Easy breezy herb garden pasta

As you might definitely know by now, I am forever trying to grow as much food as possible in our extremely shady back yard. Spend time trying to keep birds, squirrels and snails at bay organically while coaxing even a small handful of strawberries from a garden spot under a large tree, and you'll never balk at farmers market prices again. Suffice it to say I've mostly given up on plants beyond the trusty basics: greens of all stripes, container tomatoes and herbs. That said, a sage plant I planted a couple years back has decided it loves the shady spot under the tree and has grown into a sizeable bush pregnant with velvety, finger-length leaves. I love sage but don't use it enough. One of my favorite applications is sage butter tossed with pumpkin ravioli though that's most often a go-to meal for one when T is away because he finds pumpkin too earthily sweet to truly enjoy. But sage in large-scale use?

My good friend, M, has a terrifically sunny spot in her yard and is awash in herbs as I write. She recently made my mint-pistachio pesto and later asked about my sage-walnut pesto. Her question and subsequent making of that pesto jogged my memory in the best way: why wasn't I making sage pesto right now?

Last night, I did. And it was scrumptious. Simple, bright, unexpected. And a great way to use a delicate yet assertively flavored plant that's rarely forefront in people's minds. Try it soon; you'll love it too!

Sage pesto, fab article, etc

Did you read this preposterously entertaining article in the NYTimes Magazine recently? Tom and I were in stitches and complete admiration of the monkey. Seriously, it is an absolutely awesome piece. That monkey rocks! Can I just tell you about my youngest son? A) It is good that he is enormously cute and charming because he'll need both attributes to offset his extreme mischievousness and bad-yet-hilarious sense of humor. For example, he B) death-gripped-of-love his penis for about 8 hours today, and C) tried to put said penis on my leg at bath-time, all the while laughing like a hyena. D) This morning, he flew out of the bathroom with a long piece of toilet paper hanging (I think purposefully) from (out of) his bottom. E) He is one of the cutest children I've ever known. This may be because he's mine, but I don't actually believe that. His eyelashes touch his eyebrows when he opens his eyes for the love!

In any case, you see what I'm dealing with.

My oldest son...well, A) I just spritzed him with lavender spray and applied a silk eye mask to the tender visual part of his visage because he's having trouble sleeping. This might be because I just went in and found him B) listening to a book on tape and, concurrently, C) reading -in the dark- another book from the same series but NOT the same one. Christ almighty.

Between the times of tucking in and this awake discovery, I made a sage-walnut pesto, slapped it on some ziti lungo (long ziti), topped it with toasted walnuts, fried sage leaves and pecorino and devoured my half. Delicious!

Wish I'd made some dessert, but the time, it ran the heck out.

It's been a long time since I've vented about idiot drivers but here's a new one: don't leave your car door wide(!) open on any, but especially a really busy city street, while you're doing whatever you're doing instead of closing the door and moving on. You are just inviting someone to drive straight through your door, like a bull through a toreador's flag. Good grief, people. You've got minds, use them.

WTF re: Clint Eastwood?