I can't think of anything more appealing to eat right about now than tomato pie.  My pal Suzette has been whipping them up for the last few weeks and swooning about how divine they are.  Her rampant enthusiasm meant that I'd been meaning to rustle up one of my usual yummy ones anyway, when I had a spot of inspiration yesterday.    We just returned from a stellar weekend at the Homestead which afforded all sorts of over-the-top culinary experiences when we weren't mindlessly floating around in the Jefferson Pools in Hot Springs.  Anyway, yesterday when I reached for one of the frozen homemade dough balls I keep handy to make a pie whenever the mood strikes, I had a flash of a particularly tasty pimento cheese sandwich I ate at tea in the Grand Hall on Sunday.   A new taste treat was born.

I had some really successful kitchen kismet this week.  Bob and Evelyn sent over some fabulous beans.  I think I made an erroneous assumption that they were Chinese long beans.  Whether they were or not, it set off a tidal wave of memories for me and, as usual I headed to my trusty stash of recipes, which live in the gigantic white loose-leaf notebook called, simply "Clare".  Hmmmm....I wonder if in my heart, cooking defines me?  Clearly the subject for, if not therapy, then lots of further thought.  But I digress....back to beans. I found a wonderful Gourmet recipe from 2006 and there, right beside it, a Mark Bittman recipe from 2002 which I must have decided at some point would go together beautifully.