a fresh taste of summer all winter long

*To be sung to Mary Had a Little Lamb*

Emily grew some basil, basil, basil,
Emily grew some basil and called the Titi's (Aunt in Spanish) oer,
They brought over the oil cheese garlic and pine nuts, oil cheese garlic and pine nuts, oil cheese garlic and pine nuts,
They brought over the oil cheese garlic and pine nuts and we all made some pesto

*Bows*

If pesto had a fan club, I would be the head of it. In fact I might just make a fan club right now. If you care to join you know where to find me - I'll be by the green stuff. For those of you who are completely confused by all of this nonsense pesto is a green sauce made of basil, parsley, garlic, olive oil, Parmesan and Romano cheese, and salt. We put it all in the food processor, but you could just grind up everything by hand if you wanted to be really old school and buy a mortar and pestal.

Pesto can be eaten on pasta (angel hair is my personal favorite); it can also be eaten on fish or as a pizza sauce. The possibilities are endless and the freshness of all of the ingredients just scream summer to me. Tomorrow my dad's two sisters are coming over and we're going to pick my mom's five giant basil plants clean, make, and freeze enough pesto to last us the winter months of nothing fresh and green.

In other food news Nathan Heller of Slate Magazine decided to take on the age old question of who makes a better cup-o-joe. Heller and some of his colleagues blind taste tested McDonald's Coffee, Dunkin Donut's Coffee, and Starbucks Coffee.

Starbucks was rated the worst. Yes Starbucks failed when compared to McDonalds, so save your 5 bucks and the snotty crowd in the morning. All of the blind tasters what I(a coffee hater from way back) knew all along. Starbucks is bitter. End of story.

McDonald's cappuccino was decided by Heller and his crew as the best cappuccino. I guess the golden arches still know how to do a thing or two. Over all Dunkin won the blind taste test. My personal New England tendencies make me want to get up and cheer for the home team.

All of this blind taste testing has made me want to do one of my own. I'm much more of a tea gal, so I'm thinking it's going to have to be a tea taste test. If you have any favorite black teas let me know and maybe we'll make it part of the test. For now I need to get going and finish cleaning up the kitchen; pesto starts at 10 tomorrow morning.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily