These days, I’ve changed up the recipe a little bit. We’re rocking the whole-grain bread in our house, and while we do still use real mayonnaise, I can’t handle a big glass of milk like I used to, so it’s usually just ice water or tea on the side. And — don’t tell Friddell — I have been known to occasionally add a little cheese, or, if I am feeling particularly cosmopolitan, a slice of avocado.

But my liberties are nothing compared with The Boy’s. Following firmly in my footsteps when it comes to the tomato love, he’s been polishing off platefuls of thick slices and bowls of cherry tomatoes ever since he could eat solid food. “Juicy red to-MAH-toes,” he calls them (a tribute to Bing Bunny*), and they’re one of his favorite snacks. And the only thing he likes more than a nekkid to-MAH-to is a to-MAH-to sandwich. Made his way.

Some days, “his way” is a plain sliced tomato stuffed into a folded-over slice of bread. Hold the mayo because he is definitely not a fan. Sometimes he likes mustard on his sandwich, but not catsup, because that would be redundant. And last night, he wolfed down not one, but two, folded-over hummus, jalapeño-mustard and tomato sandwiches that actually made me shudder to assemble, but he was adamant, and hey, I’m not the one who has to eat it, so whatever!

I hope we have a good long tomato season this year, for me, The Boy and Guy Friddell. In fact, I’m going to make a tomato sandwich right now. Hold the jalapeños.

* Note: If you would like to read the story from which The Boy picked up "juicy red to-MAH-toes," proceed to the Bing Bunny website and click on the book entitled "Yuk" on Bing's bookshelf. Ted Dewan, the author, reads it himself, and you get to see all the pictures, too! Super-cute but unfortunately there's no direct link. Worth the clicks, I promise.