Venus Uprising Bellydance New York City: Harvest Bounty::Alyra

I love making and creating. And this is my favorite time of year to do it, because it's the beginning of the HARVEST and everything I have spent all summer growing is reaching it's peak. Plump, succulent and tasty. From the berries to the hot peppers and most especially...TOMATOES. I have a thing about tomatoes. And I grow some magic tomatoes. Nobody sees the ghost of Alyra sneaking out in the middle of the night to sacrifice under a full moon those lesser vegtables on the alter of the garden goddess to ensure a bumper crop of Tomatoes.

Garden Goddess, I worship you in the night.
I slit and gut these cucumbers so you will hear my plight!
Upon your alter, their entrails are spread,
please spare my red ladies from slugs, cutworms and other dreads.

Dear Garden Queen, accept these bush beans as a token and plea.
Let my tomatoes grow unsurpassably!
Let them be tall, let them be sweet,
and above all, let them be the best on my street!

Laugh if you will, but it works! (ps. For those of you who are Cucumber activists. Sorry, but I grow them only for either pickling or sacrificing...so yes, I'm cruel and inhumane!)

Now, I don't waste my time with those big fat massive tasteless beefsteaks. Bah! I snub those beefsteaks with my nose in the air. No, the Alyrian Tomatoes are small, dainty affairs with a taste that borders on super sweet and sublime. This year, I had resolved to grow only the sweetest tomotaes but becuase someone wasn't paying attention and mismarked the veggies at the nursury, I brought home also something else! I had no idea that they were different as they looked like everything else and were marked as such. However, about 3 weeks into the growing season, I knew something was different and it was just a wonderous delight to wait with baited breath on what we were going to get.

Imagine my amazement with these lucious yellow heirloom tomatoes ripened on the vine! They have a much subtler flavor than my mini sweets but OH, they are almost creamy!!! I'm so excited because Garden Goddess blessed me with a whole other species to add to my garden! (clearly the cucumber sacrifices work...)

Here are some shots of my early harvest. Needless to say, this is only ONE day of picking!!!

Here are some tomatoes to scale

And then, with these beauties, and many more from the garden, I brewed up the best darn thing I've baked this year. A rustic roasted tomatoe tart! The basil infused crust I baked first with all fresh herbs from my garden and then glazed it with more garden herb pesto and honey with some musturd and then roasted up about 100 small tomotoes and about 15 heirloom yellows for this succulent mouthwatering beauty. 7 hours of cooking (yes, literally, it took forever) and it took my family 30 minutes to finish it off. Oh, but it was worth it!!!