Beth – continentaldrift.org

Tomate Frito

Beth — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 18:28:55 +0000

For tonight’s dinner, I used a product that’s new to me, but that is very common in Spain: Tomate Frito. It looks like crushed tomatoes, but actually it’s tomatoes slowly cooked in a little olive oil, often with onions and garlic. It’s smooth and mellow and very flavorful, and is a great head start on dinner.

For dinner, I sauted an onion and some garlic (my particular can of tomate frito did not include onions and garlic), then added the tomate frito, some frozen fava beans, and a bag of gnocchi, and cooked it until done. The sauce was lovely and I’m sure we’ll be eating a lot more meals like this in the future.

There’s nothing quite like this readily available in the US. I’m sure you can find it at specialty stores, and of course you can make your own with some time; but here it’s ubiquitous and delicious right out of the can.

Why?

Beth — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 22:03:59 +0000

There are a lot of reasons.

The rise of fascism is the most immediate reason, but even if all the fascists and Christian nationalists were raptured this afternoon, we’d still be leaving. This country loves guns and grift and hates everyone who isn’t a rich cishet straight white man. Health insurance alone is enough of a reason; we’ll be paying about as much for rent on a four bedroom house two blocks from the beach as we’re paying for health insurance here.

Besides, the world’s a big place, full of wonders. We’re gonna go find some.

Sunset at Samil Beach, Vigo, Spain. Photo by Green Grasshopper on Unsplash

One Week From Today

Beth — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 17:01:57 +0000

… we leave this house and drive to Boston.

The sense of all options narrowing down to a single point on the horizon. The sense that the light at the end of the tunnel may well be a train. I am impatient to leave already; I need another month or two to do this properly. It’s a good thing I don’t have a day job right now, because keeping my shit together is a full time job.