Random's Window: Marczyk's Garlic Scape and Almond Pesto

I was in the mood for something different. I like to think I'm a fairly capable cook. I don't really know what I'm doing, but my dishes generally turn out relatively scrumptious. And I definitely have a comfort zone that I've made before and know will turn out. Vegetable sautes, salads, and egg dishes are the easiest for me to whip up; who needs a recipe for a salad? But I wanted to go outside my zone; cook a meat I'd never done before, or something involving pasta (which I've actually only made once), or maybe pastry dough. So I went to Marczyk, my local high-quality grocery store to poke around for inspiration.

Now Generally I shy away from receiving any customer service telling everyone who offers to help me find something that I'm fine. And as usual when asked, I responded that I was just browsing around, and hadn't decided what I was making, just that I wanted to make something I'd never made before. This gave me a highly unexpected response. Not only did two staff members spend at least 10 minutes just talking to me about cooking, what I'd made before, what I felt like making, until we hit upon a main course, but then one of them, David I believe, walked all over the store helping me select the best ingredients and giving me both tips and samples. Even for someone as customer service shy as I it was an awesome experience to get so much knowledgable cooking help, and further more the meal that resulted was fantastic!