Basil

I love basil. I grow a lot of it on the island and eat pesto all summer long. I also love my cuisinart, which is actually my neighbor's cuisinart which I am more or less permanently borrowing. Here is my pesto recipe:
A bunch of basil, so that it fits comfortably in the food processor
A lot of garlic, less than a whole head but more than 5 cloves
some salt
a 2" or so cube of parmesan cheese
a couple handfuls of walnuts (yes, walnuts)
Pulse all together and drizzle olive oil into the hole thingy until it looks like pesto.
It's different every time.
There is essentially a basil shrubbery growing around our screen porch, which is where we spend a lot of time. It is also said to repel mosquitos, which are a problem on the island (which is essentially made up of warm shallow pools of water) and I am horribly allergic to mosquito bites. I get giant welts. Did you know that 20% of the people in the world get 80% of the mosquito bites? So they do love some people more than others. NPR told me so it must be true.
Basil is also a baby blanket. A really lovely one knit out of Dale Baby Ull on not tiny needles! It's done on #5 US/3.75 mm. Nice. It is done from the center out, like a square shawl might be done. It's knit in a really simple lace pattern that is mostly k3, p1 with one yo pattern row. It is bound off with a hemmed picot edge which kinda mimics those satin blanket bindings I liked as a child.
I knit this in the early summer, hence the name. And, on a crappy night like this I thought it would be nice to remember what a lovely summer we had.

Hmmm... I had more pics but it won't load them. One was really cute with my cat basking in the sun on the blanket. But, here's a pic of one I just started.