Hawaii In The House!

I was in Hawaii a few years ago for work, and as I was leaving I stumbled upon a shop in the airport that sold plant cuttings. You could purchase them, take them home and possibly grow a bit of Hawaii in your den. I am certainly not a gardener by any stretch of the imagination, but I bought some of the cuttings anyway.

I don't know what I was thinking. I knew I would never plant them. Maybe I thought I would give them as gifts to those with a more "green-thumb" inclination than I. Enter The Hubby...he can grow anything! I am convinced that you could provide him with a slab of concrete, some seeds and in a few weeks there would be a budding, glorious garden blooming.

Now, keep in mind...these cuttings sat in a drawer for a few years until the time that I met The Hubby. He took them, threw them in pots, cared for them more than I care for my own teeth, and they began to bloom. What is even more funny is that he set them outside all summer long in the heat and humidity that is a Maryland summer and nothing happened. They grew and gained more leaves, but they didn't bloom.

Cut to two weeks ago. He finally brought them inside because the weather has been getting cooler and placed them in the bedroom. What happened then? BLOOM!!!

Hawaii at home!

I wake up to these every day now. In addition to the 5 blooms you see, there are 14 just waiting to show up. The blooms last a few days and then are replaced with another. This has been going on for a week now. Thank you Hubby for bringing Hawaii to the bedroom.

Amarylli

More time lapse Spring!

The Hubby provided the blooms...well, he nurtured the plant that did and I produced the video. iMovie is a really easy app to use, I have since found out.

You can see a better quality version here

And for those who care here is the entire full-length video from beginning to end. Great finale!

Presto Pesto!

I have a terrible weakness, ok fine...I have many. But, one of my most crippling is the search for really great Pesto. I try Pesto dishes whenever I can at restaurants, hoping that they've gotten it right. Some have and some haven't. So, the easiest way for me to satisfy my hunger for the Perfect Pesto is to make my own.

This weekend I harvested our Basil plant and proceeded to turn it into amazing Pesto...like MAGIC! Now, let me first say that I don't use a recipe for this. A good Pesto "recipe" is all about feel and consistency. Some people prefer a wetter Pesto, some a dryer. I fall into the latter. I will walk you through my process.

Fresh from the garden...Thanks Hubby!

Granted, I should have harvested this Basil two weeks ago in it's prime, but my schedule just didn't allow for it. Still, it worked just fine. One should always start with very fresh green Basil when making Pesto. That being said, I have whipped up some passable Pesto in the past (wow alliteration!) using some high quality dried basil, but I certainly don't recommend that...except in the case of Zombie Apocalypse. 

Now, lets talk nuts. I use Pine Nuts, but there are folks that say that Walnuts work just fine...I don't agree with them, but they are entitled to their opinion. For me, Pine Nuts impart an unusual flavor your just can't get from the namby pamby Walnut. Save your Walnuts for cookies people!

Toasting is touchy!

When toasting Pine Nuts, you have to be paying attention. Pine Nuts go from browned to black in like 3 seconds! These took about 10 minutes on low heat and I was constantly flipping them around in the pan. I used just slightly over a 1/3rd of a cup pretty much because that is how many were in the bag.

Garlic! It's one of the main ingredients of Pesto and I like a lot of it!

Heaven in a hard to peel container.

I used 4 cloves of garlic for my Pesto. I was going to go for 6 cloves, but I got tired of peeling it. OK, so once you have assembled everything, you throw it all into your food processor.

About to be pulverized!

Here it is. My Basil, the Garlic, the Pine Nuts, Parmesan Cheese, and a dash of salt and pepper. Heck, I could eat is as a salad just like this. I pulse this about a dozen times in the food processor just to get everything chopped up and saying, "Hi" to everyone. Then, with the food processor on high, I begin to very slowly drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil into the mix. 

You want to keep an eye on this step. Too much EVOO and you wind up with really runny Pesto, which...if you like it that way, go for it. I prefer a dryer Pesto so I add just enough to incorporate the ingredients.

Once processed it looks pretty much like this.

Heaven in a Food Processor!

This was still a little lumpy for my tastes, so I processed it for a bit longer on high giving the blade time to cut it down even further. Here is my final result.

Just looking for some fresh pasta to mate with!

So, even after all of my careful oil pouring this turned out a little runnier than I prefer it. No problem, I just added some extra Parm to it. The cheese absorbed the oil perfectly.

Now comes the hard part. What to pair it with? Pasta? Chicken? Pork? Spread it on a piece of bread and be done? Eat it by the spoonful right out of the food processor??? That is the great thing about Pesto, you can do ANYTHING with it. I have opted this evening to coat a chicken breast in it and bake it. Nummy!

What so you like to do with Pesto? Sound off in the comments.

Down the Primrose Path

I am a huge fan of blooming flowers, I just can't grow them. Thankfully I have The Hubby to grow them for me. These are Evening Blooming Primrose. Around 9pm every evening, you can stand at the plant and watch them bloom.

They smell good too!

It's like watching those time-lapse nature videos...only it's in real time. It's an amazing sight! Here is a video I filmed last evening.

Bloomage!

Thank you Tod for the title imspiration. Spring has sprung, well at least inside our house. Popping up from what The Hubby calls, "The Bulb Grave Yard" came these amazing blooms.

I have to give total credit to The Hubby for this. None of my thumbs are green by any stretch of the imagination. He told me this started with one bulb about 20 years ago. Amazing!

Spring Has Sprung

Here it is, the first instance of Spring flowers inside our home. The Hubby keeps a beautiful garden throughout the warm months, and I love it when he starts to bring some of it indoors.

I don't know what any of them are called except for the Peony, I just know their beautiful.