Elgan speaks
...and her words thunder across the land

Pesto Recipe and other Random Thoughts

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2004
8:30 a.m.
Ah, the joys of parenthood! Buddy Boy is off to his first day of school (level 4 or grade 10 in the rest of Canada) with his lovingly-prepared home-made lunch, a little shell-shocked, because he was so certain that he didn�t have to go back until later this week. Sucker! Little Princess is home at last, arriving just in time for supper yesterday, stinky (yes, stinky) and sniffly. I had stripped her bed and given her clean sheets to put on it, suggesting rather blatantly that she have a shower before crawling inbetween them. It was not to be. I don�t think she even undressed, just fell asleep in the clothes she�s been wearing all weekend. Hmph!

Thank you all for your kind notes encouraging me as I make my way through this wild jungle which is parenthood, slashing at vines and undergrowth with my machete. I really do feel like a pioneer, even though billions have gone before me raising adolescents. It�s just that children don�t come with owners manuals and there is so much they don�t tell you in prenatal classes. The child-rearing books you read don�t really prepare you for this, because they don�t take into account the raw emotion you as a parent experience when your kid exhibits independent behaviour. Anyway, thanks for your kind words. They make me feel like perhaps I really am on the right track here as I wend my way through the foliage without a map.

More rain yesterday and today has begun similarly. The basil continues to grow, dammit, and now that I have replenished my supply of pesto-making ingredients, I need to get out there and finish it off. Someone in the chatroom asked how to make pesto, so I am including my recipe here, although I may have done it earlier somewhere.

Place in a food processor and grind into a paste:

3 cups packed fresh basil leaves
2 to 3 large cloves of garlic
1/2 cup pine nuts (or walnuts or almonds, but pine nuts are the best)
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (not the stuff you get in those shakers)
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
a handful of fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste.

Et voila, pesto! This recipe makes about 2 cups. I put it in plastic containers and freeze it immediately, sort of like a squirrel hiding nut for the winter. Enjoy!

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