i had a "ah ha!" moment recently. That I should make better use of my basil plant, while it's still around, to make pasta with home-made pesto sauce, something i've never tried before.

It was good. I sort of combined a recipe i'd seen online but "lost," when the time came to make it, with a recipe my mom gave me. Just blend together the olive oil, about 3 cups basil leaves, 4 oz. pine nuts, 3 T. parmesan cheese, and, as a pricey indulgence, a bit of parmesan reggiano cheese. ($9 for a narrow wedge). It came out very good (and bright green, of course) but on the dry side. I skimped a wee bit on that olive oil cus it's loaded with fat; i used about 1/2 cup.

Does anyone know how long the leftover pesto sauce will keep? I'm guessing not long.... i think i'll freeze the remaining sauce.

Just ordered a bamboo cutting board; i like to research online for the best prices and i knew i wanted one that was larger than the 10 x 12" plastic job i've got now. It always seems like food's falling off the edges and making a mess. Buying the bamboo one (best price $21 for 12 x 16" one at WAL MART) is part of my ongoing crusade to rid myself of plastics in my kitchen. (Ever since i'd read that certain ones can leach out their chemicals into your food, especially if it's old or damaged plastic, or if it's heated in the microwave.) I figured a plastic cutting board that i'm regularly using would be a good thing to ditch as well.

I really love the idea of using bamboo as much as possible becus it's sustainably harvested (grows up to 2 feet a day) and doesn't mean we're cutting down forests for the wood, even while bamboo is as strong as maple. I love my 2 bamboo floor mats as well, one in my office here and 1 on the porch.

A week ago i also ordered (again, from Wal-Mart, you can't beat their prices) a set of 5 round pyrex glass containers with plastic lids, for about $20 as well. I'm using Ship to Store, which means the item will be there when i go but i don't have to pay extra for shipping. These containers should work well for leftovers and for my lunches at work.

I had an awful experience with a critter in my house. Awful in terms of, it's dead. One weekday night last week i heard a very audible scratching noise while i was in my upstairs bedroom. It was one of our first cool nights. I thought, oh no, the mice are coming in the house already...better set the traps. Except that this sounded like one very energetic mouse. I heard it around 10 pm and it in fact woke me again around 5 am so i went down to investigate, my cat at my side. It was coming from behind the cabinet in the downstairs bathroom. I shoed the cat out of there becus i was so tired and just wanted to go back to bed. But i made sure to close the door to the bathroom so that any mouse would not then access the rest of the house. I'd deal with it later.

Went to work, and when i came home that night, there was a message on my phone from my mother. She was going to be passing thru my town that day so i told her why don't you stop by the house and help yourself to some more tomatoes from the garden. She said ok. So on her phone message, she said as soon as she got to my house, she had to go use the bathroom. She said, i don't know if you read the email i sent you today (I hadn't) but i don't want you to be upset about what you see in the bathroom.

Geez. I went to the bathroom, wondering if the toilet flooded or something. Everything appeared normal. Then, something told me to lift up the toilet seat lid. Carefully, gingerly, i did so and i found a dead chipmunk floating there. I flushed it, and away it went. (Thank God.)

I asked my mother, geez, why didn't you just flush it so i didn't have to look at it? She was afraid it would get stuck and clog up the toilet. Great. The poor thing somehow found a way into the house (scary) and then maybe tried to get a drink and then fell in and couldn't get out. Poor thing.

Poor me. I haven't used that toilet since. I need to sanitize everything. I also called my friend M. who years ago had offered to help me "mouse-proof" my basement, meaning, tearing out some of the insulation to find out where the holes are. I have a pretty good idea, but it's a messy job and i don't want to freak if i find a nest of anything. He couldn't come up this weekend, too busy, but he did give me a list of things to buy, so i SURE AM HOPING he'll come up and help me, cus if a chipmunk can get it, ay yi yi.

Bad news at the car dealership. On Wednesday my "check engine" light went on, and i read in the manual how it sometimes goes on if you don't turn the gas cap tightly enough after filling up. (That, in fact, happened to me once before.) And i had just filled up the night before, so i was somewhat counting on that being the problem. So i was very unhappy today when they told me it was 2 parts of the emissions system that needed replacing, to the tune of $600 (scheduled for Thursday and they'll give me a loaner car), not including the $65 i paid today to diagnose it. Damn. Just when you're patting yourself on the back for spending $180 this month on groceries, you get the big whammo. That, on top of the other $600 bill i got for my annual sewer assessment, has me feeling suddenly a bit poorer than normal.