Fresh basil pesto + exploring local grocers

A week or so ago we decided to take a little walk around our neighborhood. Not down Hastings or Commercial, the two main streets around us, but around our little residential 'hood. I soon realized that barely any place in a city is purely residential: there are a few little grocers and a hidden cafe and pub or two very close to our family oriented neighborhood. One block (one block!) from our home is a little Italian grocer. Full of pasta, sauces, sweets, cheeses, sausages, olives, and kitchen paraphernalia this little gem was a treat to browse through. We decided to make our own pesto at home and bought Pecorino romano, pine nuts, really good quality extra virgin olive oil, and a bunch of fresh basil. I was hoping for one of those little basil plants, bit I'll have to find that somewhere else.

I chopped everything by hand with my shitty inappropriate knife and it was all delicious! The difference between chopping the pesto by hand versus whizzing it in a food processor is the flavour, i think. Because all the ingredients are chopped to a slightly different size and consistency, there is immense variety in each bite. When it is all put in the food processor and blended together, each ingredient comes out roughly the same size, leaving bites uniform (although still delicious). Or maybe i'm a budding food snob with too much time on her hands. Either way, dinner was delicious.

We had this pesto with ravioli and it was delicious. So good i didn't take a picture. The next day we had leftover pesto with gnocchi (and San Pellegrino) and it was even better, letting it sit for a while made the flavours really deepen.

If your curious, I used:
~fresh basil leaves
~freshly grated pecorino romano
~pine nutes
~lots of garlic
~and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil once you've chopped it all up and made the pesto "cake"


I can't wait until spring/summer when i can have my own little basil plant on my kitchen windowsill. What herbs have you grown fresh? Which ones did you have good results with and which ones died/where plant divas?

(I'll post about my birthday soon! For now, thank you all so much for the love and very generous gifts, it was definitely a special day)

January through my phone

Pictured
1. Getting groceries from the local "country market" in Squamish, On the Farm.

2. Double grilled cheese date night at Lucy's Diner. We went for the mini burgers with goat cheese, but they were out of mini buns so we got grilled cheese, it was ok. This grilled cheese foodtruck is so much better.

3. Having a delicious lunch of sausage (!) at Bestie with my siiister. Super adorable decor and such tasty German-inspired food. We didn't realize until afterwards when we checked out their website that we were served by the two owners! When we went to pay we pulled out our debit cards from our small town credit union and our server asked us if we were from Nelson! We were so surprised, turns out he is from Castlegar and recognized our cards. We later found out it was Dane, one of the owners. I'm definitely going back and chatting them both up.

4. I was talked into the icrecream sandwich at Bestie. Creamy vanilla icecream between two house-made ginger cookies. I was in heaven.

5. Hilarious sign in a bathroom. Suffice it to say, Beyonce's latest album has made me into a full blown fan.

6. Date night at Stepho's. Huge portions of yummy Greek food for a super reasonable price point, the cheapest drinks in Canada (also maybe the worst. I don't recommend the cocktails), and a bustling vibe on Davie St.

7. So excited to open this care package from Georgia on my last day of class.


Not pictured
1. New Years Eve in Nelson. We all went out to dinner and then Hunter and I fell asleep/succumbed to our food comas before we could head out and party with our friends. So embarrassing.

2. What felt like never ending house hunting, and then finally finding our little gem of an apartment.

3. My little brother turning 14. Fourteen! Having a life crisis because i can clearly remember me at fourteen and that was 7 years ago.

4. Packing up all my things to move to Vancouver on February 1st.

I hope you enjoyed my horrible cellphone pictures!

In retrospect: Autumn 2013

Here are some pictures I took around the apartment I shared with my sister, A. and B. at Quest University during the fall of 2013.
 
I love autumn, the warm days and crisp nights. The excuse to make a couple more crumbles before the farmers market turns to the winter market. The quality of light as it slants into a room in the afternoon. The gratitude of the season, looking forward to Thanksgiving, richer foods and deeper colours. I could live in autumn forever.

 My bedroom, 

looking out on the construction of a new residence building across the road.

 Good morning sunshine, a love-note Hunter left me.

 Living room drenched in afternoon sun.

 The view from our kitchen sink.

 I love avocados.

 Typical morning.

I was obsessed with house plants when i first moved in. I bought so many, was gifted some (thanks Mamma!) and transplanted them all to new pots- gotta keep my aesthetic consistent.

 I love the difference in the leaves during autumn.

  

What is your favourite season?

The apartment: pt. 2

I went up to Quest on Friday to sort out all the paperwork needed for my March and April classes. I'll post about that soon. While I was there, along with enjoying time with Kate (i miss her so much) and my friends, i enjoyed the fast internet! I never thought i'd say Quest's internet is fast, but i uploaded all these pictures in a reasonable amount of time so there ya go.

The chair and futon came with the place. At first we where super excited about the futon but now... the novelty has worn off and we've realized it's just old and flat. But, we are still thankful to have a couch!

The pictures seemed to lighten up when i uploaded them to the blog, not sure why! An old record player Hunter found in his garage, we've got a small collection and a big wishlist of vinyl.

We bought this shelf at Ikea a little while back because it was on sale. I put it together alone on while Hunter was taking the van back to Bellingham. People are always complaining about how hard it is to follow Ikea assembly instructions, but i really enjoyed it! It was like a puzzle. A big heavy, real-life type puzzle. I think I got some of Grandpa's fix-it genes, because I also pride myself in my trunk/car packing abilities :)

My Zen alarm clock is amazing. It has "sleep trained" me. Now i wake up at the same time everyday, without an alarm. If it's the weekend i can easily fall back asleep, but if i have to get up i'm up.

I couldn't help putting a scarf over the hand-me-down tv Hunter brought. You've trained me well Mamma.

It's the little things that make it feel like home. A beeswax bee and flower candle, hand-made bowls from my brother.

Again, little touches ground me to the houses i've lived in and loved from the past. We brought pictures of Hunter's parents and have them on our fridge (i couldn't figure out the light setting to get a good picture).

That's our place! It's beginning to smell like our home. I find smell is so important. We've got our rhythms, we're mastering our kitchen, and we're able to keep the little place tidy. All in all, i am extremely happy.
Take a look at us moving in, and our apartment.