What about at your parents' house, Jesse? They don't need a lot of care, so if you're there even once a week you could take care of them.

Oh, that's an interesting thought. We had some mint and oregano outside when I was a kid, and I think they are on the safe-to-eat list, given how much lead is in the soil.... Of course, then I would have to plan ahead to use them!

Jesse, I've had luck keeping surplus herbs (parsely in particular) in the fridge. I re-cut the ends of the stems and plunk the remainder of the bunch into a glass of water like a little bouquet. I've had a bunch of parsely last nearly two weeks before it started to look less than fresh.

Yeah, I have some parsley like that in my fridge as we speak, and it is holding up, but I still haven't used it!

I tend to assume people who don't like vegetables dislike bitter flavors and sometimes wonder if perhaps "bitter" tastes different to different people.

This makes sense to me, since I love veggies and coffee and other bitter/sour/salty flavors but really have almost no desire to ever eat sweets. I almost never eat fruit unless it's dried and in a green salad. (Botanical fruits that are culinary veggies excepted. I will eat ripe tomatoes in season out of hand like most people would apples. Ditto bell peppers, cukes, avocados, etc.)

All this talk about veggies is fascinating to me! brenda, I loved reading your blog posts, and I think it's fantastic that you've found out what works for you and makes you happy.

When I went fully vegetarian in 2007, I started to get more serious about eating vegetables, but it wasn't until I moved in with Mark that I gave much thought to cooking or to trying new and different veggies. Our most recent discovery is leafy greens, which I always thought I didn't like, until we started sauteing them with garlic or putting them in enchiladas or stewing them with sweet potatoes. Yum! Turns out I just don't like them boiled or bland.

brenda's revelation about starting with veggies when planning a meal struck a chord with me. I hadn't put it into words, but that's how we do it too, and it's been really rewarding (and tasty!). A couple of vegetarian cookbooks that we use a lot are Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and The Passionate Vegetarian by the delightfully named Crescent Dragonwagon.

Hmm, I think we just might have to take a trip to the farmer's market this morning...

Timelies all!

Went to a friend's birthday party last night. Crowded, but fun.

I'm superpicky about my salad greens. If they're not from the CSA, the farmer's market, or Satur Farms (formerly farmer's market, now available in some regular grocery stores) I pretty much won't eat them. But I will *devour* the seasonal local stuff. Nom nom nom.

Ooh, too bad this thing is $50 a pop: [link]

I tried to get up super early today and somehow instead ended up sleeping in until a few minutes ago. I think it's time for another round of weeding in the garden. But, coffee first?