Christiana Aretta writes a journal about food, photography, & toys.

The source of my favorite scent of summer and the world’s cheapest time machine.

Yellow tomatoes play the role of Juicy Meaty in this year’s first summer salsa, alongside cowhorns as Deepsmoke Spicy and cherry tomatoes as Lil RedTart.

Less zombie, more frilly.

“All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites.” -Marc Chagall

Cue Jaws music as the gardener moves in steadily and craftily for the kill, errr… harvest.

Tomato, that is. Flagrant exhibitionists, the tomatoes hide their immature, underage seedy green hearts beneath their every burgeoning, curvaceous fruit.

The first pod has been deployed and is growing at a rather non-alarming rate. Hopefully it won’t be ripe until I find a recipe for Facehugger Baba Ghannoush.

Chapter one of my firsthand experience with a visit to the emergency room at Bethesda Suburban Hospital and the ensuing bills.

You know you can safely refer to yourself as an “avid gardener” when you have a tub of ladybugs in your fridge. #NuffSaid

Beans, peppers, tomatoes, chard and zombie kale… oh my!