Red Bird Cabin

I came up with this Spring-themed variation of Pesto last night… and it was delicious.  Instead of the usual pine nuts, I subbed in cashews.  Then I added in grated lemon zest and a splash of lemon juice. (FYI, you could really use any type of nut to make pesto.) I chose cashews for this one because they’re subtle… allowing you to taste the lemon.

Spring Pesto

Here’s the basic recipe:

• 1 large bunch of basil
• 1.5 cups of cashews
• a couple glugs of olive oil & water
• grated zest of one lemon
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove
• salt & pepper to taste

Just toss all the ingredients into your food processor or blender and blend for about 2 minutes. If it’s too thick, add more olive oil and water in equal parts until it reaches a pea-soup consistency. (Mine was a little too thick - next time I’ll thin it more.) Drizzle it over chicken, tofu, salmon or pasta!

Our cabin came with those flimsy particle board walls that rattle when you shut the door too fast.  You know… the kind that you don’t want to lean on too hard for fear of falling through. The house wasn’t insulated either, which added to the general “hollow wall” feeling.  So, they had to go.  Equipped with a hammer and crow bar, the walls came down pretty fast.

inside the wall

What’s Behind an Old Wall?
Mostly, we found empty space.  But, there were quite a few dead spiders, abandoned webs, and other creepy crawly remnants.  (We also found an old black & white photo of a toddler and a rose quartz crystal.)  Yes, it was a little eerie.  Now that the walls are off, the cabin is ready for rewiring and plumbing.  After that, she’ll get a fresh set of real sheetrock walls.

It took us one day, amped on coffee and loud music, to tear out all the hideous green wall-to-wall carpeting.  And WOW, what a difference it’s made.  Tearing out carpet is easy, actually.  All you need is an exacto knife, needle nose pliers and some arm strength.  Begin with a corner and start pulling it loose.  When you get a manageable size chunk free (say 5 feet by 3 feet or so), use your exacto knife to slice that section off.  Throw it out the door so you have a clear workspace.  And continue carving off chunks.  If you’re comfortable removing bigger sections at a time, go for it.  Once you’re done, use your needle nose pliers to pry the carpet staples out of the floor.  Staple picking takes some time so you might want to sit/kneel on a pillow and have a good beer handy.

No more ugly carpet