I’m hoping to carve out more sunny space for bigger patches of things this spring though. I lost most of my rosemary except one that was very protected so I can empathize with you!

I would love to grow more herbs. I have sage (the plants are six years old but don’t seem to be getting any bigger) and chives, which I planted in flower boxes also six years ago. This year I will put them in the ground.

I also have peppermint, anise hyssop and lavender.

Rosemary is an annual around here and I tried different kinds of basil but the plants didn’t do well. Parsley only produced two little plants.

I’d love to have huge patches of estragon, savory, cilantro, basil and chamomile. And lots and lots of parsley, now that we are juicing veggies.

I have to admit I’m a technical luddite. If you click on the RSS feed image can you add me to your google home page? I’m actually not sure how the email thing works but that is how I follow everyone’s blogs. And the ones that don’t have an RSS button I try to remember to check them periodically but I’m having a hard time keeping up.

Auburn, ours are pretty lean but we do have a bit of schmalz around the missing head area. I do also put butter under the skin but those are bay leaves that you see – fresh ones right off the tree. They have a really interesting flavor to them. Fresh rosemary or thyme would be great too if you have any of those plants.

I have so many herb plants around the yard that my goal this year is to incorporate fresh herbs into nearly everything once spring hits so expect to see a lot more cooking with herbs. It’s amazing what a fresh gremolata or swirl of herb sauce will do to completely change a dish.

I’m especially enamored with lavender, lemon verbena and chervil lately. As you pick out your seeds you may want to look for chervil & tarragon.

Chervil is almost licorice-like with the exception that I can’t stand licorice and I like chervil. It’s so nice in a fresh salad but also great used in cooking, just like tarragon.

So fresh and hard to place! That elusive flavor that throws the taste of things over the top. That is my goal this year.

Looks like you put something under the skin of that chicken, yes?

meanwhile, i signed up for email alerts for your posts, but none of them are coming through! any idea what to try? i’ve tried re-signing up, but it tells me i’m already set. ?

Hi B – welcome! I started with this recipe:
http://www.toomanychefs.net/archives/001118.php and was short on buttermilk so I did use yeast. Next time I’m going to try using some whole grain flour and no yeast with quick leaveners instead because I don’t like to use yeast. Although this recipe calls them crumpets, real crumpets aren’t made with yeast so this recipe is really what we call English Muffins. I didn’t realize this until looking for recipes but English muffins are actually American and not found in Britain at all.

Once I get the recipe to where I want it I’ll share. I have lots of recipes to share from the week as well as soon as I have time (hopefully over the next few days…)

It seems all I can do to get the photos up on Sundays!