Another brilliant piece from a GUNNAS WRITING MASTERCLASS WRITER.
I set out to make basil oil for a Caprese salad for the Christmas lunch table. Allessandro makes beautiful buffalo mozzarella. I go to his factory and get some from him every few months. I’d got some of that for and some Spanish tomatoes from Richard, who mainly sells peppers of all kinds at the Davies Park markets on a Saturday morning. You know of course, that they are the main ingredients of a Caprese salad. Tomatoes, and mozzarella. Anyhow, to tart this up for Christmas Day, I thought I’d make basil oil to drizzle over, instead of just using basil leaf. To make that basil oil, I blanched bunches of basil in boiling water, boiling for about a minute, not just plunging them quickly in and out. It’s easy after that, just processing the leaf, it stays bright green in the oil, after blanching. I pictured the bright green drizzle the christmas colours of the Caprese, so perfect on a summer table, how everyone would love it.
But then there was the blanching water, at least a litre or more in the saucepan. Green, and I assumed tasting like basil. Indeed I had made basil tea. I couldn’t just send it down the sink. So I added some sugar and boiled it up, then cooled it and added some lemon but mostly lime juice. On Christmas day I added soda and ice and slices of lime, filling the punchbowl. A new drink. A perfect refresher on the hot day, before after and during the meal, and the alcohol. I loved that no-one could quite work out what the base was, but mostly I loved that I had created this on my way to something else.
This is my reminder to myself about enjoying the journey, not focusing always on the presumed outcome, and not to get hung up on where you think you should be going. Go down the rabbit hole. In writing, do the writing, you don’t know what might emerge, what tangent might end up as the product, which morning page turns itself into the great idea. If you don’t send it down the sink.