Pesto

We have fantastic farmer's markets in Seattle. I bought two bunches of organic basil for $4.00 and tonight I made pesto. There is nothing like the aroma of garlic, olive oil and basil.... The recipe is from Jane Brody's Good Food Book and uses less oil than is traditional.

Pesto

3 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt (if desired)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups basil leaves firmly packed
1/4 cup walnuts or pine nuts
½ cup Parmesan cheese

Place basil leaves in food processor with metal blade. Start machine, drop garlic down. When it is finely chopped, pour in oil. Add nuts with machine running. When nuts are ground, add Parmesan. Turn off machine when well blended. Stop machine and scrape sides as needed. Makes about 1 1/4 cup, which generously covers 1 pound pasta.

Note: We freeze pesto in 1 cup containers or 2 tablespoons per ice cube in ice cube trays.

Glorious August in Seattle

Late summer is my favorite time of year in the Pacific Northwest. The days are gloriously sunny and the nights cool and full of stars. Farmers markets are bursting with colorful dahlias, fresh basil, blackberries and other local foods. There is a sense of urgency...the end of summer is coming and I'm trying to take in as much as I can to store up for the long winter ahead.....

Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search

So tomorrow the 50 artists who made the first cut in the Global Talent Search will be announced. Here is the entry I submitted along with the one I didn't submit. In the end I decided I wanted to make a bold statement and stand out...I still like the other one, Grow, too.

Which one do you like?

Global Talent Search - Thinking about terrariums

I turned in my entry for Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search last night...I had a hard time deciding between two of the paintings I had done...We had two weeks to work on it and I did about five paintings. Here are parts from the one I didn't submit. I'll show the one I entered on August 26.

It was a fun project. I had a blast painting...I used mostly gouache and watercolor with some pen and ink thrown in.