For the Week of August 20, 2007

In an ordinary year, I’d be posting heavily on things like fruit desserts and preserves about now. The trouble is there is virtually no local fruit to be had around Louisville this year. The spring frost that laid waste to the dogwood blooms just two weeks before the Derby also snuffed out all our fruit blossoms. And the drought this summer certainly hasn’t helped matters. Given all that’s happened around here this year, I’m surprised I don’t have to walk over sand dunes when I go out to pick up the paper.

The one big surprise is the tomatoes, which are very good. Excellent actually, which is a nice change from the past two years, where overly-wet springs and summers caused so many to succumb to mold. Those that did appear in the stalls at the local farmers’ market were bland and mealy. But this year the dry heat has produced stellar fruit. I’m thankful for it, even though it doesn’t lend itself quite as easily to pastry. But then notice I said quite. I think I can scrape together enough ideas to make tomatoes a viable topic for the week. I’ll put up recipes as I find them.