"…And if you want even more details on my tagliatelle habits from that time in my life, you should know that the bowls of pasta were often dressed in green pesto sauce. This pesto was the good stuff. The pine nuts crunched with each twirled-fork bite. The crushed raw garlic zinged. The crisp basil cooled it all down. And the olive oil slicked up each and every tagliatella (Italian lesson: the singular form!) for heavenly sauce-to-strand ratios. It tasted like a spring garden swing dancing with carbs. I think about it far too often. When making pesto yourself, pound and crush the ingredients with a mortar and pestle to get the most out of them—their natural juices will release deliciously into a creamy paste."