Sunday, November 16, 2008

Day 127 / Day 62 - Time for a Basil Class Reunion

Remember the basil Aerogarden that started this blog? Have you ever wondered whatever became of those basil plants? Wonder no more!

Cue "pomp and circumstances". Today, I assembled a "reunion" of the old basil plants, traveling back from the far reaches of the kitchen and the bedroom and the window by the living room, and all joining together back in the original spot of the living room where the Aerogarden once stood. I felt like a proud pappy knowing that they've done so well with themselves out there in the big world.

I've found that the basil plants that I planted in the bigger pots grew to be larger. Makes sense--those are the ones where the roots could spread out, and happy roots means happy leaves.

For the reunion dinner, I decided to make the delicious recipe in the Basil Aerogarden manual that I made four months ago: Basil and Tomato with Toasted Garlic.

Just as in the old days, I chopped off a bunch of basil.

And then prepared some penne pasta with olive oil, toasted garlic, diced tomatoes, freshly grated cheese, and of course the chopped basil.

The whole house (including yours truly) reeks of toasted garlic right now, but it was well worth it--the dish turned out as tasty as it did four months ago. It was especially worth it considering that I had nothing left in the fridge tonight and would have otherwise ended up eating a handful of Honey Bunches of Oats for dinner.

So, how are the current inhabitants of the Aerogardens doing? Well, those three tomatoes are ripe for the picking, but I'm still trying to figure out what to do with them.


In the meantime, the Golden Harvest tomatoes haven't gotten much bigger, but they are getting golden.


The holiday herbs on the top shelf are growing out of control. I really need to find a recipe soon that uses a lot of fresh oregano.

And good news--even though I decimated the lettuce Aerogarden at the last post, I'm happy to say it's resilient. It's managed to return to its former glory, ready for another home-made and home-grown salad soon!


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