I thought that the girls would quite possibly be vegetarian so I was glad I had made Enchanted Broccoli Forest Green Green Noodle Soup. But it needed pesto, so Monday at lunch I bought basil (and some fruit for them to take with them because I was slightly in loco parentis (which is in fact how I justify calling them "girls")).
Only on the way home did I remember that in May the food processor died as it valiantly attempted to mix up dough for lasagne noodles. You'd think I'd've remembered, because half the soup--onions, zucchini, spinach--needed to be liquefied as well. The blender worked well for that (and for once prudence prevailed so I happened to be holding the top down when I switched it on), but it wouldn't work for pesto.
But then I remembered that people did make pesto before Cuisinart.
We have a hand-held thingie, something that fits in the palm with a six-bladed wheel. I sliced up the basil with that, then mashed up one (just one! though large) clove of garlic, enough pine nuts, enough cheese, a dash of salt, in the mortar and pestle. And then mixed it up in the basil. And it was so much better than usual. Maybe because I didn't overgarlick it, but I don't think so. I prefer to think it's because pesto prefers to be made the old-fashioned way.