Strawberries

1. Strawberry, 2. A Flickr social strawberry, 3. Strawberries (La Trinidad, Benguet), 4. My first strawberries of this season..

I’ve been waiting all year for them, and they’re finally here!

A local strawberry is so different from a transcontinental one. They’re red all the way through, not white in the middle, and when you hold them to the light, they’re like stained glass. Of course, they taste sweeter too.

Pesto

3 cups fresh basil leaves

3/4 cup fresh parsley

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup walnuts

3/4 cup parmesan

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup melted butter

Put everything in a blender or a food processor and blend until smooth.

I like to make a few batches in the summer, when I can get fresh, locally grown basil and parsley from the farmers market. I freeze most of it for the winter – scoop it into a muffin tin, stick the tin in the freezer, then put all the little lumps of pesto into a ziplock bag once they’re frozen.

Recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook.