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.

Off and Away

Sean — Sat, 21 Jun 2025 02:29:48 +0000

hello from BOS/Boston Logan Airport with a fantastic view of the harbor and airport from our hotel room.

today was a very long day.

it’s 10:30 as I type this and I am definitely going to bed straight after.

we packed up everything. Shana helped a TON. — seriously, we’d still be packing if not for her help (THANKS SHANA!!)

we said goodbye to the cats and dog, said goodbye to Sandy who is so good and is pet sitting until the kiddos catch their flight to Spain next week on the 26th.

we said goodbye to Pond House, which has been a good house, and to my car (Martha) that has been an extremely good car.

it’s weird to think I won’t be driving anymore–I think a lot of my identity is wrapped up in driving, being a good driver, and a lot of my mental well-being is wrapped up in car rides with loud music.

who am I without wheels?

a bus rider.

a beach walker?

someday: a scooter driver.

I’m pretty excited for that last one.

anyway, we left Vermont and drove to Boston pretty pain-free, and now we get to sleep in and fantasize about life in Spain and have anxiety about ALL the things…

here’s us at the airport today after dropping off the rental car:

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

our kingdom for a kitchen door

Sean — Sun, 15 Jun 2025 14:07:50 +0000

just 5 days left until we throw our shit in the car and drive to Boston for our airport Hilton stay.

we’re both in good shape, with probably 85% of the junk in the house sorted and shipped into different boxes (going with us | long term storage | trash | on the “free” table in our driveway (very popular) | idgaf what happens to this I’m just leaving it…)

there’s a lot to be excited about with this move, like

experiencing a radically different culture
Spanish vibes (the chilled out culture is REAL)
starting over/fresh start
living by the beach
and a huge, gigantic list of other cool stuff

but one of the #1 things we’re both extremely looking forward to is:

the house we’re renting in España has A KITCHEN DOOR.

why, you might ask, is this so valuable to us?

The Bastardos

We have 5 cats, only 4 of which are going with us to Spain (we will find a better fitting home for Stella).

THREE of our cats, affectionately known as “the bastardos” are relentless drones in pursuit of one single goal: to eat our food however they can.

steal it off your plate? yes

eat your ingredients when you turn to grab the salt? yes indeed

get into the cabinet and go jambon on all your snacks and the kitty treats? sadly yes

they aren’t particularly sneaky, they are just attacking from all angles while you try and grab a quick meal. It is legit difficult and a total shit experience to constantly have to defend your food from cute, idiot predators.

it’s this energy, times three:

our new house will HAVE A KITCHEN DOOR

life-changing opportunity to for us…

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.

Days Left: 8

Sean — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 16:19:12 +0000

Eight days until we leave the house for the airport (where we’ll stay the night at the airport hotel and just have nothing to do but get on a plane the next evening).

Things have been stressful, but when we check into the hotel on Friday afternoon (8 days from now, aaaggghhh) we should just be on the conveyor belt of things happening…

wake up saturday morning
have a leisurely breakfast and/or lunch
make our way to the airport directly from the hotel walkway

We’re not bringing many things, just a suitcase, a backpack, and a carry-on for each of us.

We’ll spend the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th in London before flying to our new home in Vigo on the morning of the 25th.

The animals will arrive two days later on the 27th in Porto, Portugal.

So the 28th is REALLY when we’ll be able to relax and start settling down.

In Other News

We saw a snapping turtle yesterday up by our old barn looking for places to lay eggs.

The geese and their goslings have abandoned us for some bigger area of water, as they do every year while the babies are still plump, featherless nuggets, but at least we got to see a snapping turtle.