“A time machine? How intriguing,” I hear you say. Okay, you didn’t say it, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t hear it.

ANYWAY, here are my tomatoes, ready for their trip in the time machine, aka the dehydrator.

• Put a big pot of water on to boil.
• Meanwhile, put a bowl of cold water in the sink. Toss a few ice cubes in there.
• Also meanwhile — don’t you have six hands? — cut a small X in the skin at the bottoms of the tomatoes.
• Ease the tomatoes into the hot water. Careful! Don’t splash hot water on yourself!
• Leave them in for about 30 seconds. Don’t get OCD about it: about 30 seconds.
• Lift the tomatoes out with a slotted spoon or sumpin’ similar and plunge them into the cold water. Listen to ’em shriek. Name them after people you’re mad at and have a wonderful time.
• Peel the tomatoes from the bottom to the top and cut off the stem ends.
• Cut the tomatoes in half and squersh out the seeds.
• Put the tomatoes onto drying racks of a dehydrator and plug it in.
• Monitor their progress, loosening them as they dry so you don’t end up with shards of shattered tomatoes with bits stuck to the drying rack. Rotate the racks during the process so all the tomatoes dry more-or-less evenly.

After drying, I cool my tomatoes, double-bag them, and store them in the freezer. A little explosion of summer for deep in the wintertime. 🙂

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Write about time travel.

MA