out in the early

I love mornings. I love being awake before anyone in the house and in the world at large. The luxurious extra time afforded by going to bed early is so completely appealing to me. Who cares about late night tv anyway. I woke up early this morning... 5:30 or so, and got out of bed. We live pretty close to a beautiful state park, so I loaded Chaucer up into the truck and off we went for a very early morning walk. It was so early that the birds weren't even up to their vocal crescendo. The fog was still thick in the trees and the air was silent. This is what I love. It is intimate really. I love the closeness of atmosphere.

As I was walking along, allowing Chaucer to run wild and free down the road and in the woods, river etc, I walked up to this apple tree, because it was there, on the side of the road, with apples weighing down its branches, and low and behold, simply the biggest caterpillar I have ever seen was there tucked around one of the branches. It was beautiful really... although it did remind me of a tomato horn worm (my nemesis), but it was green and red and blue and absolutely huge!!! Maybe close to five inches long. crazy... So, I took a picture and ogled it crazily for a few minutes.

I love mornings, and today, for both me and Chauc, was a great one.

Thank you quiet,

thank you fog,

thank you solitude.

Basil Pesto

Basil Pesto, most people just call this pesto, but there are really tons of different types of pestos. "Pesto" actually means "to pound" in Italian. I almost tried to make some this time in my mortar and pestle, but it was still a bit too daunting.

My basil, Genovese Basil, grew so well this year. It's important to treat it right so it doesn't grow into tall treeish things that fall over. Pretty early on, you should start shaping it into bushes by nipping the tops off at the first branch out of leaves. Just leave the two side growth of leaves and take the center stem. The two side growths will then take over and the basil will start to bush out. just keep doing this ever once and a while, and you will end up with nice full bushes of basil.

I picked as much Basil as I could hold between two arms, and I still have a ton of it still

growing. (So, if anyone wants a bunch of Basil just come on over!! I mean that.)

Making Pesto is actually super easy. I followed a recipe that I have used before... I think its Nigella Lawson's on the

food network, but they are all very similar.

5 cups of Fresh Basil (leaves and supple stems only) if your basil has flower spikes make sure to not include these because they are really bitter.

1 peeled Garlic clove

1/4 cup of pine nuts

big grind of pepper, and a pinch of salt

1/2 cup of finely grated parmesean

1/2 cup of olive oil

Before I tell you how to put all of this together, I want to remind you that in recipes like t

his the quality of the ingredients really shows through. Get really good olive oil and parmesan. Use freshly ground pepper. Be good to your pesto.

So push all of the basil into the bowl of a food processor. Include the garlic, pine nuts, pepper and salt and pulse it all until it's nicely minced. You might have to stop the thing and push the basil down a few times. Make sure to scrape the sides down with a rubber spatula.

Then, once it is all minced up, start the processor on low and slowly trickle in the olive oil. I used the same 1/4 cup measuring cup for the pine nuts. I streamed it in and and once the first 1/4 cup was done, I stopped it and scraped down the sides. Then I refilled the 1/4 cup and repeated.

Process this until you have a nice pasty pesto. It shouldn't be liquidy, it should be the

consistency of...hmm... creamed spinach? That sounds too gross.... I can't think of any other thing that

consistency. Just like a nice paste not a liquid.

At any rate, once it is done, scrape it out into a bowl and fold in the parmesan....... Done!

I freeze mine in ice cube trays and keep them in a ziplock bag through the winter.

Jenny and I recently went out to North Hampton for a date without the kids. (First time ever) and we had lunch at a great place, Sylvester's. I had the Smithie's Favorite: which was a grilled cheese smothered with pesto. It was amazing!!!!! Here is my attempt at reliving that experience.

We also make pesto pizza, which is a basic pizza crust lightly coated with olive oil, pesto and cheese. Yum!

Enjoy