Friday miscellany: tomatoes, a good book, ice cream with friends

On a slow friday when you're practically the only person in the office, there's no reason not to do an impromptu blog post. This one's a little of a mish-mash.

First: tomatoes. I think whoever packed our produce box this week doubled up on heirloom tomatoes, because we were supposed to get 2 lbs. but we must have gotten upwards of 4. We're thrilled, but that's a lot of tomatoes for two people. So far, lots of sliced tomatoes and tomato salads. When I was a kid, my parents would eat tomatoes like this in the summer and it practically made me gag. Now, though, as an adult, I'm down with raw tomatoes. Tonight I plan to stop on the way home to pick up some fresh mozzarella to go with. There's no way it could really compare to the burrata I had at Osteria Mozza in April, but I'm sure it will do just fine.

Second: I'm reading an interesting book right now, which eventually may get its own posting. It's called Trail of Crumbs by Kim Sunee. The author was abandoned by her parents in Korea at the age of three. She was found wandering the streets and was soon adopted by an American family from New Orleans, where she spent the next 15 years eating and learning to cook traditional Cajun food. The story traces her life from Korea to New Orleans to Sweden and then to France. It has recipes, but it's mostly about her strange and, to me, interesting life of travel, family, eating, and ethnic identity. I like it. Hopefully a more clever review in the coming weeks.

Third: a delicious dinner at Eos last night with two old friends. Almost everything was great (minus some supersalty brussels sprouts) but the real winner was their homemade ice cream. We got the sampler (lychee; mint chip; Vietnamese coffee; candied ginger; and white chocolate with peanut brittle) but Cee and I agreed that we also had to get an extra scoop of their salted caramel, which we politely battled over. I'm sure it's not the first time ice cream has come between friends.

Oysters, ice cream, wine, and good company: find me a better Thursday night!