late summer, summer, upstate new york in bovina, far and away, new york, summer, upstate, upstate new york 07.24
The first of summer's tomatoes have arrived at the markets. Green Market stalls are filled with piles of gorgeous and unusually shaped heirlooms in purples, stripes, blacks, whites, deep reds, orange and yellows. I love the wabi sabi-ness of heirloom tomatoes. I particularly like the ones that look as though they have been carelessly stitched and scratched like a beautiful Lousie Bourgeois sculpture.
Tomatoes are one of those foods that are in my blood. If I were on a deserted island I could get by if I had stockpiles of my great grandmothers marinara sauce. When I think about the things I love to eat most... they almost always involve this diverse fruit! Foccacia with cherry tomatoes sunk deep into little wells of crunchy bread and pools of olive oil...marinara with a punch of garlic and hint of basil, Panzanella a delicious bread salad, a BLT with a thick chunky slice of a fresh garden tomato, tomato soup and grilled cheese, the ultimate in comfort food or a very simple summer salad of tomato and basil, olive oil and a little sea salt or in this case some crisp shaved celery. Just give me a piece of crusty Italian bread to soak up that juice and I will be in heaven!
More tomato love to come
Heirloom Tomato and Celery Salad (for two)
This is sort of a non-recipe. It is just an inspiration! As with most summer salads they just kind of get thrown together!
4 large heirloom tomatoes
1 stalk of celery with leaves
A handful of fresh basil
Really good olive oil
Sea salt
Cut the tomatoes into pieces and put in a large bowl
Shave the celery stalk into ultra thin slices with a mandolin and scatter on top of the tomatoes
Tear the celery leaf and basil into small pieces and add to the salad
Add a pinch of really good crunchy sea salt
Douse with an extra virgin olive oil
Toss and Devour!
As simple as that and DO NOT forget some crusty bread lest you waste that amazing tomato juice!
celery, farmers market, hierloom tomatoes, summer, tomato in farmers market, food, garden, new york, summer 01.22
There are those people that you meet in your life that alter one's journey. As you get older you have the luxury of choosing and creating family. These are the people that we travel along with on new journies in the rise and fall our lives.
India is one such person. I have know her now for eighteen years. We met by chance when she was fifteen and dancing with a baby on her hip. We have been family ever since. She is one of the greatest people I will ever know. Happy birthday sweet India.
x
India at Nineteen. Breezy Shores, 1998
Copyright © 1998, Andrea Gentl. All rights reserved
09.10 
The wild blackberries had another good season on our side of the mountain this year. We are on a north facing slope where the berries seem to thrive. Every year the tangle of brambles takes over more land on the slope.
I wasn't able to pick too many berries this year, summer was far too hectic and I found myself in the last hours of upstate time frantically gathering berries before heading back to the reality of the city. I am trying to embrace "small batch" or very "small batch" to be more specific. I don't need to pick every last berry in Delaware County! Last year's larder is still full of jam and pickles... what more do I need?. This year, I picked just enough for a couple tarts and a few jars of jam.With an apple and blackberry tart in mind, I gathered a few fallen apples from our old but giving trees and headed south.
wild blackberry and apple galette.
Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved
blackberries, blackberry galette, foraged, fruits, late summer, summer, upstate, wild blackberries in brooklyn, food, new york, summer, upstate, upstate new york 
