Herbs Galore

AMAZING.

There's probably a bit of blasphemy in this statement somewhere--but truly, I believe that if there's any real magic in the world, it's in the kitchen. Pure witchcraft. Oxymoron, maybe, but true nontheless.

We built some raised beds tonight, for the plethora of herbs that I picked out yesterday. My aunt Carol runs a greenhouse, and she always plants more than she can use or sell. It's a good thing. Yesterday, she told me to run wild and take anything I wanted. I was SO EXCITED.

I ended up with multiple packs of wild rosemary, california rosemary, large-leaf basil, sweet oregano, spicy basil, sweet marjorum, two different types of thyme, dillweed plants, cilantro/coriander, red sage, blue african basil, three types of peppers  (jalepeno, habanero, and green), wild spearmint, lavender, and two tomato plants--cherry and grape. All for my raised herb beds.

Wild. When I said I was excited, I meant it.

In retrospect, if I wasn't so set on getting my M.D., I would love to do nothing more than travel the world, finding new spices and learning new recipes and new styles of cooking, and then come home to feed people. And then go out and do it again. I wouldn't set up a restaurant, because that type of cooking gets old, but still...I love it.

I would kill to get my hands on those.

In a second retrospectionishness thought, I'd probably get fat. So maybe it's a good thing I only have one life.

(Last February, an acquaintance was asking what to get his girlfriend for Valentine's Day. I said, get her a pretty red pot and stick a nice rosemary plant in it. You want some color, add some african basil and a thyme plant. Can't lose with that, right?  More useful than a potted flower and doesn't die like a bunch of roses. Unless you really are a plant-killer. I don't know if he ever did it--but he should've.)

Cooking is great. You might not even think about it being something special, but it is magic, just a little. You throw a bunch of random things into a wok, and you get something totally unique and amazing out of it. That's all magic is supposed to be, right? Changing one thing into another? Getting more out of something than the sum of the whole? Creating?

Whatever it is, it makes me happy.

Also, because I like you so much, I'm going to give you a really reaaallllly simple recipe that a child could make; but it tastes better than anything you'll get at a restaurant.

This is not actually the recipe, but it looks close.

1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces. (the way you get the tough part off, before you cut them, is to hold the end and the middle, and bend until it breaks itself. Throw the end away. Some people actually don't already know this.)

1 1/2 cups cherry/grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1 good-sized clove of garlic. Don't be a shrinking violet, it makes it much better.
3-4 TB balsalmic vinegar
2 TB olive oil
dash of lemon juice (use a lemon.)
salt and pepper

fresh basil cut into strips
sundried tomato and basil feta

Put the asparagus in a skillet with about an inch of water. I usually add McKay's chicken seasoning to it, and some salt. Let it go until it's tender but not mushy, around 3 minutes of boiling, give or take. Drain it and put it in your serving dish.

The next set of ingrediants all go into another pan. Cook them about five minutes, until soft and yummy. Don't let them burn! Layer them over your asparagus.

Sprinkle the feta and basil on top. It's really pretty, and super tasty. I...think I may go hunt up some asparagus now. Enjoy!