By Week 376. Summer 2023. I am 40 years old and standing in my kitchen — the Bench house kitchen, the one that held cancer and divorce and cinnamon rolls — and the stove is on and something is cooking and the house smells like grilled food and garden herbs and this is my life. This is the life I built.
Brett came Wednesday. We sat on the porch and talked about nothing, and the nothing was perfect, the way nothing between siblings is always perfect — full of history, empty of agenda, the purest form of company.
Mason is 12 and reading everything he can find and examining the world under a microscope with the intensity of a tenured researcher.
Lily is 10 and riding horses with the fearlessness of someone who has never considered the possibility of falling.
I made tomato sandwich this week. The food continues. The food always continues. It is the thread that connects every week to every other week, every year to every other year, every version of me to every other version — the woman on the kitchen floor, the woman at the chemo recliner, the woman at the grill, the woman at the outdoor table under the string lights. All of them, connected by the food they made with their hands. All of them, me.
There’s no recipe I make more automatically than a tomato sandwich — no measuring, no technique, just a garden tomato and the knowledge that this is what summer tastes like. Week 376 called for exactly that kind of food: something I could make with my hands on ordinary autopilot, something that asked nothing of me and gave everything back. It’s the kind of lunch that has appeared in every chapter of this life, and it felt exactly right to let it appear in this one too.
Classic Tomato Sandwich
Prep Time: 5 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 5 min | Servings: 1
Ingredients
- 2 slices soft white sandwich bread (or potato bread)
- 1 large ripe garden tomato, sliced 1/4 inch thick
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2–3 fresh basil leaves (optional)
Instructions
- Slice the tomato. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the tomato into 1/4-inch rounds. Lay the slices on a paper towel and season lightly with half the salt. Let sit for 2 minutes to draw out a little moisture.
- Spread the mayo. Spread 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise on each slice of bread, going all the way to the edges.
- Layer and season. Arrange the tomato slices in a single layer on one piece of bread. Season with the remaining salt and the black pepper. Add fresh basil leaves if using.
- Close and serve. Place the second slice of bread mayo-side down on top. Press gently, slice diagonally, and eat immediately — a tomato sandwich waits for no one.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 290 | Protein: 6g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 27g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 520mg