Blazes Boylan walked here and there in new tan shoes about the fruitsmelling shop, lifting fruits, young juicy crinkled and plump red tomatoes, sniffing smells.

Americans once defined themselves by what they produced, and the state fair's parade of newfangled tractors, plump tomatoes and fleecy sheep paid tribute to that.

Shallow wooden boxes piled high with green and red peppers, plump tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, new potatoes, and shiny purple aubergines, were laid out on tables and in rows on the ground.

They love to fondle plump tomatoes, nibble surreptitiously on ripe raspberries and tap giant honeydew melons, staring at the rind as if they expect a little man inside to knock back three times to signal ripeness.

Among the best, rosiest, plumpest, most fully ripened tomatoes to be seen all season were those at the Darien, Rowayton, South Norwalk, Shelton, Hartford and Chester farmers' markets, all visited in the past few weeks.

And penne Angelina brought into play plump sun-dried tomatoes, chunks of shrimp, lots of garlic and olive oil and fresh spinach - a nice touch.

Baby wild artichokes and piquant caper flowers, wood-grilled onions and plump sun-dried tomatoes - those are earthy foods that seem far removed from the hypersleek Manhattan restaurant scene.

At the grocery store, he stared at a plump tomato and then put it back.

Breakfast on my visit centered on romaine and iceberg lettuce leaves laid out on platters, surrounded by shredded red cabbage, plump whole tomatoes, tiny scallions, fresh parsley, turnips and fresh radishes with stems.

We sipped icy beer while waiting for crisp fried squid and plump tomatoes stuffed with herbs and rice, all drizzled with greeny-gold Greek olive oil.