I'll just let basil hang for a while and hope for the best.

and then it gets kind of stringy and bitter tasting, to me. So I've been harvesting our 2 plants every week-and-a-half or 2 weeks. I made some pesto before we went out of town last week and then picked some yesterday when I got home

The tomatoes are pretty and green, and would be great for fried green tomatoes...but I'm gonna let these puppies ripen. Fried green are good at the end of the season. I'm not wasting my first-croppers on that!

You don't want to let them go to seed. Don't fret, it will grow back quick enough.

I bought pesto alla calabrese.

OK, OK, not home made, but the ideological purity of the act cannot be disputed.


While regular pesto is based on basil, pine nuts, parmigiano and olive oil (and is green)

pesto alla calabrese is red bellpeppers, 3 cheeses, chilli and olive oil (and is red)

http://www.pasta-recipes-by-italians.com/pesto-calabrese.html


I think I'll apply for the job of ideology propagandist at our Church of the Holy FSM:

the canons of the cooking Law must be widely propagated and strictly adhered to.

Yum!

Way back when in this little town where I live there were zero pine nuts to be found. But we had lots of basil in the back yard (I lived in an old house broken up into 4 apartments and we all knew each other and partied and ate and socialized together. It was great!) We also had arugula taking over the yard. It tastes sorta nutty, so we used to add it to the pesto. Even if you have pine nuts...or are allergic to nuts or something.... adding arugula is a yummy thing to try.

You wrote this extremely sad sentence (it almost made me cry)

A professional cook gave me this tip once to prepare pesto when you can't find pine nuts:
replace them with cashew nuts.

I hope this (100% true) story will be a confirmation of my implication and seriousness in all the aspects of the holy rites of our beloved Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (fresh parmigiano be upon it always)

Pairs of boys on bicycles in white shirts and black ties go door to door trying to talk to people about them!