The holidays. They are here– and they are starting right now. To many of us that means holiday cooking, baking and celebrating! But that's not necessarily so with all of us.

Now I love cooking during the holidays. But I know for a fact not everyone does. And for those people who prefer not to cook during the holidays– I have catfish. Whenever I think about holiday foods (and not cooking) I always think of catfish! I am sure you do too. Right?

Hmmm… I can see quite a few of you wrinkling your brows in disbelief. Maybe you think Sup! sipped a little too much witches brew preparing for the advent of these holidays. Which may or may not be the case, but let me explain "anyhows", as they say south of the M-D line.

You may already realize that I spent a few years in the southern part of ‘these United States”. Southerners have wacky food traditions (and I mean that with the greatest respect!) It seems these traditions always get started by someone’s Great Aunt Delores and then somehow they get incorporated into the culinary lives of all kinds of unrelated folks. I mean think about that cake with the little plastic baby baked inside. And speaking of cake have you ever tried Coca-Cola cake? Now who do you think thought up those recipes? Why it was somebody’s Great Aunt Delores of course!

Well, this is it! The last TomatoMania for 2009.

It's been a great tomato growing season. I learned so much from Scott Daigre. I hope his guest posts here were helpful for you as well.

But the hightlight of these past many Monday's (for me) was our tomato recipe contest. I so enjoyed cooking the 6 winning entries and posting them here for you. It was a great way to step out of my culinary box, stretch my tongs and try new things. That's what life is all about isn't it? The new and the exciting wrapped around and mingled amongst the comfort and love of things familiar. Because with out one, the other just seems hollow!

Speaking of adventure mingling with comfort. I have the last of the winning recipes for you today. It's certainly adventurous, but has all the comfort of a delicious slow-roasted tomato sauce too.

This is a recipe for Fried Spaghetti with a Roasted Tomato Sauce. It comes to us from the mind of Eric, the soon to be chef behind the amazing blog, Eric Rivera Cooks. I saved it for last because I wanted to end this series with a smile. Anything Eric cooks you know is made with a smile. That man loves life in a way that makes his blog a joy to read. He is smack dab in the middle of culinary school and he is sharing his love for this adventure almost everyday. So go read him and smile.

As far as his recipe goes, I'll let it speak for itself. So click here and read it. I admit to making one rather large change though. Eric fried his spaghetti strands one at a time. I don't have the patience, so I opted to form my cooked noodles into nest shapes before coating them in his flour mixture. It's a nod to one way dried Italian pasta is often sold, sure. But it also makes a great bowl to hold the sauce. I love the way the nest keeps the chunky tomatoes safely nestled inside, but still allows some of the sauce to leak out over the bottom of the bowl. Making for a very pretty presentation.

So that's it for TomatoMania 2009. All that is left is for Scott to bring you a few parting words! Take it away Scott...

It’s Monday. Time for a little more tomato love. Of course I mean TomatoMania.

The tomato plants at my house are really picking up the pace.

Plus I went to the Hollywood Farmers Market yesterday and saw a lot of spectacular specimens. Naturally I even picked up a few.

If you have been following Sup! lately then you may know I broke my jaw and am on a liquid diet. Which has made for a week of interesting soups including: Leek and Potato, Poblano and even a dessert version, Plum Soup with Tarragon and Blackberries.

Today being a Maniac Monday I think it is high time I made another of the TomatoMania contest winning recipes. After all we are smack dab in the heart of tomato season. I have great tomatoes I picked up yesterday and even quite a few home grown tomatoes too.

But with my jaw wired shut there are limitations to what I can eat. Never fear. One of the winning recipes is a perfect choice for the season, for the weather and for my “situation”.

That’s right gazpacho. More precisely Nate and Annie’s (from House of Annie) Lazy Heirloom Tomato Gazpacho with Cucumber and Red Bell Pepper Garnish.

Hopefully I am not stepping on "you know which Spuds" toes. But today I am talking tater.

I got a handful of new potatoes from a gardener friend recently. It’s tempting to think that new potatoes are a specific variety of potato. But that is inaccurate.

New potatoes are actually immature potatoes dug shortly after the plant begins to flower. They can come in almost any variety. In other words you could have Yukon Gold new potatoes AND Red-Skinned new potatoes. Popular varieties of potatoes that are often harvested early and referred to as new potatoes are Maris Bard, Premiere and Rocket.

I have often heard people say fingerling potatoes are new potatoes because they are the immature version of some particular type of potato. This is not exactly accurate. Fingerlings are indeed a named potato variety and there are several types: Australian Crescent, French Fingerling, Rose Finn Apple, etc. Which is not to say you can’t get new potatoes that are indeed fingerlings. But they would be fingerling new potatoes, just as an immature Yukon Gold would be a Yukon Gold new potato.