Until a few minutes ago, I was wondering what to do tonight.  Saturday and Sunday are mostly mapped out, but tonight was still a void of nothingness.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy unplanned time, I just had to think through what to do with the luxury of having no pressing projects or cleaning needs to fill that space.

The new books cart rolled by somewhere in the middle of that train of thought, and inspiration struck.  We look at the new books that arrive at the library every day to see what other people ordered and to see how the collection is developing, etc.  It’s also a good time to snag new books that haven’t already been placed on hold for someone else.  And snag I did.

Today’s book of choice is Tomato: A fresh-from-the-vine cookbook.  It’s beautiful, so that was winning point number one.

Winning point number two is that I have tiny green tomatoes on my plants already.  I’m just as surprised as you are.  I was sure I would kill them before they had a chance to produce anything.

So in a short time, birds and cats and wandering neighbors not taken into account, I might have a plethora of tomatoes to cook.  I’m looking forward to that.

Until then, I’d better practice making delicious food out of somebody else’s tomatoes, namely Harris Teeter.  That’s the official plan for tonight.  At the moment, the menu is looking like Nell Newman’s Tomatoes and Basil with Fusilli (and lots of other tasty things).  I love cooking when it’s the main event instead of a rushed necessity, and my basil plant is putting on leaves faster than I can eat them.  Turns out that there are some advantages of having your own garden.  If I had appreciated a good tomato, basil and mozzarella salad as a kid, my parents might not have had such a hard time getting me to help with the weeding.