It Ain't Over Yet

The sky is dark as pitch right now, beastly clouds chasing out what is left of Summer, and my camera is busted (a curse upon you oh techno Gods), but I can still take a nostalgic stroll to where the sky was once dotted with dancing bunnies and three headed dragons, and America was taking its turn on my play list (c'mon, I spent my kid years in Cali, cut me some slack, you muskrat you!). Just back from the Farmers Market with my kids; a Summer's heist, bags full of treats--berries, apricots, chewy bread, basil, free-range chicken...


I made pesto and more pesto and more pesto...but here, just for you, is a good start.

Into the Cuisinart went:
2+ very large handfuls of very well rinsed basil
5 juicy cloves of garlic
a generous handful of walnuts
1/3+ c. freshly grated parmesan
1/4+ c. virgin olive or grape seed oil
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Begin to pulse, and add oil in a slow stream (I used grape seed oil cuz it's what I had on hand) and keep going until a nice wet paste is created. Taste and season as preferred with s&p and more parmesan if you like; learn what makes you happy, and do it.

Fantastic--the smell, the color, the taste.

On peasant bread with heirloom tomatoes and some slices of parmesan on top--killer...
oh, and if you get some ham in there too...a massacre!



to store: place in a jar or other 'liddable' container and top off with oil to keep it from discolouring (even if it does, it's not gonna kill you), and tuck it in the fridge, will keep for about a week.

A Tart Grows in Brooklyn

This my friends, is a no brainer. It's a fruit tart I made with some apricots that my friend E gave me from her overly bountiful trip to the Farmers Market. From time to time, I like to use, ahem, frozen Pillsbury pie dough (usually for my chicken pot pies more so than anything else). For the purists out there, forgive me, but I have to tell you that they bake up very nicely, and will do in a (single mom) pinch.

You need:
a cookie sheet, covered in parchment or a silicon matt
1/2 of a Pillsburry pie crust
7-8 apricots, washed, halved and stoned (I mean take the pits out Amelia)
turbinado sugar
butter

Pre-heat your oven to 375f. Roll the dough as well as you can into a rectangle. Yes, it's a half circle, it CAN be done, do you have to be so literal all of the time. Roll up the edges and press them down gently, just until they stay put and form a nice barrier to hold in the juices. Lay in the apricot halves. I place them with the stone side, or the pit side up, which makes for a rustic look. If you want something more refined, flip those babies over. I placed about a Tablespoon worth of butter, in bits and sprinkled it on top. I then sprinkled a very generous amount of turbinado sugar, about a 1/4 c. over the fruit.
Into the oven it went for about 20 minutes so the fruit would soften, and the juices would render and mix with the sugar and the butter.

I served this up plain, but dang it if I wasn't wishing that I had had some ginger ice cream to go along with it!

Sentimental Journey

These are my Grandparents, Mary and Hugh, or Baba and Gogo as they liked to be called; the only ones I was fortunate enough to have met. When I was very young, they were with the Foreign Service in Europe, and my family was living in California. We communicated primarily via cassette tapes which we sent back and forth 'par avion'. They would record stories, and Gogo would play us a tune on his piano. My brother and I would blurt "hello, cheeseburger" into the mic, and fall over in peels of laughter, rendering us useless to the rest of the dialog.

Sometimes, during the summer months, while we were off from school, we would meet halfway, in rural Pennsylvania. While there, Gogo taught me how to play 'Over The Rainbow' (with two fingers!!) and would take me on long twilight walks after supper. Baba attempted to teach my brother and me The Lord's Prayer, "...forgive u(snot) our trespasses..." (yes, my brother and I were cheeky twits), and would give my little hands manicures with lovely clear orangey pink iridescent polish.

Summer is on the cusp, as it was then, and as I think of them, right now, I know what a gift it is to have had these experiences with two of the most remarkable people I have known.