BASIL PLANTING

I planted my basil cutting today. It's currently hot as F out today and I'm not a happy camper but being practically home alone (my parents are at a soccer tournament, bro is at work and Sean is at a friend's wedding that I wasn't invited to :| ), I thought it would be a good day to get down and dirty with the dirt. Mind you, I'm not really a fan of dirt and all that jazz. The idea of discovering a worm kind of wigs me out.

But I braved the outdoors elements and planted my Loblaws basil cutting:I actually just used some all-purpose soil from a bag I found outside in the makeshift garden center. Our backyard is still a huge mess. I keep meaning to post photos of the "construction" going out outdoors but keep forgetting. It's a miracle I even remembered to replant the basil frankly. Too much has been going on this month but I'm hoping September settles down.

Anyway, back to the basil. Here's the root system:
And the entire cutting:And here it is in the pot:
I'm very proud of my basil plant. I don't know the exact variety but it is different than the one I purchased from Longo's. Speaking of which, check one that one:It's totally thriving now! It still has the white fly issue but I think that's because I was ignoring it for a while and it was totally dying. I mean, COMPLETELY dying. Its leaves were wilting and I didn't think I was going to be able to revive it, but I stuck it outside and watered it like crazy and after 24 hours it bounced back. See, what I mean? I'm good with plants outdoors but indoors, not so much. So for the past few days the Longo's basil has lived outdoors and the same fate will fall upon my Loblaws basil. After all this hard work, I don't want to replant it only to have it die.

BREAD-O-RAMA!

It probably comes as no surprise that I don't eat a lot of bread. For one thing, I'd rather consume my carbs in the form of noodles. Secondly, white bread just doesn't do it for me. Thirdly, I can only eat nitrite/nitrate-free deli meat. So yeah, unless I'm having some high-end gourmet deli sandwich (that costs around $9 and I've made it myself), the chances of me showing you sliced bread on this blog is slim to none.

But now I take that all back because look at all the bread I bought in the span of less than 72 hours. I present to you Stonemill Cranberry Pumpkin Seed:Longo's Artisan White Baguette:and finally, Longo's Semolina Raisin:The latter ended up being my fave and the most costly. Le sigh. I totally picked up that bread without knowing the cost. You just ask for it from behind the counter and the Longo's employee can slice it for you and then places it within the priced bag. Oops!

My favourite way to indulge in these three breads is as follows:

1. Stonemill Cranberry Pumpkin seed - with Earth Balance (preferably soy-free but I haven't been able to find it so I'm slowly using up the Buttery flavour) or with Dark Chocolate Dreams (mmm....chocolate peanut butter)
2. Artisan Baguette - basically the same as above or with fresh basil, goat cheese, prosciutto and sauteed grapes. It sounds weird but is SO good. Plus, it was a hit at a condo-warming party Sean and I attended this past weekend.
   
3. Semolina Raisin - plain, with Earth Balance or with DCD. Seriously this raisin bread rocks my world but I think I just love raisin bread in general.

Anyway, I should probably go update the rest o' this blog (ie: food recaps and what I did this weekend) rather than go stuff my face with two more slices of Cranberry Pumpkin Seed bread with Dark Chocolate Dreams. It probably wasn't the smartest idea to buy another jar of that crack. Er, I mean peanut buttery goodness.