Basil Pesto

One of the best things about pesto is that it freezes well.  I make one batch in the summer and it generates about three servings. I am defining serving by how much is needed to top one package of ravioli (my favorite way to eat pesto).  Peggy recommends saving some oil to put on the top of the container for freezing. I just add extra.  Pete likes to freeze his in an ice cube tray, I use small containers (as pictured).

2 cups of fresh basil (or as much as you can pick)

½ cup olive oil

¼ cup (or a bit more…) almonds, I used roasted this time, once I used garlic roasted

A few cloves of garlic, for me that is 4 to 6…. Got to keep those vampires away

Parmesan cheese- I think I used about 4 oz, so that is like a ½ cup

Salt to taste- I like to add salt right before I eat it

Puree it in a blender or food processor.  Top your pasta and/or freeze it.   

On my recipe card it says: yield- not very much.  I am not really sure if I wrote this or copied it from the original card.  It goes pretty far even if it doesn't seem like a lot.

TIP: Be careful when you go to defrost it, the olive oil and microwave defrost are not friends, it only takes like 10 seconds and watch it closely.  A hot water bath for quick defrosting is much safer. Trust me I made a mess in my microwave once and ruined some pesto.

Closet Structure: Part 2

 So I have been using my closet structure but the press fit was not holding up with weight on it.  And the joints would come unattached if I didn't pull it just right.

When Rachel and dad were in town we pulled it out into the backyard and used the primer and PVC cement to connect them permanently.

This was actually slightly nerve racking for me because it meant we needed to be relatively square with the joints and not rotate the bottom with the sliders attached. (and keep track of where each piece went) we did ok.

You can tell how nervous I was by the fact that I was sitting down... Unfortunately it was too windy to spray paint (sailing buddies: that was Sunday of windpoint...), so it will have to come down stairs again to be made more pretty. 

It's like watching paint dry in reverse

Yesterday afternoon Rachel worked on stripping the first of the trim boards.

We got three short ones ready to be sanded, the long ones are more tricky. As is where do we store all of them...

Now that is a Radish!

The radishes are starting to come out of the ground. I was worried that this guy wasn't going to have the same zippy flavor that the first one had based on its size.

It was still very zippy, and there was a lot more of it. 

Another Roof Repair

One side of the flat roof had an exposed board, the rest of it appears to be in decent shape, but that exposed board is on the list of MUST take care of this summer.

The good news was that once the shingles and board were removed there were more shingles below it keeping it from actually leaking.

A new board took the place of the old on that was super rotted out.

Dad told me to tar it, what he meant was around the edge, that was not my understanding, hence the two smudges of tar on the top of the board.

We covered the board in builders felt 

A white edge piece went on the outside.

Then the shingles! and more tar to eliminate an open edges. This project went way faster than what I was expecting

Dad let me put the final caulk on.

Done with the First Third

There is just something about knowing that the stairs are no longer covered in rosen paper

That they can be cleaned with a duster, and won’t hold on to the dirt purposefully

Now I can relax, help Bryna move the last of her stuff in, and focus on things like paint removal and the crooked stairs outside. And do some cleaning because Rachel is coming into town! YAY

Treads

Remember these stairs? 

The ones that I have had covered in Rosen paper since kitchen remodeling started in January?

Well, with Bryna out of the house (these are high on my priority list, not hers), I tackled them this weekend, not sure who won, I am pretty sore.

So I take off one of the coverings, and I am thinking, Whole Schmoley this look rough. Do they all look this way.  

So I took off another covering, and why yes, yes they did all look really rough.

I blocked off the two ends of the stair way with plastic and the sanding started.  

I had 80 grit and 120 grit sand paper. I think that I got through the 80 on Saturday.  (I took a 6 hour break to go watch some sailboat racing on Pewaukee Lake) 

The 120 grit went a lot faster as I wasn't using it to remove paint. Then I used up the last of the high gloss finish. I still had plenty of satin left, so I decided to do the last 3 coats in satin.  One of my hopes is that because it has more particles in it it might help smooth over more imperfections.

The 3rd coat went on a 8pm, so that meant no walking on the stairs until ~10pm.  At 10pm I was having difficulties getting off of the couch.

The stairs look way better than what I though they were going to on Saturday, but seeing them from 5 ft away instead of 12 inches might be helping that perspective. 

One more coat to put on tonight. 

Vent Covers

Last weekend the vents got the last coat of spray paint on. So now I can cover up some of the duct openings. (there are at least two more to do)

Unfortunately they don't photograph well. (isn't that a good looking floor!)

So I will distract you with pictures of the garden.  The radishes are looking really good.

Some of the basil, on the other hand, looks like it needs some more sunlight, maybe some plant food..

Another Leak, Another Patch

It is a common sang that all boats are sinking, just some at faster rates than others.  I am beginning to come to terms that this is true for houses as well. Not so much sinking as taking on water…

I noticed that the garage roof was leaking in two spots. Dad and I crawled up there last weekend and noticed a really bad spot of shingles. 

So Sunday, Dad showed me how to remove the shingles, and then went to take pictures… I mean carry the shingles on to the roof.

So we removed the worst of the shingles and then started to attach the new ones.   The last time the roof was replaced the old shingles were not removed.  Now, I know this is common practice but after the layers and layers in the kitchen and bathroom that got removed I find it kind of frustrating, like couldn't you do anything to help me out.  Take off old layers before you put on the new one, at least once?

The new ones are a different color but that really helps to see which ones were replaced. 

Here is a picture of all of the news ones in places.  Dad estimated that this could put off a full repair for another year, I hope he is right!

We also tarred around the vents, dad thinks that might be where the actual issues is.