Even though we're not together today, I thought I would make lunch for Jeff in your honor, so of course..... a tomato salad made the Dad way: fresh tomatoes (chopped in bite size pieces the way you like them, but sorry no one was patient enough for me to peel them first); chopped onion ; chopped cucumbers (the smell of which always reminds me of standing in the kitchen with you & a salt shaker, eating them fresh from the garden); Kalamata olives (the only kind of olives, as we know); a healthy dash of oregano; a heaping pour of the brightest, greenest olive oil (from your very own trees in Greece, naturally- I think we still have enough to get us through the year thanks to your winter oil visit); and plenty of salt (and even more when no one is looking, of course). Plus crusty bread and lots of people to help you eat it since you're not here. Thank you for teaching me the only way to make tomato salad and the only way to eat tomato salad (using the bread as a chewy, edible utensil).
I also decided that you would like some sardines straight out of the can with lemon, even though I could never personally manage to find that appetizing. I did however manage to find a very loving man to marry who happens to gobble this dish right up. He is a dream come true. (I can help with the cold beer, not a problem.)
I love you Dad! We're frying fish tonight and I'm about to start a blueberry pie......sure you don't want to take a little car ride west?
Happy Fathers Day! xoxo, chuffmuffin