This bunch of bright red vine-ripened tomatoes caught my eye at a local shop the other day. I was looking for ox-heart tomatoes, but there were none to be had, so I opted for it’s glossier relative. With the warmer weather upon us, it’s the perfect time to have a tomato salad in the name of Weekend Herb Blogging.

Despite the rise in popularity of heirloom tomatoes such as Kumatos, Green Zebras and Ox-Hearts, the plain vine-ripened tomato that we are all familiar with, is still a thing of great taste and beauty. Although, I must confess.. I didn’t originally start out being such a fan of tomatoes.

When I was about 13, we lived next door to an Italian family. Their daughter Laura, was about my age, and she would come over often to swim with us. One day, she invited me over to her house after our swim for a snack. She showed me around her house and then led me to the kitchen. Unexpectedly, what she did was take a few tomatoes and cut them into thick slices with a serrated knife. Over these sliced tomatoes, she then sprinkled salt and pepper, and drizzled some olive oil, before placing the plate on the table, where she invited me to pull up a chair and eat with her. When I got home later that afternoon, someone in my family asked how the visit had gone, and I remember telling them that it went well, but puzzlingly, we had eaten “just tomatoes”.

Over the years, I have finally grown to understand and appreciate what a treat it is to have a fully ripe tomato. Unadorned, or dressed in a balsamic vinaigrette, a tomato is not “just” a tomato, but something that can remain so simple and yet be so pleasing to the palate. This salad comes from Liam Tomlin’s wonderful book, Season to Taste. Sweet fleshy vine-ripened tomatoes co-mingle with briney olives, sliced eschallots and sprigs of baby basil. A glimpse of summer as it should always be remembered.

A beautiful New Year’s Day. An opportune moment to rediscover the art of couch-potato-ing, and the perfect time for recovery. Not from the excesses of the night before, but from lack of sleep, due to the fire alarms going off at 4-5 o’clock throughout the whole of our apartment building this early morning. It’s cause remains a mystery still. All I know is that one alarm went off, and the other felt lonely so it started screeching too. Just like a koel.

Foggy mind notwithstanding, you can’t possibly go wrong when putting together these Cheddar biscuits. The recipe comes from Baking with Passion by Dan Lepard and Richard Whittington; a cookbook from an artisanal bakery in London. I spied this book several months ago in a discount bookstore and bought it on a whim. The Benedict Bar and Oatmeal and Raisin Cookie recipes alone, have made the purchase worthwhile. These cheese biscuits, originally Parmesan (but mature Cheddar is an acceptable substitute), are delicious : crispy, buttery, lightly salty. The food processor virtually does all the necessary work and all you need to do after that is pour yourself a glass of tipple (Port, in this case, if it’s not too “last year” for your tastes).

Cheddar Biscuits:

335g plain flour
300g mature Cheddar, freshly grated
300g unsalted butter, chilled and diced
1/3 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Maldon salt, ground fine
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1-2 Tablespoons cold bottled spring water

1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tablespoons white sesame seeds
2 Tablespoons black sesame seeds

Put the flour, freshly grated Cheddar and chilled diced butter in a food processor with the cayenne, salt and black pepper. Whiz to a crumb, then slowly add the cold water through the feeder tube until the dough forms into a ball.

Scrape out on to a lightly floured surface and roll into a cylinder. You will cut the biscuits from this, so size the roll accordingly. Cling-wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Brush the cylinder with beaten egg and roll in the mixed sesame seeds to coat all over. Wrap and chill for a further hour.

Preheat the oven to 180’C. Cut the cylinder into 5mm slices and lay these on non-stick baking trays, leaving at least 2cm space around them. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

I will always remember 2006 as the year I started my little blog. It doesn’t matter that no one reads it and that I often don’t have much time for it. It has proven to be a good inspiration for me to utilise the many cookbooks I own (and an excuse to acquire even more hefty tomes, much to the dismay of our barely-coping bookshelves!), as well as an outlet for me to play with taking photos. One of the toys I used to love as a kid was the ViewMaster, and now I’m happily clicking away with my current toy of choice : a digital camera.

2006 will also be remembered as the year of hard work, experiencing new things, eating well (London was an especially big highlight) and the year my balcony turned green. Other favourites I have discovered or rediscovered in the past year include (in no particular order):

Australian Cookbooks:

1. Wild Weed Pie by Janni Kyritsis
2. Let It Simmer by Sean Moran
3. The Cook’s Companion by Stephanie Alexander
4. Two’s Cooking by Jane and Jeremy Strode
5. French by Damien Pignolet
6. Recipes and Stories by Kylie Kwong
7. My Vue by Shannon Bennett
8. Danks Street Depot by Jared Ingersoll
9. Old Food by Jill Dupleix

Music:

1. Le Fil – Camille
2. I am a bird now – Antony & the Johnsons
3. The Cost – The Frames
4. Sultans of Ping
5. Living with War – Neil Young
6. Iron and Wine
7. Sigur Ros
8. Birds – Bic Runga
9. Sufjan Stevens
10. RJD2

Films of 2006:

1. Little Miss Sunshine
2. The Prestige
3. A Scanner Darkly
4. V for Vendetta
5. Tsotsi
6. Cars
7. Candy
8. The Libertine
9. Brick
10. Children of Men

Books I loved:

1. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
2. History of Love – Nicole Krauss
3. Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-Time – Mark Haddon
4. Neverwhere – Neil Gaiman
5. Saturday – Ian McEwan
6. Eucalyptus – Murray Bail
7. The Man Who Loved Children – Christina Stead
8. The Rabbits – John Marsden and Shaun Tan
9. Stitch ‘n’ Bitch : The Knitter’s Handbook – Debbie Stoller
10. Powers Vol. 1-9 – Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming

In 2007, B and I will be celebrating our “10th anniversary”. Normally anniversaries just come and go without so much as the bat of an eyelid, but I think a decade is something I’d like to raise the glass to. If we were to celebrate like the Marrieds, the ten year mark is traditionally associated with “tin or aluminium” (bah humbug), but apparently, B, the modern gemstone for ten years is also the ahemdiamondahem.

A very Happy New Year to one and all!