Life with the Ratliffs: Random Ramblings

Tuesday night, my sweet Mimi cooked for my sister and I. It was as wonderful as we had expected! She is such a good cook. She made Squash Bisque (my sisters request) and Pasta (for me). She received the pasta recipe a few years ago from a dear friend, Peggy Gouras, and we have been enjoying it ever since! Thanks Peggy!
If you are tired of BLT's from all those fresh tomatoes you have, this is a great recipe to use fresh tomatoes in.

Isle of Patmos Pasta
1 lb favorite pasta (like rigatoni)
4 peeled cloves of garlic
3/4 cup walnuts or pine nuts (we like Walnuts)
1 cup fresh washed Basil leaves
salt and pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 cup of grated Parmesan Cheese
2 cups fresh tomatoes (cubed)
Cook pasta al dente. Place garlic, nuts, basil, salt, pepper and cheese in food processor. Pulse to combine. While machine is running, drizzle olive oil through feed tube, stopping to scrape occasionally. Meanwhile, in another pan with a drizzle of olive oil, heat tomatoes until very hot.
Layer pasta, pesto and top with tomatoes. Sprinkle extra cheese if you like.

In other news...

My dad turned 50 years old!! We honored him with a party at my aunts and it was wonderful!! He does so much for so many people. He is literally the most generous person I know. He is ALWAYS willing to help in whatever we have gotten ourselves into. He is usually the first to offer- he pretty much knows a little (or a lot) about everything... computers, cars, fixer-upper houses, electricity, building things, even cooking- he is our go-to guru!! We all wanted to make this birthday very special and I think we accomplished that! We made all of his favorite foods and had a table of his favorite sweets complete with a golf themed cake. His siblings surprised him with a Yetti cooler and I made a slide show of him and the family. He was surprised at how much we all had done and was so happy!! It was fun to see so many of his old friends... they probably have not all been in the same place since college.