Ahhh Walnut Pesto

I did my #23 Make Walnut Pesto last night. It was yummy. In fact I am eating the leftovers right now for lunch. I think next time I will try putting asparagus in it and using spinach instead of parsley but think it was yum and my guess is my friend would agree.
You need to gather up all your stuff - I'm so glad to be using my blender I hardly ever use the thing.
Chop off the stems of the parsley
parm cheese - I was too lazy to shred my own.
blend - yup it looks a little like baby food as anticipated
Oh and look how fun it looks on my adorable pink polka dot plates which I inherited from my great aunt toots years ago - unfortunately there are only three of them.
Here's the recipe:
Ingredients

• 1 cup walnuts
• 1/3 cup with thick stems removed
• 3 tblsp Parmesan,
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 clove garlic, smashed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
  
• 1/4 tsp fresh-ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup butter
  
• 1/2 lb chicken breasts
• 1/2 lb of pasta (any variety)
  

Directions

1. Chop chicken and saute in a little olive oil and some salt and pepper to taste chicken should be white when done.
2. Meanwhile in a food processor or blender, pulse the walnuts, parsley, garlic, Parmesan, oil, salt, and pepper to a coarse puree.
3. Boil water for pasta, cook pasta per directions, about 10 minutes. Drain the pasta reservering 1/2 cup of the pasta water.
   
4. Mix pesto, chicken and pasta with 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water, and the butter. If the pasta seems dry, add more of the reserved pasta water.
   
5. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan or walnuts and serve.
   

Tuesday Tutorial - Paper Flowers

Happy Birthday Aunt Rachel!

Wishing my aunt rachel a very happy birthday. If you were in Indiana I'd have to invite you over for a tea party with pretty little cupcakes just like this.

Image from here.

Mystery House

At last the final post about California. Thea and I went to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose which is really quite lovely aside from the tour guide and the cost to get in. However every trip should have a tourist trap just like this on it, and I'm a sucker for a good mansion. So without going into a prolonged boring post here's the just - crazy rich mrs. winchester kept building on and on to her house, right up until her death she believed that the "spirits" were telling her what to build and so she built it. Now for some photos...
From the front I love the sunglare.
From the front off to the left you can click on the photo to see it bigger
Thea and I and the house we look so big next to it - how did that happen.
I haven't a clue what part of the house this was.
I'm a sucker for a weather vane (you might remember my grandmas) someday I will have my own.
And from the back of the house don't you love perfectly sculpted bushes?
And I took some pics inside although they are not of the greatest quality as I did just kind of snapped them when no-one was looking - hehe.
All of the bathrooms have windows to peek inside this one was no exception - very creepy
these are stairs to go up to go down and stairs to go down to go up isn't that a riddle
and from the room she was in during the earth quake
this is taken from one of the porches they let us visit The glass dome there was for an elevator I think
A palor
well that's all from California onward to my other recent adventures.

Santa Clara Mission

Last time I was in California I really wanted to go to a Mission they were all over some program I picked up so I thought lets check it out - I think I even thought at the time the mission was where I could feed the homeless or something - who knows. Regardless nobody else wanted to stop. This time however Aunt Thea suggested it so off we went. Unfortunately there was a wedding in the inside so we only wandered around the outside. They did have the most beautiful rose garden most of which we had to admire from behind a wall. But it was a very pretty place.
I love the ornate frames on the front of the building I wish I had taken better photos of them.
And the lovely rose garden
And this shot of Aunt Thea reminds me of this day with momo and aren't these roses with the insides yellow so pretty?

And this one was especially beautiful
Our feet on the slip free mat (seems to be out of place being pink and plastic heh?)
Sculpture with California Palm Trees
And another angle of the mission

Thea's Neighborhood

While I was working and visiting in California I wanted to photograph some of Aunt Thea's neighborhood - I'm not sure why really probably because it's so not like a neighborhood in Indiana or in New England so I took my big camera when we walked to meet my 2nd cousin or cousin removed or cuzaunt for lunch. Here are some of the shots I took of Santa Clara - it really is quite lovely there this time of year.
Kumquats and roses - so pretty
Grandpa and the kumquats. Grandpa loves loves loves the kumquats he likes to have a few every day. And he's always so generous and wants to offer them to everyone. Most of the time he has no takers although Mark likes them and you probably saw photos of Mikey in the previous post eating some. I don't care for them myself because of the skin too much like orange peel.
I also spied these lovely flowers aren't they pretty - anyone know what they are? Mom you better ask mrs. edwards.
oh and look there's nancy and grandma, and uncle paul.
and nancy and thea
oh and we spied mark getting some coffee on our walk.
and this lovely rv - i really do like it
and here are some of the houses I photographed... don't you think edward scissor hands when you see this?
And I love this shade of brady bunch green house
And these people what the heck are they thinking with the blue trim that looks like painters tape that you forgot to remove.
Oh and there goes Thea in front of none other than her house.
Tomorrow stay tuned for a post about the mission.

Darbyland

I love this! It's from an artist called Darby and his book Darbyland.

More from California and Boston soon as well.

A picture is worth 1000 words...