Spaghetti cherry tomatoes and fresh basil

Spaghetti with cherry tomatoes and fresh basil takes me back to when I was a child! In summer we used to visit my grandmother in the countryside. My grandmother’s farmer would take me by the hand and take me to the vegetable garden. The first time he took me there I was almost four years old. He told me he would show me the tomato ‘trees’!!! I was delighted, because I had never seen them and when we got to the vegetable garden, I looked in the air looking for the trees… but I couldn’t find them!!! He laughed in amusement and pointed to some green seedlings, supported by some sticks, with tiny red tomatoes. He took one, wiped it on his trousers and handed it to me. It was hot from how long it had been in the sun! I sniffed it… I still remember that smell to this day! I took a bite and for the first time I tasted that wonderful flavour… and how it stung! The farmer explained to me that it was the taste of the good earth and that only tomatoes cooked in the summer sun could taste so good! Many years have passed but even now, when I smell that scent, I find myself in my grandmother’s garden eating cherry tomatoes!