Before I go any further, BIG thanks to Mr & Mrs Lomatia. Thank you again for your hospitality and the lovely dinner. We went up to Marysville for the day only but what a threat it was.
Saturday morning I was hung over and almost didn't make it. The idea of driving through the Black Spur was ohhhhhh soooooo....! Anyway, after 3 cups of coffee and 2 panadols I finally felt good enough to want to risk it.
What I didn't tell you is that when we pulled in the cark park near the rotonda, some of you (Spatz, Julie, Adam, Tortora,....) weren't there, what we saw mainly were the local oldies that must have been invited. Vincent slowly turned to me with the "you've got to be kidding" look. Nothing wrong with oldies at all, it's just that I knew Vincent was doing this for me, the look on his face was worth a million bucks!
I walked towards the rotonda and then I saw the star attractions : THE TOMATOES !!!!!!! LIVE!!!!! ALL THERE!!!! Oh my, what a sight it was....Then I saw you guys LOL!!!!
As some of you know, this year was my first year growing tomatoes and it was a total fiasco. So to see them all there and most of all to be able to taste them all...mmmmmm..mmmmm.mmmmmmm. it was worth driving through the Black Spur with my stomack up my throat.
Grub, you'll be please to know that to both me and Vincent Grub's Mystery Green made our top three.
I don't know who did what at organizing and preparing the tasting but it was fantastic. Great job :)
And for meeting you all....it was far beyond my expectations. I really had a good time and I hope to see you again soon.

Thanks for everything
Hug & kisses
LynLyn *who just spent 45 mins writing these few lines lol!*

Yeah, us kids went to have some icecream at the General Store!

Thanks, Lyn, for this great story! More from me a bit later - must do some work first. :)

Needless to say we had a smashing time! A big thank you to Mr and Mrs Lomatia for accommodation and a great dinner on Saturday. And everbody who was involved in the planning and organisation.

It was great meeting old and new friends. And the tomatoes were an additional bonus. ;)

This is only one section of the tomato rotunda.There were tons of tomatoes on the sides, too.

Nice hats!

Sounds like a hoot. And glad to hear the Mystery Green was keeping such esteemed company. Thanks for the feedback Lynlyn.

Looking forward to trying Green Giant and reading more tasting notes.

:)Grub.

foooooood glorious foooooood!

Thanks must also go to Mr & Mrs Lomatia as others have said, for generosity above and beyond - arranging dinner on Friday night, providing us with gorgeous accomodation and a fabulous dinner on Saturday night. Thanks also to Adam for cooking a sumptuous breakfast on Sunday morning and to everyone for making it a wonderful weekend.

Now, there are a lot of tomatoes there, especially late in the season. But what are your favourites? You are mostly seasoned tomato growers. Reds, pinks, yellow, greens, whatever?

My favourite new one this season is Prue.

Cheers, Grub.

Dinner was awesome as testified by Alex who loved the pesto and coppacola. What more could we ask for!

Thanks to everyone esp ray for organising everything, Lomatia for the food and everyone for tomatoes and company.

MY fav's where Green giant (yummy sweet taste), and the black brandywine. I also added brandywine sudduth, kellogs breakfast, snow white cherry and wild tomato to my next years grow list. There were so many varieties I loved but with my limited tommie space I was going for my fav's in each class. I actually loved all the greens, and had a hard time removing several other varieties from my list.

What an experience!! Hope we can continue the tradition next year.

hmm what kind of costumes ... maybe we should *all* wear hawaiian shirts next year :-)

Kionga's car was certainly Legend, and what about Nick's Chilli Oil?

Favourite new tomatoes for me were Green Giant, Black Brandywine, ummmm what is that yellow on the left hand edge of the table, just below the Kellogg's Breakfast? I've forgotten its name. What else... yes, the orange one that's sitting below the Green Giant with a great name that is so good I've forgotten it, LOL.

OK now I have to go and write things down.... and tomrrow I will be separating my seed slices that I brought home so they can dry. They're sitting in the fridge waiting to become parents :-)

Green Giant was a great tomato. Must get some seeds for this one. I really liked it. Also Black Brandywine. Grub's Green is certainly going to be in my garden again. Have saved seeds, if somebody wants some.

Nick's Chilli Oil is sitting on my kitchen bench. Very yummy, too. Have been munching on the chillies since Sunday. Put some in a batch of spicy tomato salsa, too.

Unfortunately, I forgot how Totora made this oil. Must ask him.

Lomatia's Bresaolo was fantastic! Really inspired me to make one come Winter! Thanks for sharing it with us. :)

Craig (NC, USA)

This might also attract more people who might otherwise give this event a miss.

Spatz,
Yes, a Cornucopia Taste Fest. Let's broaden the horizon a little.

Thanks to everyone, especially Mr and Mrs Lomatia our gracious hosts!

Totora, I have lots of seeds to share for chillies - please send me an email with your address details. It might take me a while to get them off to you but I definitely will get around to it at some point, so don't be concerned if I'm a bit slow :) I'd love to spread them around!

Patrina