I spent the morning removing thorns and then the afternoon pruning. Literally and figuratively. Last night we went to a lecture by Anne Lamott, a childhood favorite of mine (odd, as most the audience were women in their sixties), and I left with a sense of urgency to address the untended parts of my life. The overgrown garden first, and writing—this—next. I can’t put Lamott’s new book Almost Everything down. Her books really do all sound the same, she has a great niche and she knows it, but I’d say the wisdom and the delivery of that wisdom is starting to become more buddhist and monastic with each new edition. Parables and aphorisms, this. And a little Mr. Rogers sprinkled in there, reminding me that I have, we all have, intrinsic value. So why all this heartache and striving after what we already possess?
“There is almost nothing outside you that will help in any kind of lasting way, unless you are waiting for an organ donor. You can’t buy, achieve, or date serenity. Peace of mind is an inside job.”
What an honest truth, and a welcome message to pop up on an internet page amid all the ads and pretty people with white teeth implying you will only be enough and happy if you buy this or flog your body into looking this way.
I recently discovered a book about food that has a similar message, I think Lamott would dig it. Nourish, by Heidi Schauster, is a gentle book about how to heal your relationship with food. It seems to blend together several of my favorite therapy modalities, mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment, dialectical behavioral therapy, etc into an approach that works on developing self-love and balance rather than shame and diet-focused control games. I love it. I am recommending to all.
As I am with this sauce.
Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Pesto
Adapted from Food and Wine
1 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes
1/2 cup pine nuts (3 ounces)
8 small garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus shavings for garnish
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Kosher salt
Pepper
1 pound spaghetti
Basil leaves, for garnish
Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with ice water. Using a sharp paring knife, mark an X on the bottom of each tomato. Add the tomatoes to the saucepan and blanch just until the skins start to peel, about 30 seconds. Transfer the tomatoes to the ice bath to cool. Peel and transfer to a blender.
In a small skillet, toast the pine nuts over moderately low heat, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add to the tomatoes in the blender, along with the garlic, grated cheese and 1/3 cup of olive oil; puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the spaghetti until al dente; drain and transfer to a large bowl. Add the tomato sauce and toss to coat evenly. Drizzle the pasta with olive oil, garnish with cheese shavings and basil leaves and serve.
With the extra pesto, or with any pesto, tuck into Smelly Proof bags and store in the freezer. It’s about that time of year when I start hacking through the massive amounts of basil and make buukuu batches of pesto for months to come. These special plastic bags are supposed to be smell-proof, and they report that they are “bear tested” for campers, so.
The other product I want to plug is ChocZero—a monkfruit-sweetened sugarfree alternative. I sampled their syrup and their chocolate, both YUM and I would totally recommend to anyone looking for sugarfree foods.
