I've Got Tomatoes Coming Outta My Ears

What do you do when all 6 tomato plants start to ripen at once and you are sick of making pico de gallo, salsa, and adding sliced tomatoes to every dish, but you don't want to waste one delicious Iowa tomato?

I made gazpacho with the cucumbers, peppers, and onions from the garden.

I didn't follow any recipe because my name is not Leslie Limon and I can't cook like her even if she had one hand tied behind her back.  You should check out her page because she is a marvel in the kitchen. Anyway, I juiced about 6 large tomatoes and boiled the juice with un poquito de salt until it turned red. After it cooled I added red wine vinegar to taste.  Next I chopped up a couple cucumbers, along with onions,  one jalapeno and red peppers, all from the garden.  With about a 1/4 cup of olive oil, I mixed it all together and let it chill.  Pretty good, even if I say so myself, and I did say so myself.  The nephews cried "EEEEWWWWWW!"

How American Are You?

Many ancestors on my father's side landed here when the Colonies were under British control. My mother's side are recent immigrants.  Who is more American? My father or my mother?  How about my now deceased brother-in-law?  He was born in the Dominican Republic but after 10 years in this country he became a citizen. Was he less American than my sister?  Are there degrees of citizenship?  Are those that hold dual citizenship only 50% American?  Using this type of reasoning some people would argue that Indians are the most American of all.  OK, sorry, I meant to say Native Americans. Most immigrants come here voluntarily unless they were black and born before 1808 when importing slaves was outlawed. Oops, sorry again, I meant Afro-American. How about the children who came here with their parents undocumented?  And they have spent their entire lives in the United States and don't even know their birth country?

Support the Dream Act.

P.S. From now on I will be calling myself a Czech-American and a Pre-United Statesian in honor of my mother and father.