Summer's Bounty

I stopped by my parents' home this morning and look what they had for me!

Tomatoes, corn and a few pasilla chiles.

My dad grows them at the Hurst Ranch in West Covina. You may have seen him in my Curly Endive post.

Look who came over to check everything out?!

Dixie!

If you have tomatoes and corn in abundance like we do, here are a few recipes you might like to try:

Tomato Corn Chowder

Marinated Tomato Salad

Corn Potage--Creamy Corn Soup

Grilled Corn Salsa

Do you have a favorite family recipe using corn or tomatoes?

If you'd like, leave me a link in the comments section so I can try a favorite recipe of yours.

Itadakimasu!

***

Over the weekend we visited our friend Rick selling his vintage bike stuff at a small swap meet in Whittier.

Rick loves vintage bikes, especially Schwinns.

You may remember him from his wife Sue's guest post Grandma Kimbro's 2 Layer Cheesecake. 

He loves talking about his bikes. There aren't any prices on anything because he wants you to ask--so he can talk to you about the parts and bikes.

Rick also loves vintage Tonka trucks--especially anything from the 1950s and 1960s.

 I like the ones that look like they were played with a lot. Rick restores the really junky ones.

 It's so much fun to listen to him talk about his latest find or project, and when you go visit him in his garage, he can spend hours showing you his paint box with heat lamp, the Tonka reproduction decals he found on eBay, or, if you get him talking about chrome--his eyes light up.

This is the same kind of truck as in the photo above, yes. I've learned that you can never have too many Tonkas--even the same ones. You see, each is in a different state--some need repairs or have various missing parts, some need a new paint job, some simply need a good cleaning with a caring, loving hand. When they have missing parts, Rick begins a quest to find them--and he does, all over the country!

This is Rick's brother, Alex. He loves bikes and Tonkas too. If you've seen the History channel show, American Pickers, Alex is like them, only he's the Mexican-American Picker. Alex is also deft at woodworking.

Gary was happy to go see his friend this morning at the swap meet--he didn't buy anything, but had a good time. When we were leaving, Rick said, "I want to see those pictures up soon on your blog!"

Here you go, Rick.

***

Follow the links under each photo above for a printable recipe.