Love Affair With Tomatoes

I love tomatoes! I love them so much that no words could begin to describe my devotion to this berry. If you include a tomato in any recipe of yours, you will make me instantly happy, and consuming a tomato makes sometimes mundane moments into truly exciting (not to mention healthy) ones! I’ve also been called a tomato couple of times in my life, and even compared to a tomato. My dog’s full name is Bugs Tomato and when I do have my own car to drive, I’m most likely getting a RedRed vanity plan (not directly related to tomatoes, but a derivative for sure). I even toyed with the (future) idea of sending everything to hell, moving to Italy and keeping a small tomato farm and minding my own business.

When I was growing up, the cucumber & tomato salad has been a steady constant on our table. I’ve always developed a fondness for slicing tomatoes, sprinkling them with salt and pepper and enjoying them as a healthy snack. Caprese salad is a big hit with the Karin, so is home-made salsa, but not quite bruschetta. Grilled tomatoes on my vegetarian burgers are never a letdown and cute cherry and grape tomato varieties are a pleasure also.

So you can imagine my joy when I got to partake in La Tomatina (detailed post here) in Spain last year! I have also discovered Amy Goldman’s The Heirloom Tomato book and am considering getting it. She spent a lot of time researching, planting and growing various types of heirloom tomatoes, which then were photographed by the talented Victor Schrager. His light studies with tomatoes are absolutely stunning and provoke my saliva glads in those naughty tomato ways.

Filed under: simple life , food, obsessions, tomatina, tomatoes

La Tomatina

for the win

Ever since I’ve opened a Spanish language textbook at the age of 16, and learned about la Tomatina – I always wanted to go; except the idea of going was constantly being pushed into the undetermined future. Until last year, when I and four of my friends set our vehicular sails for Buñol in the province of Valencia. We arrived on time to park on the outskirts of the pop=9,000 town. More than 30,000 fellow fighters walked to the center of the town with us, happily yelling at each other and laughing at the unsuspecting flip-flop wearers and camera-ready enthusiasts.

note that our shirts are white

First we got a bit of a squish session with the masses circa my Prague 2000 escape from Vaclavske Namesti along with 40,000 others. Then we moved to the front row (because we are lovable fighters), bewildered by the buildings covered in Tyvek or something similar, and watched 6 trucks slowly roll one after another, raining tomatoes on us little guys. It was on! Our goggles, €5 shoes with double laces and swimsuits didn’t help much, and the tomato juice still burnt the eyes and the skin, so we screamed Agua! Agua! to the gods above and it literally rained buckets from residential balconies. 

I got hit in the head so many times, and I scored some good shots myself. Our team fought some folks on the other side of the narrow street, tomato river kept getting deeper and deeper, people bathed in the tomato sauce, people screamed, shouted, took photos with their waterproof cameras, tried to fix their goggles only to get hit in the face. But more than anything, everyone had an absolutely unreal experience. You didn’t know that 120 tonnes of tomatoes can do this magic?

After a 90 minute battle that seemed to go on forever, we stumbled to the river and bathed, proud of ourselves, drained, feeling like the different people that we became and simply happy to be alive. We then drove to Valencia to swim in in the sea and feast on authentic paellas.

Filed under: the world eh , art, Europe, excitement, food, friends, fun time, Spain, tomatina, tomatoes, travels

Highlights of 2008

I’m glad the year of the Mouse/Rat is over. It was a tough year, but also a very rewarding one, filled with events, color and life. It was definitely a great one for meeting new people and leaving the dead end contacts behind. It was a year of travels, learning, emotional change of scenery, breaking the habits, and finding peace. In short:

Vice internship, movies with Slava, Barbi, snow angel challenge, high tea, cuckoo New York trip, mad revelations and heartbreaks, the legendary night of the Justice show at the Great Hall, indoor pool voleyball in Richmond Hill with a blizzard outside, Montreal for the first time ever, straight to Vancouver, the return of Dimitri, straight A’s that semester, “I love nature” cottage visit, summer internship, more Montreal, Lemeac, Rajni, Ottawa, Rafael Nadal, gourmet adventures with Roberto, Magdalena’s return, dancing late and coming to work early, Osho, red eye to Europe, constantly ringing cell in Berlin, Baltic Sea, goth party in the bunker, wasp attack, Kunstwerke, Michael and Karin’s epic search for a gallery, scootering in Ibiza, flying, getting lost in the hills with fuel running out, Gaudi, Joan Miro, Catalan people, Faulkner’s Light in August, La Tomatina, Valencia’s paellas, the girl from Jupiter, getting lost in Barcelona with a flight to catch, gloomy London and port, vintage stores in Shoreditch, Strategic Planning, yoga, wonderful professors, wonderful people, PalmsOut in October, jerks stealing my possessions, Vosges chocolate in SoHo, Coney Island freak show, Mad Men, calming down, peace of mind, movie night with dear C.L., playing the tambourine till 4am, BBDO, roommate reunion, blizzards in Vancouver, the return of Scotch, securing that opportunity, The Sacred Book of the Werewolf, light at the end of the tunnel, Russian madhouse, caviar and champagne on New Year’s Eve.

Filed under: memories , 2008, barcelona, bbdo, Berlin, career, Europe, friends, fun, fun time, ibiza, improvements, joy, life, London, memories, montreal, plans, review, ryerson, Spain, tomatina, toronto, travels

Catalunya

Well! I am in Spain. It has been my secret desire for some time now, I must admit.

I always wanted to have tapas and enjoy the chatter of passers by.

Barcelona is a wondrous and surreal place in way that a Juan Miro’s work is, with its grotesque animal shapes and disfigured perspective, with its narrow streets that make you slightly uncomfortable but definitely welcome you to get lost and find yourself in some safely tucked away Placa… I keep thinking that I will uncover some secret when I walk around the Barri Gotic or even Barceloneta. I am convinced there is a secret that a handful of locals are able to whisper, yet they all have it in their hearts, Catalan hearts.

My dreams of seeing the artworks by Picasso and Miro are coming true! I absorb the culture like a sponge of sorts and I am extremely happy to have the opportunity to do so. I am grateful for the friends that are with me.

Xavi and Sal are great guides. They took us on a tour yesterday. We went into a small square where the building walls still bear the gunshot marks from the times of the Civil War. I could not believe my eyes, but my video camera did.

The food, the food. Let us discuss – we went to the Mercat Santa Caterina, and my eyes fell out at the sights of fresh seafood, and several dozens of cured ham varieties. Ladies and gentlemen, make sure you go to the markets. Skinned rabbits, goat heads, cow brains, steaks, mushrooms, cheeses… Yes.

Last night we drank homemade sangria (guess what, i’ve acquired the recipe, too…), and went to Gracia neighborhood for some drinks. The narrow streets are littered with small bars and whatnot. Did I mention that I used the Bicing system and biked through the hilly city (in a slightly not so sober state, oops)! I did well, and unfortunately Georgina did not because she and Sal fell off their bikes

And it’s been only two days so far. More museums, more food from the markets awaits me, and more fun. We still have to go to the Sidecar and dance our socks off.

Tomatina happens on Wednesday! Stay tuned. Oh, definitely do. Salud!

Filed under: moving up, the world eh , 2008, barcelona, food, friends, fun time, Spain, tomatina, travels, trip