herbs

So I didn't make Jeff's head explode with curry last night. I used about a quarter of the amount of curry I used for Ruth, and also took Rand's advice about cooking some herbs in olive oil first as well as doing a lot of taste-testing along the way after I add the red curry paste and before I add the chicken.

Cooking still reminds me of doing chemistry experiments, except you can (in most cases) consume the results. I made lamb stew the other day, and it turned out all right as well.

One thing I do miss about living out in the country is my herb garden. I used to be able to step out the kitchen door and pick fresh herbs during the summer. Sometimes I picked herbs for cooking, sometimes just for the fragrance. My garden herbs included chives, thyme (several types), parsley, basil, mint, oregano, rosemary, and sage.

One of my favourite fragrances in the world is fresh basil; I used to love sticking a bunch of freshly picked basil lives in a cup of water and setting it in the house so I could smell it all day. I also used to make herb wreaths, starting with a base of oregano branches and then sticking in other herbs, hanging it in the kitchen for the fragrance as well as to use for cooking.

My current favourite spice is ginger. I love ginger anything: ginger cookies, ginger cake, ginger chicken. I've replaced my standard of lemon tea (hot water with a slice of lemon) with ginger tea (hot water with a piece of freshly peeled ginger), without sugar or other sweetener. If I had a garden now, I'd probably try growing ginger if I could.

I'm curious: how many of you out there have gardens? What do you grow in them? Any herbs?

Links/News:

Here's the complete list of Oscar nominations announced today. Yay, Two Towers was nominated for Best Film, woohoo! Also for Art Direction, Film Editing, Sound, Sound Editing and Visual Effects. I can't believe Peter Jackson didn't get nominated for Best Director.

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Today's Blatherpics:

Thanks to Peter Bennett for sending me the image above. If you want your own, you can order them from here.

Feb/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ