Fried Green Tomatoes.

There's no week that passes by that I don't eat tomatoes.  I would say I eat tomatoes five days a week, sometimes seven days a week. 

I got it from my father.  My father was a voracious eater.  

For breakfast, my mother used to prepare a table full of fried rice, pritong isda or meat, fried eggs, pan de sal and the "palamans", coffee and of course, "sawsawan," consisting of tomatoes with bagoong, and on the side, steamed "talbos ng kamote."

When an older sister developed low blood pressure,  my father recommended boiling the "talbos ng kamote" and my sister had to drink the juice. Yuck.

But tomato was everpresent in our dining table.  It was always used as "sawsawan." And then there were the dishes prepared with tomatoes, like "sinigang, ginisa, mechado, pakbet, sarsiado,"  omelets, even menudo always had tomatoes. 

My father always crushed the tomatoes with his hand; my mother used to cut them in small slices.  I prefer my tomatoes sliced thinly with all the juice and seeds.  Of course I want Kikkoman with it. 

When I prepare "bruschetta," I want the medium-ripe big tomatoes which I could not find in Manila groceries.  They only have one variety of tomatoes in Manila, medium size.

We dined at Kenny Roger's the other day and ordered grilled chicken with corn and salad, and to my dismay, the tomato was small, and the corn, grilled not steamed nor boiled.  I was looking forward to the juicy Canadian yellow corn.

When I eat breakfast and there's rice and fish or meat, I must have tomatoes and if they're small, I have to have at least five of them.  Even when I was working in Makati and had to bring lunch somedays, tomato was always packed with the rice and dish.

When you order salad in restaurants and it is the garden or green type, there's always a slice of tomato.  But goodness, why only one?

I am reminded of the movie, Fried Green Tomatoes, a nostalgic movie about a Southern family.

"Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates), a timid and unhappy housewife in her forties, meets elderly Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy) in a nursing home waiting room, who passes the time by telling Evelyn the story of the now-abandoned town of Whistle Stop, Alabama, and the people that lived there.

Ninny's story begins with unrepentant tomboy Imogen "Idgie" Threadgoode (Mary Stuart Masterson), the youngest of the Threadgoode children, whose happy relationship with her charming older brother Buddy is tragically cut short when Buddy is hit by a train and killed. Devastated, Idgie recedes from formal society for much of her adolescent years, until straight-laced Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker), Buddy's former love interest, intervenes on behalf of the concerned Threadgoode family."

Idgie, the "Bee charmer," took care of friend Ruth until the very end.  The "Bee charmer" even offered fresh flowers at Ruth's grave up until when Ninny (Jessica Tandy) and Evelyn (Kathy Bates) were about to leave the nursing home.  Could it be that Idgie is really Ninny Threadgoode?  

As always, Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy gave magnificent performances.