Cherry Tomatoes

This time of year it is hard to get local produce. So much of our fresh fruit and vegetables is trucked in and flown in from far away. But not these cherry tomatoes. They are grown in greenhouses right here in Quebec. Though not quite as sweet as their summer counterparts, they do add flavour and colour to my salads. Guilt free food!

Tomatoes

Here are the tomatoes that go with all the basil I featured earlier. I appreciate that they are not long distance voyagers, unlike the majority of vegetables we eat this time of year. They are grown in greenhouses right in Quebec (for those of you reading this who are not from Canada - that is the province I live in). I have to read labels carefully as the majority of the tomatoes this time of year are from Mexico, even when they are packed by local distributors. These were quite delicious!

Heirloom Tomatoes

Dinner with my daughter at Les Enfants Terribles. The salad made with heirloom tomatoes and watermelon was a delight - with tastes and textures that were surprising. What looks like young mozarella is actually a sorbet made with celery root. There were crunchy surprises including the green sprigs.

This was my salad - grilled chicken with watercress, mango and peanuts and an explosion of I am not sure what. Very tasty!

Small Tomatoes

Small Tomatoes, a photo by susanvg on Flickr.

While these may look large in a photograph, they are small, but about the only tomatoes that have any taste this time of year here. I was at a restaurant and the tomatoes in the salad were hard and tasteless and not even very red. It's better to have no tomatoes.

Day 218: Tomatoes

Day 218: Tomatoes, originally uploaded by susanvg.

A trip to the market - I try to restrain from over purchasing, but it is hard with all the beautiful fresh produce. The colours of these tomatoes were too hard to resist. The green ones are particularly sweet. It's nice to see so many varieties. So much of what we see and do is becoming homogenized - one suburb looks like another; restaurants in one town are the same as in others. The market celebrates the diversity in nature. I love to make a salad with as many colours as possible - pleasing to the eye and the palate.

Day 97: An Abundance

Day 97: An Abundance, originally uploaded by susanvg.

I was at the market today. There are stores that operate all winter. The outdoor stalls won't be open for another few weeks. Much as I would love to buy local produce, most of what we have is imported, especially this time of year. But what an abundance! With a weekend of holidays coming the stalls seemed stocked more than ever, with varieties of vegetables rarely seen, from miniature cauliflower of different hues, to exotic eggplants. There are tomatoes of every colour and potatoes of every shape. As usual, I carried home too much and will be spending a lot of time in the kitchen cooking. But what a pleasure to set a table with freshly made food.

And, of course, I bought flowers - fresh cut tulips from Holland. The man at the stall swore he had been there and back this morning. That is the other part I love about going to the market. The sales people are friendly, not just efficient. I often go back to the same stall for my vegetables. They know me know and there is always time taken for a friendly hello and a chat. A trip to the supermarket is a chore; a trip to the market is an adventure.