Kitchen MisAdventure

My family and friends know that I am prone to bad luck, but it's most likely due only to the fact that I am more clumsy than the average bear.

And so, it comes as no surprise to anyone who knows me that my time spent in the kitchen is well-intentioned but often poorly-planned and even more poorly executed. Of course, one cannot always prepare for the unexpected: a fire at my local HEB, aphids eating my basil, projectile peppercorns, or an unwieldily salad spinner.

My idea was to make a basil pesto. I had some parmesan leftover from the pizza I successfully made last week; pine nuts in the pantry; garlic on hand as always; basil in the container garden; EVOO: it sounded like I had all the bases covered. I decided, too, that I would walk to the store to grab a few extra things—chicken sausage, some spinach, and some tomatoes.

The store is almost a half-mile away, which isn't far, but feels much farther when you approach your destination and notice an almost-empty parking lot and the employees standing outside. The store was closed because there had been a fire! My next-best option was to walk across the street to a more expensive version of a grocery store. Turns out, it didn't have everything I needed, and I paid a pretty penny for what I did buy.

Anyway, finally made it home. I went to trim off some basil, and noticed that there were little black bugs ALL over the undersides of the leaves. SO...it was time to improvise. I decided to toss spinach and oregano in the blender in lieu of the other fragrant herb. So far, so good.

Back to the peppercorns—I turned on the wrong burner a few days ago, and halfway melted my plastic peppercorn mill that was sitting on the stovetop. But, not wanting to waste, I didn't throw it out and figured that I could just "hold" the lid on. So I'm "holding" it on carefully while the pesto is in the blender, and decide to add a little bit of pepper. It's fine for about two grinds, and then... PSHHHHH.... The lid pops off, and peppercorns go everywhere (days later, I am still discovering peppercorns). I had to bring in the vacuum to fix this. Keep in mind, all the while, I'm trying to not burn the sausage; get the couscous off the heat; keep the dog away from the peppercorns (impossible), and not slip on the water I spilled earlier while I was putting the spinach in the salad spinner (forgot there are holes in the bottom).

IN THE END, two hours after the whole ordeal started (shopping trip and all)....I had a super-creamy, bright green pesto. It was delicious, and very summery! A little spicy because of the excess pepper...but still good. I tossed it with whole-grain couscous, and put fresh spinach and tomatoes on top, with some chicken/spinach/feta sausage. Then I sprinkled some leftover parmesan cheese...and voila!

I think maybe I could accomplish this again much more simply. I'm hoping to, anyway.