By End of January. The year is already a month old and I cannot feel the pace. I used to say January lasted ten months. This January lasted ten days, for reasons that I suspect include the book and the kids and the weather and the way time compresses when you are 44 and your teenagers are growing up and your mother is alive and fragile and your husband's back is starting to talk to him and you are on the highway four days a week with a small voice in your head saying, the clock is ticking, retirement is 11 years away, everything is moving. Everything is moving.
I drove a Des Moines run Tuesday and Wednesday. Uneventful. Ate tuna salad in the cab, again, which is my road comfort food. The cookbook includes a tuna salad recipe, and Sarah tried to cut it in the early edits and I said no and she said okay and it stayed. There is no food more truck-driver than canned tuna with mayo on saltines. I will die on that hill.
Dave had a bad back Thursday. Worse than usual. He could not get off the couch without help. I drove him to urgent care. The doctor — young, patient — ordered an MRI. We will have results in two weeks. Dave did not say anything on the drive home. I did not say anything. I made him soup. He ate three spoonfuls and went to bed. I lay beside him reading. He said, after twenty minutes of silence, "Brenda. I don't want surgery." I said, "I know." He said, "I know you know." That was the whole conversation. Dave and I had just discussed the entire topic of the next year of our lives in four sentences. That is marriage. That is specifically my marriage.
Amber turned in her last scholarship application Wednesday. Seven applications total. She said she is "done with it" and she sounded tired and relieved and a little sad, the way you sound when a big project ends whether it went well or badly. I think most of them will come through. The Berkhamer was 2,000, another is a Rural Nebraska Women's Scholarship for 1,500, a third is 1,000, and there are others. She'll end up at UNK with almost nothing out of pocket. I am going to cry when I drive her down there in August. I am going to cry so hard. I have already decided.
Friday I made a pork roast — slow, overnight in the oven at 225, the kind of thing that fills the kitchen with a quiet steady smell of rosemary and onion and the miraculous transformation of a tough cut into something tender. We had sandwiches for two days. Justin ate so many he had to go lie down. He said, "Mom. This pork is out of control." He meant it as a compliment. I received it as such. Some moments of parenting are simply: did the food land, was the boy fed, is the house full. Yes. Yes. Yes.
That pork roast — the one Justin had to go lie down after — was made possible by a willingness to trust the oven overnight and just let time do the work. Oven roasted tomatoes work the same way: low heat, patience, and the kind of quiet transformation that happens while you’re reading beside your husband or waiting on MRI results you can’t control. They’re the side dish I come back to when a week has been heavy and I need something that will hold its own without demanding much from me. You put them in, you walk away, and the oven does the rest.
Oven Roasted Tomatoes
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 2 hours | Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Roma or plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon sugar (optional, to balance acidity)
- Fresh basil leaves, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat. Heat your oven to 275°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Prepare the tomatoes. Arrange the tomato halves cut-side up in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet. They can be close together but should not overlap.
- Season. Drizzle the olive oil evenly over the tomatoes. Scatter the sliced garlic across the top. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, and sugar if using.
- Roast low and slow. Transfer to the oven and roast for 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours, until the tomatoes are deeply concentrated, slightly caramelized at the edges, and reduced to about half their original size. They should look jammy and soft, not dried out.
- Rest and serve. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Top with fresh basil. Serve warm as a side dish, pile onto crusty bread, toss with pasta, or layer into sandwiches.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 95 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 8g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 320mg