fresh as a midwinter day

I had no idea Roma tomatoes could taste so good in the dead middle of winter.  Do they have a different growing season from all the tomatoes that are so fresh and abundant in summer?  Are Roma tomatoes the Anti-Tomato, thriving in winter, or did I just get really lucky with the 2 lbs of Roma tomatoes so ripe they were nearly rotting in the bin?

Either way, they made Isa's Pasta e Fagioli from Veganomicon a recipe to be reckoned with.  I would even say this recipe has the chance to push Dynise's recipe from its wobbly throne.

It doesn't look like much.  I was very excited about the six cloves of garlic but after the cooking, I felt like the tomatoes looked a little anemic.  I never get tired of being wrong.  It was so good and the goodness, as far as I could tell, was completely owed to the use of fresh tomatoes.  It may be hard to believe, but this is the first Pasta e Fagioli I've made that did not involve canned diced tomatoes and I think that made all the difference.  I can't help wondering how much better it will be when I can snip some fresh oregano from my window garden...

With that, I'm off to scheme (and hopefully dream!).  Mister packed a considerable amount of his stuff today, so while I can see we're getting closer to moving, it is only serving to make me more anxious about all the stuff everywhere.  One moment of cute before I go: today marked the obliteration of almost every hiding place Angst has...so Mister made him a new little "house" since he used the old one (a large box) for packing.