PERFECT PESTO

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  For the past two summers, we have had a gorgeous gorgeous basil plant in a big pot. The basil leaves are glorious, glossy and green, and it is incredible fun to prune them and pinch them and encourage the plant to get bigger.

But I always thought making pesto was difficult. It always seemed like it would take too long. I would need more WAY basil that I had. Once I actually used my garden basil and then added basil from the grocery store to make the pesto. That seemed silly. Plus, you can buy fresh pesto so easily.

But bottom line, there was never enough in my plant to make enough pesto. Not the amount that the recipe called for. 

But bear with me here. One day, maybe a week ago, I realized that I did not have to make the amount of pesto that the recipe called for. I could make however much I wanted.

This was a big revelation.

So I thought – – all I need is basil, and olive oil, and pine nuts, and parmesan cheese, and garlic and salt and pepper. So I looked at the proportions in the recipe that made about three million pounds of pesto, and cut it down. And then--winged it. 

I didn't even measure, I just threw everything in to the blender, basil, garlic, pine nuts, oil, Parmesan cheese--hit the red button. 

And presto! Pesto.

Just enough! And perfect! And we had it with our own homegrown little tomatoes.

I am so proud of myself.

Do you have a pesto secret? Do you make it? Do you freeze it? I am obsessed. 

Tell me, reds and readers! 

A peaceable kingdom in a suburban garden

HALLIE EPHRON: This quiet summer Sunday, welcome to my garden. I'm probably sitting out in it right now, sipping my morning coffee and reading the bridge column.

My garden is low maintenance, and it surrounds me with bushes and wildlife even as it is in turn surrounded by cars and traffic. An oasis of green.

For two years now, we've had bunnies. Here's the Momma bunny, chillin' on a hot summer day on the cool grass. She barely notices my presence.

And another shot of her taken from inside, through my living room blinds. 

And here's the baby, which arrived this spring and is growing by leaps and bounds and eating  the clover in my weedy lawn. (We haven't used pesticides or herbicides in the 40 years we've lived here.)

Sadly, the bunnies do not limit themselves to feasting on weeds. Here's what would have been a flower. (A black-eyed susan, I think.)

Then there are the birds. I don't feed them because the squirrels (we have a ton of them) would Hoover it up first, but I keep the bird bath filled and they make ample use of it. Here's a pair of cardinals. 

 A cat bird. They're my favorites. So cheery and noisy. They're grey with a black cap, and a patch of reddish-brown feathers on the rump, under the tail.

And a crowd of sparrows jockeying for position.

A winter memory. Bunny tracks in the snow. 

And a finally a visiting bunny rabbit.

 Summer! It's for  birds and bunnies who come to people watch. What's going on in your garden?