The Last Tomato

This was an odd year for tomatoes: I had a good number on the early side, such that they were coming in heavy just as we departed for vacation at the start of August. When we returned there was a cold snap and ripening pretty much stopped. Some business travel meant that a number went to waste, and oddly, when the cold weather really hit, there were few unripe fruits on the vines.

But I put those few fruit in a bowl in the kitchen next to some apples, along with some habaneros that I'd meant to put straight into the fridge. Within a few days the chiles had turned yellow and orange, and the tomatoes slowly started turning too. As has happened in past years, most of the fruit develops weeping wounds or shriveled before fully ripening.

But one tomato made it -- luckily I remembered that it was a yellow variety, and didn't wait for it to go any further. A quick lunch salad of boston lettuce, thin-sliced cuke, wedges of yellow tomato, green onion, diced jalapeno, crab picked from leftovers from the group dinner at Penang, chow mein noodles and an oil-free dressing of sweet chile sauce, fish sauce and lime juice made for a wonderful lunch.

I forgot to take a picture of that last ray of sunshine, saved, like Frederick, for a cold day.