Tomatoes arrive!

They've been holding the farmers market for several weeks already but unless there are local vegetables to be had why bother?  The farm-raised eggs, the local bison, the flowers and jams and the coffee-and-omelet special aren't on my shopping list, no matter what the season.  But last week we thought maybe there would be tomatoes.

There were!















And they tasted like actual ripe tomatoes!  Maybe not as deep red and magnificent as in August, but definitely worth savoring in the first tomato sandwich of the year.  I hope they'll be good all summer.

Out of season

On Friday I received my new copy of Fine Cooking, a magazine that I generally love.  But it did nothing to raise my spirits this time.  Outside it was 102 degrees and inside we were dragging around, thankful for air conditioning but too hot and cranky to want anything but watermelon for dinner. 

But for Fine Cooking, it's Thanksgiving!  Yes, this is the October/November issue, never mind that it arrived on September 2. 

Haven't these people heard of immediate gratification?  There was nothing in the magazine that I even wanted to think about until the temperature drops 40 degrees.  Besides roast turkey, we got articles on brussels sprouts, chili and beets.  By the time fall actually comes, this magazine will be long disappeared into my piles of lost ships.

While I was leafing through the magazine I came upon a recipe that mystified me.  It called for "1 tsp. green cardamom pods, cracked, black seeds removed and pods discarded."  What's left?