Creole Tomatoes

The smallest things can be the largest things.  It is May in Southeast Louisiana, and that means that Creole Tomato season is about to begin.  There are early tomatoes in the stores and at the Farmer's Markets already.

It seems that all over the United States, people have a regional tomato that they love.  Here in Southeast Louisiana, it is the Creole Tomato.

I have read that the Creole Tomato is actually a variety of tomato cultivars.  What makes a tomato a Creole Tomato is where it is grown.  Creole tomatoes are grown in the rich alluvial soil of the Louisiana delta land, from St Charles Parish down the river through Jefferson, Orleans, St Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes.  (Other people draw different boundaries, and that is OK.)

And I love them.  Just the thought of a ripe Creole Tomato makes my mouth water.  There is an excitement, and expectation as the early tomatoes appear.  I am happy during Creole Tomato season.

At my house, we buy Creole Tomatoes by the five pound box.  We eat tomato sandwiches.  We eat tomato salad.  We eat cucumber and tomato salad.  We eat tomato and vidalia onion salad.  And we never get tired of eating Creole Tomatoes.

A local food writer says that Creole Tomatoes taste of earth and sunshine.  To me, they taste like happiness.  Maybe it is all tied up in the time of year that the Creole Tomatoes are available.  The peak of the season is usually right around my birthday.

And the Creole Tomato festival is right after school lets out for the summer.  It is plenty hot, but not too hot yet, like July and August can be.

What I know is this, when I can buy and eat Creole Tomatoes, the world is a little brighter.  Such a small thing, and yet such a large thing.

All of us have special things that just make us happy.  It may be a food, like the Creole Tomato for me.  It may be a place, or a song, or a movie, or a book, or an event ( like Thanksgiving or Christmas or our birthday).  We should never let these things that make us happy go uncelebrated.

In Southeast Louisiana, it is easy to celebrate.  We have festivals for just about everything.  And you will know I am telling the truth because we have a Shrimp and Petroleum festival.  So, just about everything.

But if where you live doesn't have festivals like we have here, you can start your own festival to celebrate what makes you happy.

There is never too much time spent celebrating that which makes us happy.

It is easy to put work and duty ahead of play and celebration.

But the work will always be there, and the moments to celebrate can be fleeting.

So, think about the simple things that make you happy.  Invite the people important to you to celebrate with you.

Seize the moment.

Even though they repeat, the seasons of our happiness, our celebration, are always fleeting.   Making the time to make good memories every chance you get is one way to make the times between the seasons better.  Because we can always return to the celebrations in our mind.