Kalamata Olives

My pal Gary McLaughlin is a cook and a caterer with the greatest laugh in the world. Gary finds me Kalamata olives for a sinfully cheap wholesale price. It's great to have friends in high places. He orders me the five pound black plastic screw top tub from his restaurant supplier and it lasts me a year, occupying valuable real estate in my fridge! Olives, olives, olives, mashed with fresh garlic spooned onto my sourdough whole wheat bread or just eaten as they are is divinity itself. Olives baked inside my sourdough bread with a little bit of mint is great too. You don't taste the mint as mint but it does magic to the flavors. I learned that from a great book called The Book Of Bread By Judith and Evan Jones. Mangia!