Basil

The classic Italian pesto is a rich, aromatic paste of basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese and olive oil. Traditionally prepared with a mortar and pestle, it's served with pasta and thinly sliced boiled potatoes, or as a flavoring for soups.But pesto variations abound, in Italy and around the world.Some Italians chop the ingredients and, in autumn, substitute walnuts for pine nuts. In northern Spain, pesto finds its counterpart in Catalan cuisine, where a "picada" includes pounded pine nuts, almonds and hazelnuts mixed with garlic, parsley and olive oil. In southern France, tomatoes are pureed along with basil, garlic and oil to make "pistou," a sauce that is stirred into soups just before serving.

A bowl of cold cereal and milk is fine during the work week. Nothing like milk splashing on those flakes to wake you up. No distractions to that breakfast. But on the weekend, prepare something pleasurable. You don't have to rush. The day is long, and you have plenty of time to enjoy it.To set the mood, imagine yourself in the French Riviera on a brilliantly sunny day and think of what you'd cook.You'd probably start with an oversized mug of cafe au lait. Begin by brewing extra-strength coffee.

IT IS ALWAYS HARD to say goodbye to the garden, even after years like this one, when your crops have not lived up to your expectations. Recently in this space I admitted that this year's tomato crop was a failure. This admission generated two reactions. Sensitive souls offered condolences for my loss and confessed they too had suffered a disappointing summer. Others, however, greeted news of my failed crop with the announcement that their tomato crop was the best in years. I told the second group, the braggarts, that their flourishing crops were proof that they were much more adept than I at slinging the fertilizer.

* Item: Mueller's Savory Collection Flavored Pasta* What you get: 6 servings* Cost: About $2.25* Preparation time: 5 to 8 minutes stove top* Review: I think flavored pastas are one of the most versatile products on supermarket shelves. As a fan, I was looking forward to trying Mueller's new line. But Pesto Linguine and Pesto Cavatappi were the only winners in the bunch. Mueller may be on to something there, since there aren't a lot of decent basil-flavored pastas on the mass market. But the other flavors were disappointing.

* Item: Cardini's Marinades* What you get: 12 ounces* Cost: About $3.25* Preparation time: 1 1/2 hours or more to marinate, cooking time varies* Review: Cardini's bills its newest product line as combination marinades and salad dressings. The flavors we tried do make a case for both. The Roasted Garlic & Herb was a great way to dress up chicken and salmon, and was good for grilling vegetables and in a salad. The Citrus Lime Dill, though a little on the salty side, gently added flavor to fish.

Anyone who has ever sown a few basil seeds in a patio container can testify that the herb absolutely loves warm, humid weather.This fragrant, fragile herb is easy to grow and produces prolifically if you trim off the flowers. Right about now, pesto-weary gardeners are wondering how much basil one clay pot can produce.Like many of the culinary herbs, basil also is a strong herbal medicine. A member of the mint family, it can be used as a tonic and an antiseptic. Rub crushed, fresh basil leaves on skin to relieve insect bites.

I have never been a talented gardener; a small plot of herbs is all I can lay claim to in my back yard. Fortunately, many of my friends have green thumbs, and I am often a lucky recipient of their harvests. Plump, juicy tomatoes, long, slender cucumbers and tender salad greens are typical gifts that generous friends bring to our house. The quintessential summer vegetable - the one local gardeners seem to grow with abandon - is zucchini. I routinely receive a large basket or two of this squash once the crop is in.This year I have a new recipe for delicious Provencal Zucchini Soup.

For most recipes, herbs are measured by the pinch, but a double fistful is none too much for pesto, an herb-and-garlic paste in which the main ingredient is sweet basil, with a flavor somewhere between mint and anise.The traditional preparation method is to pound the ingredients into a paste with a mortar and pestle. Less authentic but more convenient is a food processor.What's incontrovertible is that heat affects pesto's flavor and color. That doesn't stop some cooks from painting it over fish or vegetables to be grilled or broiled.

There's something magical about the Mediterranean.A mystique seems to pervade the golden sunshine, the salty sea air and, especially, the food. The way the Mediterranean diet fuses flavor and health seems almost too good to be true. Throughout the 16 countries that border the Mediterranean, death rates from heart disease are half to one-third that of northern Europe or the U.S. And according to a recent study in Lyon, France, there was a 76 percent reduction in heart attacks and related complications in heart patients who followed a Mediterranean diet compared with those who ate the American Heart Association diet.

If you've ever felt fresh-herb envy as Julia Child lays a feathery sprig of dill on the salmon or sprinkles the tiny, pungent leaves of thyme into the boeuf bourguignon, consider planting a kitchen herb garden. Fresh herbs are as divorced from their store-bought counterparts as Tupperware is from Royal Doulton. In addition, herbs are beauty for the eye and tonic to the senses. There is no aroma therapy like the heady scent of basil as you gather some for tomato and mozzarella salad. Growing herbs is eminently satisfying.

As soon as the first snowflake falls in Garrett County, basil plants in Baltimore fold for the season. That is an exaggeration, but only a slight one. Basil is a weather wimp, the first plant to swoon when the temperatures dip near freezing, if only for a few hours. One day it is green, leafy and verdant and the next it is black, woody and kaput. Cue the leaf pickers. As soon as there is a slight chill in the air, they start plucking basil leaves from the plants, turning them into a variety of dishes but mainly pesto.

It is August in the garden, and the energy of spring has evaporated like the dew - for the garden and the gardener. What looked so fresh and promising in May looks scraggly and wilted now, and the punishing heat and drought of late summer in the Mid-Atlantic saps the will to do anything about it. If I wait a little longer, the gardener tells herself, it will be time for mums and this awkward phase in the garden cycle will be forgotten. In spring, we haunt the garden centers and purchase what is blooming at the moment, doubling down our investment in early-season color.

Deborah Gandy of Florence, S.C., was looking for a recipe for a dip made with cream cheese, roasted red peppers and basil. She said she found the recipe on a package of Gardetto's rye chips but has since lost it and would love to make it again. She said it was a wonderful dip and great for a party. Cindy Black of Huntley, Ill., sent in a recipe for a dip that sounded very much like the one Gandy described. It is made in the food processor and takes no time at all. She says it keeps well in the refrigerator and is especially delicious served with pita chips or raw vegetables.

If Chopstix Cafe is so much nicer and prettier than the typical strip-mall Chinese restaurant, it's partly because the three-year-old Honeygo Village Center where it's located is not a traditional strip mall, or even a shopping center. It's more of a trees-and-sidewalks "lifestyle center." It looks a lot like a mini version of the nearby Avenue at White Marsh, not quite suburban but not really a small town, more a place in between. There sometimes seems like there's no in-between with Chinese restaurants - they're either dumps or discotheques - but Chopstix is comfortable and cheerful without being slick and loud.

Ready-made pasta sauces can be convenient, but watch out for sodium, even in natural and organic brands. Newman's Own Tomato & Basil Bombolina may be "all natural," but each half-cup serving has 620 milligrams of sodium - 250 more than Muir Glen Organic Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce. Newman's Own Tomato & Basil Bombolina Per serving ( 1/2 cup): 90 calories 2 grams protein 4.5 grams fat 0.5 gram saturated fat 13 grams carbohydrate 0 grams fiber 0 milligrams cholesterol 620 milligrams sodium Muir Glen Organic Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce Per serving ( 1/2 cup)

Constantine "Gus" Klosteridis, a retired baker and Howard Street pizza shop owner, died of cancer complications Saturday at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The Timonium resident was 85. Born in Baltimore and raised near Patterson Park, he graduated in 1941 from City College and then enlisted in the Navy. He was stationed at Camp MacDonough Naval Training Center in Plattsburg, N.Y., and at Fort Pierce, Fla. He earned a bachelor's degree at Loyola College and joined his father and brother in their Athens Baking Co. on Bouldin Street in Highlandtown, which they expanded to mass-produce hamburger rolls.

Have you been following Slow Food Baltimore's Eat in Season Challenge? If it ended up producing nothing except this crazily cream and corntastic dish from Donna's chef Andy Thomas and sous-chef Brian Price, it would have been worth it. Thomas used local cream, too, in this silky smooth dish, and the basil was just the rough edge it needed. Donna's whole Eat in Season menu was admirable (but succotash without corn - sacre bleu!), and they've promised to try to keep the corn pudding (or is it a flan?

All my new basil plants have dead patches on the leaves. Can I treat this? If the patches are tan, it may be damage from the cold weather. Basil likes it hot. It should recover and put out healthy new growth when temperatures rise. If the patches are dark brown or blackish, it's probably a fungus. There are no fungal sprays that would be appropriate for fungal disease on basil because it is a food plant. Consider replanting. My neighbor has a new lawn, and it is a lot greener than mine.

Basil Dudok, a retired concrete worker and longtime Parkville resident, died of cardiac arrest May 27 at Good Samaritan Hospital. He was 70. Mr. Dudok was born in Kocowec, Ukraine, where he spent his early years and World War II. His father, who had been drafted into the Polish cavalry during the war, was later imprisoned by the Germans at Buchenwald concentration camp. After the war, Mr. Dudok accompanied his mother and siblings to Germany, where they located his father and were placed in a displaced-persons camp.

Steak with onions and balsamic vinegar cooked to a sweet glaze is a perfect dinner. Linguine with fresh basil and tomatoes makes a colorful side dish. Balsamic vinegar is made in Modena, Italy. To be sure you are buying good-quality vinegar, check the labels; grapes should be the only ingredient. Lesser-quality vinegars have brown sugar added. Top-quality balsamic vinegars are aged 25 to 50 years and are used drop by drop. Choose a medium-priced one for cooking. Wine suggestion: Hearty steak with powerful balsamic vinegar is an occasion for a powerful Italian barolo.