homemade pesto and pasta

i decided it was finally time to thin the basil that i planted.  basically i assumed nothing would grow and planted half a packet of seeds in several rows.  ...then about 90% of them grew and the basil was suffocating itself.  so using a very delicate process [ie...chopping 3/4 of the plants down with a small pair of scissors] i picked a shitton of lime, purple, and regular sweet basil.  i also cut off the flowering/seeding parts of my store-bought basil plants.

before their rinse/soak

2 1/3 ounces of clean ready-to-use basil leaves

fresh pesto:
2 ounces fresh basil
handful of almonds
3-4 teaspoons minced garlic
6 ounces parmesan
undisclosed amount of olive oil

use inappropriately small food processor to blend things in batches, starting with almonds [toasted if desired] and parm.  remove from processor and set aside.  blend garlic and basil with enough oil to coat until chopped finely.  add almonds and parm and additional oil as needed.  you know what pesto is supposed to look like.  make it look like that.  then add salt and pepper to taste.

i also decided i needed to make pasta to go with my fresh basil ...and that turned out to be a bit more of a calamity than usual.  it would seem last time i made pasta, the spinach fettuccine, a glob of dough got stuck in the pasta roller and dried to a concrete chunk that rattled around quite happily.  i had to unscrew the side of the pasta maker and pry apart the connecting plate just enough so the hunk of dried crap could thump out into the sink.  then put it back together and finish rolling and cutting pasta. 

finished product.  so unappetizing looking but so tasty.

some pretty radishes i yanked out of the garden.  hopefully someone eats them soon.