Weekend

I think I had a much better weekend than a lot of folks did. If my friends weren't getting flooded they seem to have been getting blown away. Gah. :::copingvibes::: to all those affected by the bad weather.

I took half a day off on Friday to help Kham finish his Howl costume for a con last weekend. (Howl from Howl's Moving Castle. No pix yet but hopefully soon. He did the triangle coat.) It went well, other than the shoe-repair guy losing Kham's shoes (we were having new insoles put in) so we had to go buy new ones. I got the place to promise to reimburse us for the new pair, though.

Then on Saturday, it was an absolutely gorgeous day so ardent_muses came up and we went to the Boulder Farmer's Market. I haven't been in ages and I quickly spent all the money I'd brought! It was apparently my day for purple produce-- I got some gorgeous purple carrots, three Japanese eggplant, and a huge bunch of the most incredibly fragrant purple basil from Abbondanza Organic. (Since I didn't have time to use it Saturday, I put the basil in water like flowers and by Sunday morning the entire house smelled of basil. It was amazing!) I also got gorgeous yellow tomatoes from Red Wagon Farms, a smoked goat gouda from Haystack Mountain Dairy, and a lovely piece of Spring Colona (very similar to a young parmesan) from Windsor Dairy, a quart of freshly roasted poblano peppers (can't remember the vendor's name but they were roasting on-site and the scent was mouthwatering), and some almond pine-nut macaroons from Rustica Bakery. Before we left we picked up some fresh tamales with green chili and took them home for lunch.

ardent_muses had brought the first season of Californication with her so we sat and watched the entire thing. It was a lot better than I expected it to be. Though most of the characters repeatedly made me want to smack them silly, I still enjoyed it. After we watched that, I made her watch the first episode of Eureka with me because I was just sure that Zoe on Eureka was played by the same actress who played Dani in Californication. As it turns out, I was wrong but I still think they were Separated At Birth (and by a few years). Sadly, Ardent had to go home to Mookie after that so I hit the kitchen to peel and seed my poblanos before putting them in the fridge.

Sunday I got up and made my first-ever batch of pesto, with the purple basil and the Spring Colona. I made a citrus pesto (I'd tasted one at the Market and loved it) using orange and lemon juice as well as the basil, pinons, garlic, and olive oil. I think I should have gone easier on the lemon and harder on the orange to have it perfect but it's still pretty tasty, and a gorgeous rich color. I'm going to use it tonight over chicken and tortellini. The tomatoes and eggplant will go into a Turkish eggplant & tomato salad (I'm trying to reproduce the stuff Falafel King sells), then I also have some eggroll wrappers and cheddar to go with my poblanos for making chili rellenos later this week (yeah, I make cheater's rellenos... put a piece of poblano and a piece of cheddar in the eggroll wrapper, seal it up into a square packet with a little egg wash for glue, and fry 'em up crispy.) I think I might try some of the goat gouda in a few of the rellenos, that might be tasty.

Perl/Archive guru needed

Any of you wonderful people familiar with Perl and possibly the archive software that most fanfiction archives are using these days who could give a hand to an archive mod who's having trouble with comment spam on an archive? The person who normally helps is not responding and we're getting desperate.

Citrus Basil Pesto

Earlier today I posted about the pesto I made... my first attempt. It turned out very well and someone asked for a pic and someone else asked for the recipe so here they are. :)

Citrus & purple basil pesto over tortellini and grilled chicken with roasted red peppers
( recipe behind the cut )