Being an ardent heat hater, there is one saving grace for living 69 sultry Julys in Mississippi.  The magnificent mater!

Many thanks to my friends Ronnie Tiffin, Beverly Wilson and David Chambless for providing the bounty pictured above.  Pure heaven.

After 18 years of trying to grow a crop of tomatoes and spending about $100 per measly tomato produced (if you factor in the pots, dirt and fertilizers), I gave up the ghost..  Even after cutting some trees I still don’t have enough sun to get a decent sunburn.

But folks, it just got better!  After looking high and low for a better system to cook bacon for my BLT, this unapologic bacon lover has  found the most wonderful invention – a no mess bacon cooker!

This brilliant device was invented by an eight-year old and I found it at (where else)  Walmart.  You can cook practically a pound of bacon at a time – just drape slices over the little spindles, pop on a sheet of paper towel and punch up a minute per slice.

You don’t even need to drain the bacon.  The handle doesn’t get hot and you can pour the drippings into your coffee can for later in the day when you put on the peas – fresh of course – for supper.

Please note that in Mississippi we have dinner at 12 noon and supper after 5.  Summer is my least favorite season, but homegrown maters and my new bacon cooker have been a game changer.

And I LOVE July 4 because that means neighbors sitting on the front porch again, football weekends, Holidays, and sadly, yucky tomatoes.  But you can still have your bacon – this is how it should look in a perfect world.