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For dinner I just finished a juicy hamburger with creamy mayo and a luscious, red, sweet-tart tomato I bought at the local farmers' market. A few weeks ago, my neighbor left a bag of softball-sized tomatoes on my porch. Two of them kept me in BLTs with mayo on toasted 12-grain bread for almost two weeks of lunches. The rest I chopped up for a panzanella salad. I wish I measured when I made this but I don't. It just has to "look right". I add olive oil and red wine vinegar, a little chopped red onion, chopped fresh garlic and a chiffonade of basil. This time, I chopped fresh tomatoes and seasoned them with a little salt and pepper. Usually I use canned tomatoes -- an excellent choice -- with their juice ready to soak into the bread, these tomatoes are canned at the peak of ripeness so they make this salad a hit all year. In fact, I have it in the spring before tomatoes are even coming on in local gardens. I get some sort of Italian, French or country bread -- whatever ...

Weekends are the time for farmers markets. Here are some of my finds from recent trips and what I've done with them. I'm lucky to live across the street from my community's farmers market. It's also on Friday mornings so I can go to neighboring towns' markets on Saturdays. To find a farmers market near you, go to www.localharvest.org . Sheesh! Blackberries are expensive! Ads in our local paper range from $15 to $18 a gallon. I paid an indulgent $7 for a quart at the market. Next time I'll just pick them myself. But these made a lovely cobbler with my mom's crust recipe. 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon salt 3 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 cup sugar 1/3 cup Crisco 3/4 cup milk Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9-by-9 glass baking dish. If you have enough berries to make a 13-by-9 pan, double the crust recipe. Rinse and pick over berries. Sweeten with sugar as desired (maybe 1/2 cup). Stir in cornstarch or tapioca -- I'm bad at estimating this and my filling is always ru...