The weather – the torrential rains – have pretty much destroyed the tomato crop, this year. It’s pretty sad how poorly they have done – literally rotting on the vines.

Today, it rained so much so hard so fast, that we had to turn around on our way to the gym. Roads were closed, the street we were driving on looked like a raging river – complete with boulders rolling into the street. It was down-pouring when we left, but had no idea  of the extent of the damage. We were less than half a mile from home and literally could not drive in the road. After turning around, we headed up through a raging river coming towards us. It scared the bejezus out of me. Our carport – always dry no matter what – had several inches of water in it.  And the shopping center where I once worked – exactly 2 miles from our front door?!? Totally flooded, roads washed away… A total mess.

Freeways are closed, towns under water.

We have water in the basement. Not a lot, but I think every rainfall from here on out is going to seep in and add to the fun.

And while we have record amounts of water falling – more water than we can the earth can deal with and more rain predicted for tonight and tomorrow – California is parched and has the largest wildfires in their history. Climate Change is real, boys and girls. This is the New Normal. And in November, we have to vote the climate change deniers out of office. We have to.

I want my tomatoes back – and I want to be able to leave my house. After the torrents stopped, I went out to the garden to assess damage. There are scores of tomatoes out there – and just about anything with some color is mush. I grabbed a few that looked hopeful, but I don’t know about the rest.

In the meantime, the peppers seem to be loving the water! There are hundreds of them out there! I grabbed a few to fry up as the rain started, again… Mother Nature is not going to get the upper hand with everything, dammit!

Fried peppers are a basic condiment in our house. They go on everything from sandwiches to salads, in sauces, on burgers or steaks, stuffed into pitas, or my favorite – on a hot dog with mustard!

We generally don’t seed them – we want ’em hot. I just cut off the stems and place them in a skillet with a bit of olive oil and salt. Cover, and them let them steam and fry over low heat until soft. I then uncover, turn up the heat to boil off most of the liquid that accumulated in the pan.  Then the fun – add a couple of minced garlic cloves and a couple of minced anchovies! Mix it all in, check for seasoning, and add some salt and pepper, if desired.

The anchovies are fun – you don’t really know they’re there, but they add a nice back flavor!

Let them cool and place in the ‘fridge for a rainy day.