RECIPE: Tomato sandwiches

I first became acquainted with tomato sandwiches through reading Harriet the Spy when I was little. For years, I would only eat tomatoes this one way, other than tomato soup, which is the best soup ever invented.

Yesterday, the girls and I stopped at a roadside stand and bought five pounds of tomatoes and came home and made sandwiches, the first of the season, for some reason. To make a tomato sandwich, you lay out the requisite slices of bread and spread them generously with mayonnaise, right out to the edges of the bread. Then you slice as many tomatoes as you have people, making each slice as thin as you possibly can without adding blood to the tomato juice.

Layer the tomato slices on each person's first slice of bread, salting and peppering each layer vigorously. Top with the second slice of bread and cut each sandwich into quarters, resigning yourself to the fact that you're going to be wearing either 1) a bit of tomato; 2) a splodge of mayonnaise; or 3) a drip of tomato juice on your top before all's said and done.

The tomatoes are best if they're still warm from the ground.

This is my favorite sandwich and I do not sully its purity with basil leaves or slice of mozzarella or sprinklings of oregano. They are perfect as they are.