Thursdays

My mom always liked Thursdays.

I think Thursdays were commemorative of the hard-earned work week, sort of the point of near-completion, right before the sweet freedom that Friday afternoon brought, and then the busy activities of the weekend.

Naturally, Thursdays have always been my favorite day of the week too.

My grandmother always liked teams from Boston.

A die-hard sports fans, she rooted for the Red Sox and the Celtics as if she'd grown up in Southie.

I inherited these obsessions as well. Having grown up idolizing Larry Bird and rooting against Magic Johnson or pretty much any California team (we were in Oregon, after all, so any Cali team was an instant rival worth ardently rooting against), it's a dead given that I'm loving the NBA Finals this year, and pulling for the Celtics.

So it's a beautiful day, being Thursday, and tonight being Game 4 of a Celtics vs. Lakers Finals Tournament. I've poured over the cookbook we did with the JL of Boston, Boston Uncommon, searching for a nice treat to enjoy during the game tonight.

This cookbook epitomizes why community cookbooks are really special. It's a well-researched guide to the city's history, geographical layout, neighborhoods and districts, and offers up great factoids, like that the navy bean is the official vegetable of Massachusetts and the original bean of Boston Baked Beans, and that Fenway Park has one of the last hand-operated scoreboard in MLB.

There are quite a few recipes I need to try too, although I couldn't find any from Larry Bird himself. Regardless, I think this Mint Pesto sounds amazing and a perfect treat to snack on during tonight's game!

Go Celts!!!!

Mint Pesto - A tasty recipe that's a great way to use extra mint from your herb garden.

ingredients

- 1/2 cup golden raisins

- 2 small shallots

- 2 cups firmly packed fresh mint leaves

- 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

- 6 tablespoons whipped cream cheese (I'm sooo using fat-free here...)

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- pita bread wedges

directions

- Combine the raisins and shallots in a food processor and process until coarsely chopped. Add the mint and walnuts and pulse until the mint is coarsely chopped.

- Add the cream cheese and olive oil and pulse until well mixed.

- Serve with plain or lightly toasted pita bread wedges.

Serves 6 to 8.