Pesto and pom poms

My dear friend B. is having a wee baby girl in a few short months. To help her celebrate, we organized a Brooklyn Brownstone BBQ Baby Bash, complete with pom-poms...

...and pesto.*


We made a little book for B's bouncing baby to help guide her through the complicated business of being a girl.

My best words of wisdom were "stand up straight and smile" and "learn how to cook one dish- this is all you will need to impress future boyfriends." In retrospect, I think I should have added "capri pants are a bad idea unless you have nice ankles."

*Here is my pesto recipe. It's actually my mom's pesto recipe. Actually, it's Marcella Hazan's pesto recipe. You can't beat Marcella for pesto. I'm serious - this pesto is some kind of wonderful. It doesn't have anything fruity or weird in it. It's the real deal.

4-6 servings

If the pesto is destined for the freezer, do not add the cheese and butter until you're ready to use it.

2 c. fresh basil leaves
2-3 T. pine nuts
2 large cloves garlic
1 t. salt
1/2 c. olive oil
1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 T. freshly grated Romano cheese
3 T. butter, softened

1. Put about 1/4 of the basil and all of the olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, and salt in the blender, and mix at a high speed. Gradually add in the remaining basil leaves. When the ingredients are evenly blended, pour them into a bowl.
2. Add the cheeses to the mixture, and beat by hand. (The extra work of hand mixing is important to the taste and texture of the pesto.) Finally, mix in the softened butter.
3. To serve, toss the pesto with the pasta immediately after draining the pasta. Be sure to have generous quantities of Parmesan and fresh ground pepper available.

Pom poms from Martha Stewart. Photograph from Kris's Color Stripes. The cover of How to Be a Girl was shamelessly ripped off from a Borf print. Let's hope Borf doesn't get mad at me.