Yesterday was a very interesting day! We had some friends come over last night, but before they got here, I had a few things I wanted to do. I wanted to pack for vacation, put K in her duck tub with colder water outside so she'd be ready for the cool water surrounding the best place on earth- Door County, Wisconsin, and cut some of the very abundant basil I have in my garden and make pesto!
So, we were outside with K. I probably shouldn't put a clothes-free picture of her on the internet, but look at this face!
After a minute she started kicking and splashing and loving it. So we were sitting out under a tree with K and we saw a mama duck and about 8 ducklings walking across the field in our backyard to the pond. We have a mama duck who has 10 eggs living in our hostas, but we hadn't seen ducklings yet, but thought the ducklings we were seeing might be ours! I quick turned my camera to take a picture of the babies, but was in such a hurry didn't change any of my manual camera settings, so the picture looks like this.
and here's the zoomed in version so you can see the babies. Get some sunglasses, theses are some BRIGHT pictures!
So, I look down to change my shutter speed and when I look up a huge HAWK swoops down, grabs two baby ducks, and carries them away! It was crazy, I had never seen anything like it! The hawk was huge. It was a little sad because of the babies, but it was really kind of interesting!
So then I made pesto. Pine nuts are super expensive, so I used walnuts, and it was delish.
Put 2 tightly packed cups of basil in a food processor, along with 2 peeled cloves garlic, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, and 2 tbs. cold butter. (The butter is optional, but it makes it a little smoother)
Put the cover on and get your olive oil ready! I didn't really measure the olive oil, but I'd say it was about 1 cup total. Turn your food processor on and pour the olive oil in slowly as the food processor grinds everything up. When it looks like this
scrape the sides down, add 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese and pulse 10 to 15 seconds to get it all combined. If you put the cheese in too early the heat of the food processor can change the flavor. If your pesto looks too thick, add more olive oil and pulse another 10 to 15 seconds. And that's it! I put it in jars to freeze or refrigerate.
I think next time I make pesto I'm going to get really crazy and use asiago cheese and throw in some sun dried tomatoes. : )
I am so enjoying your blog! I have been trying to get back to my blog now that I have the summer off, you inspire me:) I laughed out loud - the hawk swoops down and takes two baby ducks... so then I made pesto;-)
ReplyDeleteNow what do you put this pesto in or on?
ReplyDeleteOh you can do a lot with pesto! Spread it on french bread toasts and sprinke with a little more cheese, add a little hot water to thin it out and use it as a pasta sauce, use it instead of mayo or mustard on a chicken or turkey sandwich, but last night we spooned some over grilled pork chops with cherry tomatoes and added a dash of balsamic. You should try it!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to Door County in just a couple days myself! That's crazy that the hawk took the baby ducks right in front of you!!
ReplyDeleteI watched a bald eagle swoop in and take two LARGE ducklings (almost ducks) in our front yard one year. Pretty cool - but a little scary when you have 3 chihuahuas (and cats). So the rule is now - check for eagles in the sky before letting dogs out! Great blog, Laura!
ReplyDelete