PESTO PASTA SALAD

Sadly, my basill is finished for the season. If I had been better about watering it during this drought, it would have lasted longer. I still have a few cubes of pesto that I've frozen, but I'll be needing to buy some basil to make enough to keep us going during the fall, winter, and spring. It's so convenient to dip into the bag of frozen pesto cubes and toss one into a pot of sauce or over some cooked chicken. It defrosts quickly and can be used as a panini spread or a pizza topping. My recipe is simple (see sidebar) and if you have a bumper crop of basil, make some and freeze in ice cube trays as I've explained. Don't believe those recipe that tell you you can substitute parsley or spinach and used dried basil. They taste terrible!

Last night was a burger, corn on the cob night, so I quickly threw together a pesto pasta salad.

1 lb. mini fusilli (DeCecco makes 3 varieties of mini pasta, great for cold salads)
3 cubes of frozen pesto
olive oil
grated cheese
toasted pine nuts (about 1/3 cup)

Cook the pasta according to taste. Rinse with cold water to stop cooking and drain well. Toss in pesto cubes, drizzle liberally with extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with grated cheese. Toss well. Add pine nuts and mix. Best served room temperature. Leftovers can be resurrected with the addition of more olive oil.

In my profile I mention that Larry and I live in a log home with our 2 cats. Molly is almost 5 years old. She's pleasingly plump, though the vet says she's fine at 16 pounds. She really doesn't overeat since I measure out their dry food twice a day. She's big-boned! Pittypat is just 1. She's more slender, like Blueberry (sadly, our 19 year old cat had to be euthanized last year). Molly and Pitty are inseparable though from their daily and nightly wrestling matches, you'd think they were bitter enemies. Molly is always looking to play, even though she's older, but Pitty is just too fast. We should have named her Road Runner. Her best tricks include playing leap frog--hey, why go around Molly when you can leap over her--and racing around the hardwood floors and coming to a screeching halt--witness the teeny little clawmarks all over our living room and dining room.

One of the beauties of living in a log home in the woods is the constant feeling that I'm on vacation. This early morning light is the scene I view through our living room window every day. We've only covered our bathrooms and bedroom with window coverings so we can take advantage of the daily show. Right now 3 fawns and 2 does eat at our salad bar each day (A.K.A. our landscaping). They are joined by a dozen and a half wild turkey who love to roll and scratch in the leaves and on our lawn (Larry is not as happy about this; he's constantly raking the leaves off our long driveway and we now have to plant a raised bed around the trees since they've rubbed off all the grass). Last year we had 3 red fox living in a hollowed out stump in the ravine to the side of our living room. Our hawks have just build a third nest, this one right in front of the house in an old oak tree.

So, when I'm not cooking or baking or quilting or reading or playing Scrabble online, I love to sit and watch the show outside my window. I'm waxing eloquent today because it's the First
Day of school and I'm here instead of in front of the school welcoming the children back from summer vacation. Yes, I do miss seeing the fresh faces of the kindergartners and the mommies and daddies busy snapping pictures. I miss the excitement of a new school year and catching up with my staff--who's pregnant (ouch! another sub needed), who's bought a new house, who is having husband/wife/children issues at home. But, when all is said and done, it's awfully nice to recite the Pledge alone in my living room and sip my second cup of coffee.