[Rainey]

We, in SoCal, are being punished by a destructive rain. It's been at least a week and I'm experiencing alternate bouts of cabin fever and anxiety about the things I've planted in my flower beds and the things that I need to stay in the ground (like a massive 80-90' pine tree in the backyard).

A few minutes ago we had a brief sunbreak. It felt great! So I celebrated it by breaking out some confit of tomatoes I did last fall when clotilde had an entry about roasted tomatoes (or somesuch). It was a wonderful reminder that summer and fresh things is coming and it lifted my spirits.

I've got two more half tomatoes left in that confit. They're going to have to hold me until June or July when the tomatoes are ripe again. I'll dole them out carefully in the coming weeks. And I'll definitely do a whole lot more of them this summer so I don't have to be so parsimonious in the future!!!

Meanwhile, thanks, clotilde, for this promise of good things to come!

[Lady Amalthea]

Rainey, those tomatoes sound great; can you share the recipe or tell me what entry it was on the blog?
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Don't forget the cannolis!

[Rainey]

Look for Tomates Confites on May 26, 2004. If I knew how to capture a link to that entry I would have but I suspect if you put "Tomates Confites" into the search window you'll come up with it. Failing that, you could go back to that date.

I think it was in one of the comments that someone said she did the same thing and packed them in olive oil to store in her fridge. That's exactly what I did and it worked wonderfully.

[ejm]

Those look fantastic!!

I've oven-roasted plum tomatoes to simulate sun-dried tomatoes but never thought to semi-dry them. What herbs did you use, Rainey?

The link to Clotilde's recipe is at:
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2004/05/index.php#000631


(At the top of the May archive, there is a link to Tomates Confites. If you right click on the link, there should be a window that comes up with list of options. One of the options is "copy link location")

[Rainey]

I used salt & pepper, some halved garlic cloves and a drizzle of olive oil as I roasted them. I put leaves of fresh basil in the jars with them when I put them in my fridge.

[clotilde]

You are very welcome Rainey, I'm so glad you're enjoying your tomatoes! Hope the rain will stop soon...

[ejm]

That sounds fabulous! Now I'm even more anxious for this latest dump of snow to disappear so that plum tomatoes can be grown! Will winter never end?

[Rainey]

[Erin]

I am hungry now.

I hope things are allright for you guys soon.
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"It's watery....and yet there's a smack of ham."

"It's hot ham water."

[Rainey]

Well, the sun is out this morning but we're due for more rain tomorrow and Tues. And, as if we haven't had enough, there was an earthquake last night. It wasn't a big one but the epicenter was really close to us so it got our attention! The question is, what will it do to those homes that have been yellow and red tagged because of slipping hills.

Oh the pleasures of living in paradise! In truth, we're fine and most SoCalifornians are fine too now that it's pretty much over. But it's been a hard time for a number of families. Fortunately, among our friends it's just been roof leaks.

But here's what made me laugh this morning. Do you ever watch Sunday Morning on CBS? They showed an Oscar-nominated animation called Gopher Broke. It was adorable! I enjoyed watching the torture of a hapless gopher. If you get a chance, give it 3 minutes of your time.