Author Archives: Tasha

Is it pesto?

Wow, it’s 3:35 pm as I sit down to type this up. That was fast! And, wonderfully, it helped me get the attitude adjustment I needed. So, yay!

Now all I have to do is figure out what to serve it on. Bill’s mother, Rosa, once made us salmon with pesto on top, and some amazing onion side. I haven’t figured out her pesto, or that onion side, but it might be a nice way to do it again. Possibly tonight, as I have some salmon in the house.

The side, though? It will probably be cream of broccoli soup, following “this recipe.”:http://www.metacookbook.com/archives/202-103-Cream-of-Leek-Soup.html Only I don’t have heavy cream on hand, so I’ll use half & half.

So, what was today’s pesto?

h2. Ingredients

Note: All these measurements, except the cheese, are utterly wild guesses.… Continue reading →

Confession time

I only like basil in small quantities. A pesto lover, I am not.

“But, Natasha,” I hear you say. “You have at least two basil plants in “your garden”:http://www.metacookbook.com/archives/247-My-garden.html!”

Yup. It’s because I would like to like basil more. And because Bill would probably be a basil fish if he could figure out the anatomy. A pesto lover does not even begin to describe Bill.

I’ve only had one pesto I’ve ever enjoyed. Angelique’s husband, Marty, made it. Then he emailed me the recipe, when I said I liked it. I made it in my home later that year. To be honest? I don’t recall how I felt about it when I made it. Weird, isn’t it?

Anyway, since basil is on the list of foods I’d like to like (more), I’m trying something new today.… Continue reading →

Market Day – Any Questions?

My friend “Jen”:http://antijenicdrift.blogspot.com/ has requested that I do a once a week series, on Mondays, on what “the market”:http://pilsencommunitymarket.org/ was like the prior day. I had been disinclined to do so, as I occasionally feel that it would bore the snot out of anyone reading, but today I changed my mind. At least for today.

The change was brought about, in part, while discussing the market with Bill’s employee Dan. We were discussing the fact that I would like to have data on what sort of items my patrons would like to see at the market (as well as what potential patrons would like to see!).

At the market, I would introduce a survey to find out. Indeed, I am working on one this week. Here on the blog, I write about it.… Continue reading →

[115 – 118] Let’s talk jam again, shall we?

Wow. It took long enough to find out the last challenge recipe I posted that I am embarrassed. I’ve been cooking (though not as much as this time last year), and not putting the challenges up.

Well, it may change HOW I do it, but that’s changing right now. It’s changing with the last few recipes I’ve made. I will, at the least, document them.

With that out of the way, let’s get to jam.

Today I am making black currant jam. I may also make some sort of blueberry jam. I didn’t buy a lime, so I can’t make blueberry-lime again, I don’t think. I don’t know how much jarred juice (shoosh) to add to make up the amount of juice in one lime, and there’s no replacement for zest.… Continue reading →

Book Review: Coming Home to Eat by Gary Paul Nabhan

I’m sitting in the library as I write this. In my bag is Coming Home to Eat: The Politics and Pleasures of Local Foods by Gary Paul Nabhan, waiting to be returned. On the table next to me is a book I have been unable to read, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. As a direct result of reading Coming Home to Eat, I am resolved to give Kingsolver’s book another shot.

I’m not totally thrilled about this. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is consistently being recommended to me. I know tons of people who personally love it. No one I know personally, except me, has ever had a problem with it. And my interest in food makes it an expected book on the “to read” list.… Continue reading →