guess who!

Guess who forgot their camera last night, and therefore was only able to take a couple crappy phone photos? I'll give you a hint. Her name rhymes with Behrrin Beenan.



I'll have to make it again. The crust was a very tasty vehicle for getting the tomatoes and basil into my gullet. I just went with the fresh slices instead of "Chef Mark"'s suggestion of lightly sauteeing the tomato slices. They were just super lovely as-is. Not that you can tell that from the photos...

There were also two fantastic homemade salsas at the book club. You can tell it's tomato season! And, a selection of dips, grape leaves, cupcakes, rice pudding, lots of wine and good times. I love book club! We read A.M. Homes's The Mistress's Daughter, a memoir of the author's experience in meeting her birth parents as an adult. Most of us felt kinda 'eh' about it, but several in the group had read her fiction, and described it as "great" and "creepy" and "disturbing". I like the sounds of that, so I have one of her novels, The End of Alice, on loan from the library right now. Along with...um...fourteen other books. Admittedly, I do have a bit of a problem when it comes to getting carried away with library books, but also I had a bunch of stuff reserved, and it just all happened to come in at once. And, I just got an email that another one is in! Eek!

The best part is that I have another book club meeting next week--"classic" book club. But, we, um, read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Not my choice! Not it! Actually, I shouldn't be overly hard on it because it is teen chick lit. I mean, for real. What can you expect? And, in that context, it was fine--just not something I'd normally want to read.

Are you on goodreads? The myspace equivalent for book nerds? Yes, I know I've mentioned this (a couple times) before. Get on. Be my friend. Let me evaluate you based on your choice of reading material. Doesn't that sound fun?!

In other news I'm still struggling. A lot. With smoking and eating and cleaning and just generally feeling motivated and not depressed. I'm not exactly sure why. I thought that confessing would make me feel better, and it did--temporarily, but then I just felt more pressure to be "good". Blah.

book club = good times!

It's book club tonight! Queer book club (not "classic" or "hardcore"...what? I like bookclubs!), and the queers enjoy throwing down some delicious treats along with their literary discussion. I'm making Heidi's Heirloom Tomato Tart in a Parmesan Crust. I made the crust last night. I don't have a tart pan, so I used a regular 9x9 glass pan, but I think I made the sides too high (see Heidi's picture), but it smelled like heaven out of the oven, so hopefully it'll be a-okay.

I am rapturously in love with summer tomatoes (and hate their waxy, mealy supermarket poser wannabe cousins with an rabid venom in equal measure as my love for the sunkissed real tomatoes), and am constantly looking for things to do with them. I often get stuck on tomato-cheese sandwiches, tomato-on-toast and just thick slices on a plate with salt and pepper because they're so fantastic just on their own. That's what intrigued me about this recipe--the tomatoes stay in tact and lovely and just-sliced, but they get a fancier outfit to ride around in and make their way to your mouth. And, I'm actually considering trying out a twist that was posted to the comments on Heidi's site by "Chef Mark". I just checked out his blog, and it's not really my style, but I liked the suggestion:

Lovely article, and a great recipe. May I add a suggestion which I use for Tomato Basil Tarts? You say that you leave the tomatoes uncooked but salt them to draw out water. You can achieve the same result with just a tad more work, but get some added flavor by GENTLY sauteeing the tomato slices in a light soffrito (garlic, butter and oil, and parsley, or for a subtle flavor, marjoram.

After a few minutes, use a spatula to transfer the tomatoes to a colandar set over a bowl to drain. You can save the juices for another purpose. I LOVE this garlic and herb infused juice to add to soups, any tomato sauce, a vinaigrette, etc.

I'm going to try to remember my camera tonight so I can photograph the tart and any other delectable delights that show up. I know that E-dawg made a fresh salsa that I can't wait to taste.