This final Summer Friday I have the pleasure of staying at home to spend time with my wife Chelsea and our two toddlers, Milo and Olivia Luz.
This morning Olivia and I went out to our front garden to pick part two of a beautiful bounty. I was astonished at how quickly the next batch ripened and how bountiful it was once again. We collected two baskets full of cherry and beef tomatoes, and one puny pickle-in-the-making.
As you can see by these photos, there's plenty more where that came from. This little garden of ours sits in our front yard and is the little garden that could because it gives and gives and it keeps on giving....cherry and beefsteak tomatoes, giant squash, jalapeño peppers and even a few pretty dark purple eggplants.
Brendan, our 70-year old Irish landscaper stopped by while we were plucking and pruning, and commented, in his charming native cadence, "Wow, you're blooming! It's because you get sun all day and you planted in virgin soil," repeating the latter part 2-3 times as he is apt to do.
We love Brendan, and to show our appreciation the kids gave him a little box decorated with paint and shells. We gave him a little bag of tomatoes to take home with him as well.
He was visibly excited about the gifts, which prompted him to tell us that he was just about to throw out a big box of sea shells which he brought back from his last trip to the homeland, Ireland, but that he was now going to bring them over for the kids.
A little later on Mama Bear took the little cubs to BJ's, while I stayed home and prepared an amazing salad with fresh mozzarella pearls; cherry tomatoes from our garden and yellow heirloom tomatoes picked at the farm; chipped cured kalamata, castelvetrano, and cerignola olives, the latter double-stuffed with garlic and jalapeño; freshly chopped basil from our tiny herb garden; freshly ground sea salt; and three types of olive oil - cold-pressed extra virgin, garlic-infused and Harina-infused.
Yes, this is how we do it at Domínguez Manor. It's good to be home.
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