reboot

perfecting the "done before they arrive" party- a work in progress

Categories: Grains and Pasta, Sauces and Such, Supper, Dinner Party, Posted on April 29, 2014 by Sandy Bergsten

There are times when your battery is so low it’s unable to hold a charge. Last week my husband and I headed west to our house in the desert. It wasn’t until the third day that I realized how utterly drained I’ve been. This long winter has had more than it’s share of loss. Each time I’ve attempted to apply myself to some project I’ve succeeded only for short periods of time then I would lose my connection.

It’s funny how external situations tend to mirror our internal ones. For some reason our bundled cable, Internet, phone has never worked properly in California. Each time we head out to our house near Palm Springs our neighbors probably think I’m having a Danielle Steel-esque affair with a litany of Time Warner Cable technicians. It doesn’t help that each of our houseguests comes loaded with devices that put an added drain on our already spotty service.

It turns out our current cable setup can’t maintain a charge. Resets weren’t cutting it so it was time to implement a hard reboot. Nine phone calls, seven hours, and three technicians later it seemed our problem was fixed. Then my daughters arrived for Stagecoach with their friends, cowboy hats and myriad of power cords. When my hubby got up for his 5:30 AM video conference call I thought he was going to go through the roof when once again our wifi was down. I picked up the phone to call the cable company but that too was dead. I then hit redial on my cell phone and explained the situation once again to a very nice person in the Philippines. As my husband fumed I quietly went back to the bedroom and turned on the TV, the video dissolved into a million tiny colored bytes.

When I’m beyond tired nothing seems more appealing then hiding under the covers with a daylong series marathon: Law and Order, Sex in the City, Game of Thrones, Shameless, you name it. With that out of the question perhaps I could catch up with the past month’s emails that came into my inbox in a total blur. No internet service. Then it dawned on me that I should do something that would truly feed my soul, get busy and feed those I love the things they love.

I knew just the thing to get my motor up and running- a marathon batch of pistachio pesto. Best part- this versatile sauce freezes perfectly. Time to reboot.

pistachio pesto

You can almost always find beautiful fresh basil year round thanks to Trader Joe’s and hydroponics.

pistachio pesto

In a food processor chop the garlic.

pistachio pesto

Add the pistachios, Parmesan, olive oil, basil, mint, soy sauce, Tabasco and salt.

pistachio pesto

Pulse until just smooth.

pistachio pesto

When my husband came in from blowing off his own steam on the golf course he remarked that’s a lot of pesto. I smiled and replied it certainly is.

Stay tuned to see what I whipped up for dinner…

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