in my best Strong Bad voice--

">HOLY CRAP!!

The tomatos are in. I think StrongBad's head looks like a tomato. I picked so many tomatoes all I could keep saying was "HOLY CRAP!" It was like the Easter Egg hunt from hell. The Heirloom vines do not behave in a orderly fashion--they sprawl and creep and crash over their support system so I have this jungle of leaves and vines. You move one branch aside and there is another little clutch of testicle shaped plum tomatoes all nestled together. Sometimes one is a gold ivory color and I think I have found Gertrude's first egg--but not so much...just MORE DAMN TOMATOES!!

Made ketchup from the cherry toms, cold pack in recycled Bonne Maman jars--they are soo cute. Four lbs of fruit down to two pints--remove the water and all you have left is flavor. Amazing It was! Really kinda cool watching it thicken down. It was still quite juicy when Carol & Xanni were here but by 6:30 it was almost paste. SCIENCE!! I used a recipe from 1871 that had cinnamon in it!! Zoli approved whole heartedly.

Today is Spaghetti Sauce 2.5. Quart jars in the dish water and peeling and seeding to begin...NOW! (wish me luck)

The first batch of pasta sauce (NOT PESTO that is getting done too) was shallots & oregano (also from the garden). The first batch was more orange than RED so I have let these subsequent harvests hang as long as possible. (It helped going to NY for four days!) and today will be more of the same minus the shallots.