• (Home Depot) orange plastic paint tray
• 2 in. chip brush
• Black milk crate
• 32 oz. window cleaner
• 1-gallon white paint
• Paint roller
• 1-gallon black paint
• Yellow crepe paper
• Green rag
• 2 in. spackling knife
• Phillips-tip screwdriver
• Green artist tape
• 16 oz. coffee
• Wooden stool
• Jockstrap
• Red Umbro-brand shorts
• White 5-gallon bucket

3 lemons (cut into cubes – sometimes i zest them first and and add it to the jar, sometimes i don’t)
1 1-liter bottle vodka (potato based – i use Luksosawa)
1/2 cup fresh dill including stems (i cut some but leave some whole)
A few black peppercorns

Combine the ingredients in a large glass jar. Cover and let stand at room temperature for a few weeks. The original recipe (see below) suggests 6-8 weeks. I’m impatient and like it at just 3 weeks. When it’s ready, strain it and put it back in the original bottle. I think it’s best super cold so I store it in the freezer.

Recipe is from Marcus Samuelsson’s excellent Aquavit and the New Scandinavian Cuisine.

***I recently found a version of my mom’s recipe that she wrote down last summer at the beach. It’s much better. See Linguini and Clams below.

My mom used to make this all the time when I was a kid. Her recipe is similar to one found in the “Salute to Italy Celebrity Cookbook” sold and published by JCPenney in the 1980′s. I loved this book as a kid (for the pictures), so when I wanted the recipe a few years ago, I copied it verbatim from the book.

4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup olive oil
2 medium onions
1 t sweet basil flakes
1 t dried oregano
1 large bunch parsley
3 7oz cans minced clams
salt
pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 pound spaghetti

Put butter and oil in pan with onions. Cook slowly for about 20 minutes. The onions should be cooked until transparent but not brown. Add the basil and oregano and cook for 5 minutes. Chop the parsley (no stems) until minced and add to the mixture. Cook 10 minutes more. Add clams and the liquid in the cans of clams. Cook for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add parmesan cheese little by little. Cook spaghetti al dente (about 8 minutes). Pour sauce into cooked spaghetti and mix. Sprinkle with cheese. Serves 4 to 6.

Linguini and Clams

Fresh clams
1 onion chopped
3 shallots chopped
1 sweet red pepper chopped
1/2 c chopped parsley
1/4 c chopped fresh basil leaves
6 cloves garlic
chicken broth (1 box Swanson’s brand)
1 bottle clam juice
juice from 1/4 of lemon
1 or 2 c white wine preferably Chardonney)
1/2 pkg of Old Bay crab cake mix for thickening
salt and pepper to taste
1 stick butter
1/4 c olive oil

1. Steam or grill clams and chop for sauce
2. melt butter in large fry pan, add olive oil
3. Chop onion, shallots, pepper, garlic and saute in melted butter and olive oil mix.
4. Deglaze pan with white wine
5. Add chicken broth and clam juice a little at a time and simmer which will reduce the amount of liquid in the pan
6. Add 1/2 of Old Bay crab cake pkg slowly to sauce, to thicken
7. Add basil and parsley and simmer
8. When sauce is thick enough, add chopped clams
9. Serve over cooked pasta
10. Sprinkle with fresh parmesan cheese

01. A 19×5 inch piece of navy blue foam core. The front says, “I know. You Can’t.” The back says, “This is so easy.” A piece of yellow crepe paper is taped to the front. The crepe paper lost some of it’s coloring due to water dripping from the ceiling. How long would it take for crepe paper to fade in sunlight? The shirt I’m wearing today is the same color as the foam core. I’m also wearing a gray t-shirt with a sailboat on it, a pair of royal blue Hanes underwear, black argyle socks, black boots, and a pair of gray pants. I also have my glasses on and a green hat because it’s still chilly here this morning.

02. A small piece of cardboard from a pack of butter. It’s the little strip you tear off to open the box. It says, “Butter.”

03. A piece of navy blue paper with two pictures mounted to it. The navy blue is just a tad bit lighter than my shirt. One of the pictures shows Will lying on the ground wearing a painters uniform filled with cheese curls, the other shows him covered in cheese curls. It’s apparent from the photo that the cheese really irritated his skin.

04. There are other things on the floor, but I put them there intentionally yesterday.