Around here this weekend...

Jake spent today in the garden. 

Here we have a boatload of basil. We're having a porch and pesto party on Wednesday, so this will all be put to excellent use. 

He picked three shiny beauties whose name I love: Georgia Flame.

This here is a bunch of epazote, an herb we grew to combine with our dried beans. Supposedly it cuts the gas factor when mixed with cooked dried beans. But, it tastes like gasoline. If it works though, it might be worth it. 

 Onions are harvested! They'll cure outside in the sun for a few days. Maybe we have time to grow another set of onions this year... ?

My favorite joke, lately (thanks to my cousin Kelsey):

Q: What does a nosy pepper do?
A: He gets jalapeno business. 

HA! 

We've kind of neglected our garden this summer. Earlier this weekend Jake refused an offer by our house guests to help weed because he was too embarrassed to show it to them. His afternoon out there made it much better. See him waving in the background? He's happier now. 

We've been doing a lot of screen porch living. 

Even this walking stick wanted in on the action.

We had quite the entourage at our Fortnight show last night. 

When we got home, we had a fire. We've been waiting all summer for this, and finally the burn ban was lifted. Someone ate many, many marshmallows.

Tonight, Jake made a fresh marinara. Marcella Hazan says "a sauce must be sufficiently savory to season pasta adequately. Blandness is not a virtue, tastelessness is not a joy."

Continued: "Always taste a sauce before tossing the pasta with it. If it seems barely salty enough on its own, it's not salty enough for the pasta. Remember it must have flavor enough to cover a pound or more of cooked, virtually unsalted pasta."

Jake followed Marcella's Tomato Sauce with Garlic and Basil, sort of. And oh, it was good.