Homemade pesto and gift suggestions, sorry, no chocolate this time!

Sometimes it's the small things you do for someone that turn into small wonderful memories. or food. or both, if you are lucky! (as soon as www.pamakana.com launches you could even see how these awesome little things spawn awesome little thing things! awww so cute!)

and today - today I was very lucky :)

About a month ago, Johnny came home with a basil plant for the window sill and PROMISED to keep it watered so it would live. I kind of have a bad track record with this... so I fixed this by making it his responsibility. I know, not the most recommended solution but so far so good. and recently, even I have been remembering to water it when it looks sad. So maybe I can almost say it's life is a shared responsibility!

Anyway - it has been growing like crazy and smells SO GOOD that I finally gave in tonight and tried my hand at pesto. I have never made pesto but I knew it had basil, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and olive oil. People keep telling me that in cooking, unlike baking, you don't need accurate measurements. I put this to the test by not even looking up one recipe.

Look at me living all dangerously...

Did I also mention that Jack's all time favorite food is pesto? I believe his quote was 'mmmm mmmmmm my FAVORITE!' when I just suggested pesto for dinner. no pressure...

I happened to have a hunk of Parmesan so I grated that (with help of course, two cheese freaks kept EATING it as I was trying to grate it!), picked off a bunch of basil, tossed in a few pine nuts and turned on the blender-processor thingy (technical term for smallish low feature food processor).

Then I remembered Johnny had also gotten oregano! And it was growing outside. Of course I asked him to get it for me because I was already busy boiling pasta! Besides he was all excited because I was using stuff he got for me (awwwww). Adding a bit of oregano was brilliant on my part, if I do say so myself. I also added a little diced garlic. YUM

I feel so ooh lala and it was just about the easiest thing ever. Literally took less than the 15 minutes to boil and cook the pasta.

And it's all Johnny's fault! He surprised me with fresh herbs to use and they have been inspiring me to try making new foods at home. There is something insanely satisfying when you make food from stuff grown in your own yard... hard to explain. *hippy sigh*

Next time you need to get something for that person who says 'don't get me anything' but you feel guilty not getting them anything - instead of flowers, go for herbs or a plant or something that sustains over time. And you can even give them a card from www.pamakana.com (which will be launching just in time for sharing all your summer produce!! like the gazillions of zucchini which I predict will be showing up as a result of four (yes four) plants in the back yard.) (i hope you all like zucchini!!)

so what do you think? appropriate use of parentheses? hahahaaa ;)