Tomato Salad

I guess I do not have a discriminating palate. All four types of my tomatoes managed to have at least one ripe at the same time so I could do a taste test. Besides, it was a perfect evening for a nice tomato salad.

Here they are all lined up, ready to be sliced and tasted. On the back left is the "Heat Wave"; in the middle is the "German Queen"; on the right is the "Red Beefsteak"; in the front is the "Health Kick". It's kind of hard to see here, but the German Queen has a definite pinkish tinge to it, where the others are more orangey-red.

Once they are sliced open, you can see they are all beautiful. The Heat Wave may have a few more seeds, but they are all very meaty. The main difference is obviously since the Health Kick is a plum type it's a smaller tomato.

Next came the taste test. I tried a sliver of each, and honestly, I couldn't tell any huge difference in flavor. To me only the Health Kick tasted a tiny bit waterier than the others. Maybe I didn't do it properly (if there is such a thing), but I was also kind of in a hurry because we had guests and I had to make the tomato salad.

Isn't the salad georgeous? It has all four of the tomatoes from my garden; chopped chives and basil, both from my garden; chopped red onion; minced garlic; and feta cheese my sister made with the last of Jamie's frozen milk. It was tossed with some bottled Italian dressing and an extra splash of balsamic vinegar. It was delicious.

Just as a side note here, it was served with breaded and fried giant Humboldt squid, and steamed wahoo, both of which my husband made.

Dinner plate with tomato salad and fried calamari.

The steamed wahoo.

The giant Humboldt squid just prior to cleaning.

A few weeks ago the guys had gone fishing at Dean's boat and my husband came home with nothing to show for it. When Dean got home later he had a giant Humboldt squid that a neighboring boat had brought in and gave to him. While the guys were cleaning it in the driveway, the guy that lives at the end of the street drove up and asked if they wanted any fish. He had just returned from a fishing expedition in Mexico and had more fish than he could handle deep frozen in the back of his truck. My husband and Dean selected a wahoo and we split it between us. Then the end-of-the-street neighbor continued zigzagging down the street towards his home, knocking on everyone's doors in an effort to off load the excess fish he had caught.

It was a great dinner.