimes i add my own fresh basil leaves, with a bit of sugar, salt and pepper. Then when i am so tired of ice and snow, and am dreaming of warm weather, i pull the frozen mixture out of the freezer and make up a pot of fresh sauce that tastes like Summer on a plate in the middle of Winter. Delicious! Oh! The zinnias are from my friend's stand too. I bought them for Kate for her shop. She loves zinnias....