cabinets and recipes

When we lived in San Diego I had a friend named, Susan Neil.  She talked about the amazing talents of her husband.  He was a talented painter.  He could sing well and play the piano.   All this he did while finishing his training as an ENT.  She spoke about the fact that all his talents were seen by other people, but hers were more quiet, not as noticeable by others.  As she spoke of this (not as a complaint,  just an observation) she mentioned her cupboards.  She said anyone could go into her home and open a cupboard or cabinet and everything would be in order, neatly folded, stacked or placed.  At the time she had 3 young, adorable, girls.  Kevin and I (as newlyweds) sat for them so they could have a quick get away.  We stayed at their home and they stayed in our humble apartment.  They since had 4 more girls, I believe, and now have a few grandchildren.  I thought of Susan this week as I cleaned out my kitchen cabinets.  I even moved the glasses and cups to a new location and the garbage can as well.  We all haven't gotten use to it yet, but the move made more sense.  It feels good to know where everything is and be rid of items someone else could use.  I've moved on to a couple other cabinets, but still have a long way to go.  I haven't started the food pantry.  Too much to go through just yet.  

                        

As my nesting continues, I felt the need to preserve something from my garden.  The only thing I had enough of and worth saving was my basil.  I decided to make pesto sauce.  At first I didn't think it would be worth the money since pine nuts can be expensive. But I found some at Walmart, 5 ounces for $4, and my recipe only calls for 2 tablespoons of toasted pine nuts for 2 cups loosely packed basil.  I used Mark Bittman's recipe from "How to Cook Everything".  I've  made three batches so far.  So that we could use it in small quantities, I poured the pesto in ice cube trays, froze them, popped them out of the tray and sealed them with our "Food Saver".  Now we have pesto for sandwiches or for a whole pot of pasta.

Today Kevin didn't feel that well.  He just felt overall weak and tired so I started a new project.  Organizing my recipes.  It's time to say goodbye to my recipe box from 1982, or is it?  I've been reading ways to organize.  I've started by typing in my recipes from years ago (our early married years) that I just can't part with.  I could scan them, but 3x5 cards written back to back are just as easy to type in.  I'll scan those cards that I just can't part with the handwriting from good friends and family.   I have a lot of recipe books.  I can't part with them either.  I know I can get so many recipes on line now, but I love browsing through the books and making notes of what works for us or what doesn't.  To organize those recipes, I read to create a recipe index.  Write down the name of the recipe and where to find it.  I'll start that as well.  Probably in a word document so I can search by ingredient or type.  If you have any other ideas, let me know.   

If this were Kevin's blog he would bring it back to talents, hidden and influencing you to find yours and get it out of a 'cabinet'.  Since my blogs entries are random thoughts and not arch essays, I will just say, find your talents and share them.  I had Kevin read this.  He laughed.  

Barbie