Mo' Foie

Used the small coconut-wood mortar and pestle from Thailand. Collected basil leaves while the spaghetti cooked in a pot barely large enough to hold it. Tore up leaves before putting them in the mortar and added a little coarse salt before pestling. Next time, though, I'll try mincing the leaves a little first. I had a reluctance, getting myself to add enough olive oil for all the parmesan I dumped in, which was lot, so it needed a lot... and forgot to add a little oil to the drained pasta while I worked on the paste-o, so it got a little wumpy. At the table, it turned out to need a little something. I got the duck fat. A smidge, swirled in, intensified the earthy parmesan notes, and darkened them to a lilly-pad's green, but not actually, with lovely-tasty mud tones and a few actual feathers. Gosh I love that goo. Anyway, this lunch of spaghetti with pesto was fun and foundational, and the remaining end of last week's famer's market sourdough loaf was a nice foil when dipped in wine.