tomato salad (This is STILL good.)

Published: Sat, 08/02/25

** my first real tomatoes * summer staple * eyeballing * starting a new thing **

Yes, you may have seen this before.

It's the very first "This is good." I first shared it back on 11.13.23. I've decided to try sending out "reruns" in between new comics. So you'll get a comic every week(ish) instead of every two weeks, and they'll alternate between brand-new and "still good." Hope you enjoy this today, and you'll see a new one in a week or so. Let me know what you think!

(carolyn picking tomatoes) The summer I was 16 I went on an exchange program to France. The family I stayed with taught me to make this tomato salad.

(carolyn cutting up tomatoes) / These were my first real summer tomatoes - grown in a hot place and fruit-sweet. (For most of the year in Alaska, tomatoes were hard — white on the inside and orange-ish red on the outside.) My host sisters and I made the salad almost every night.

(bowl with a puddle of oil, puddle of vinegar, fork, pepper, beside it a head of garlic with one clove separated, olive oil bottle) In a bowl, a small puddle of olive oil. Another puddle, about half the size, of balsamic vinegar. A little salt. A little pepper (or a lot). Usually a small garlic clove, mashed up. Sometimes a little spoonful of seedy mustard.

(bowl and spoon, basil leaves, garlic cloves, tomatoes, bottles of oil and vinegar) Maybe some fresh chopped basil. Sometimes corn kernels cut off the cob, or leftover rice. ... I didn't keep in touch with my host family for long, but I make tomato salad like they taught me many times every summer.

It's good when there's a lot of juice. You can sop it up with a baguette or pasta or steamed green beans. (carolyn tossing tomatoes with dressing in bowl)

(carolyn raising a glass of wine ... she's sitting across the table for you, and there's a place set for you, too, including a glass of wine, and there's a bowl of tomato salad in the middle of the table) It's hard to start a new thing. But dinner is new every night, and it's not that hard. I just make it with whatever I've got.

Please share This is good. with others who might like it!

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