It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock and Roll)!

A lady at work was super cool to bring me rosemary, sage and basil from her garden at home. She lives in Brooklyn too but it may as well be in OZ. Its in the neighborhood of Bayridge, a real house with a yard and a pool here in Brooklyn! Meaning she or her husband in this case has big money. She is living an entirely different after-work life than myself. Not better mind you (or at least I like to believe), just different. But it is a little strange how terribly different it must be. I wake up in a dark apartment because I can't turn on any lights being the space is so small and I don't want to wake P. I could never go into the kitchen say and make coffee since its a teeny closet right off the bedroom. She says she has a few bathrooms and space is not an issue. She gets in her huge SUV with all her modern devices and I hop on my bike with only my $10 Virgin cell phone. She has a 25foot long kitchen with marble countertops and due to space restrictions I measure my kitchen prep space and the only visible countertop to be just shy of 11 inches.

But yet we clock into that retail box at 7:55 every morning at the same time and work along side each other doing the same job. We get paid the same and we're around the same age. She's a real New Yorker, born and raised here in Brooklyn and we argue and disagree on almost everything. Still, we somehow enjoy each others company in limited doses. Anyone who's not from New York tends to get portrayed as the dumb gullible hick and I confess I envision some NYers to be heartless soulless a-holes. But she grew up in this crowded city of competing ideals and desires. I see that it makes you very territorial and suspicious. Instead of the notion that everyone is cool until proven a jerk, it seems here you are assumed an idiot until you prove you are okay. And again, another prejudice on my end but it seems NY'ers do what's best for them usually and not necessarily the right thing.

Everyday we sort of battle out not necessarily good and evil but our individual understandings of right and wrong and then we go home. Let her tell it I'm sure I'm a self righteous little creep that looks down on her. Regardless, she was kind enough to bring me the freshest herbs and I've used them in so many dishes. This one was a winner. A basil pesto sauce using chicken stock in place of most of the olive oil, almonds and Parmesan cheese. I served it over wheat pasta along with some andouille sausage and roasted whole almonds.

Who knows who's right or wrong or who's life is better. I guess the answer is neither or each but I'm happy for the life I've been given. I'm happy I'm a hick from the Midwest who gets to wander around Brooklyn and New York and pester the locals. I'm happy to be in a tiny apartment. I'm happy my mate plays guitar and writes songs instead of a high end real estate broker. But I do admit that pool sounds pretty good right this minute.

Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

Who's to say what is normal? P and I celebrated and I use that term loosely, the 20th anniversary of our union on Halloween this year. Actually the real date is the 29th but we could never seem to remember it so we figured we could move it up a few days and that would make it easier. I know, but we are not good with remembering good things.

Anyway, twenty years? Really? Seems almost impossible. And you'd think you'd reach that plateau and want to go on a cruise or to some exotic place, something special. It is an accomplishment. But then that can become this big pressure and we're not good under unnecessary pressure either. I was getting over a cold and we were both tired that whole week. I figured, food - that would make a fun time. Snacks to be specific. I love making snacks and finger foods. I made a strong effort to get some items together although I'm not sure it was very successful and certainly not deserving of any accolades. There was football or baseball games on all day and I had to work anyway and so I rushed home and P was already in the game coma so it was what it was as they say.

It's funny because the real accomplishment is actually getting through twenty years of your life and living and loving this one person through all the screw ups and good times and the bad. We can 'do' twenty years of being together and working it out and all of that but give us a normal event to celebrate in a traditional manner and we're so lost. I think that's why we're so good together. We don't fit into normal molds. Not because we're so interesting or different or cool, but we're just odd that way.

We ate the snacks and chatted for awhile in between 'plays'.


The snack menu:
Basil pesto on toasted crusty bread

Chipotle-Garlic Shrimp

Jamaican Jerk Chicken Wings

Pepperoni Mini-pizzas

pesto manifesto

I love how you can forget about a food and then remember and make it that night! It's like love has blossomed again. I had forgotten just how tasty pesto can be and also how fun it is to create different types with various greens and nuts and spices. I know its not exactly revolutionary but I'm easily impressed by my own accomplishments since they're so few and far inbetween. I was hankerin' for something with a little more zip last night but had no real energy (it was Monday - need I say more?)or food to work with except some left over baked chicken. So I made some chicken and corn with spinach quesadillas. Tasty enough but I'm really trying not to load on the cheese, just use cheese for a teenie-tiny accent. I say I'm 'tryin', not that I've reached success. It's day to day. So I made some cilantro pesto. I put lots of garlic in and added some cayenne, lime juice, and walnuts (left over from my Better-For-You-Brownies). Okay, I did throw in some parmesan cheese. You HAVE to!! I use a quarter of the olive oil they normally advise in a recipe though so I feel as though I have some 'credit calories' coming.
Good stuff! I just want to keep eating it like a dip. P likes it too. I think the only one of my pesto concoctions he didn't care for was the arugula pesto but that may be my favorite. I love Basil & pine nuts but they're real proud of that stuff as P says, down at the PathMark, so it's top dollar. I would rather experiment with the cheaper nuts and greens. Because I'm a cheap nut with not much green.