Tis the Season for Herbs

"There's a few things I've learned in life: always throw salt over your left shoulder, keep rosemary by your garden gate, plant lavender for good luck, and fall in love whenever you can." - William Shakespeare



Ever since I started having herbs in my garden it has made all the difference in my cooking. Being able to walk out the door and snip a few sprigs of oregano or a few sprigs of rosemary as opposed to getting in a car to buy a bundle makes me search for reasons to cook with fresh herbs.

What types of herbs to plant in your yard or in a pot on your back porch can take a little bit of "trial and error." Figuring out which herbs you actually use or which ones grow fairly easily in your yard can take a few seasons but it's worth the effort.

If I could only choose one herb to plant, I would choose rosemary. The deer won't touch it, it's fuss-free and it has endless uses. An herb workhorse, indeed.

The herbs that I use year-round and that usually make it through the winter in pots are: rosemary, thyme, and oregano. I also plant sage but I don't find that I use it very often.

The herbs I plant in late spring that will last until late fall are: Italian parsley, cilantro (lots of it) and lemon verbena only because I love how delicious it smells.

And then later, when it warms up a bit, a pot of basil. No herb garden should be without.

Just curious, what are your favorite herbs to plant in your yard? If you could choose only one, what would it be?



PS: I had a few friends asking me about keeping herbs in pots watered. I have yet to set up any kind of drip system and the self-watering pot inserts that I've tried haven't worked very well but I did stumble upon these "hydro-mats" last season and it made a huge difference in cutting back the amount of watering I had to do during the summer. I used it for my herbs as well as for my flower boxes.


All original text and photographs copyright: Carrie Minns 2009-2011

The Super Duper Pooper Scooper...Makes White Bean and Kale Soup

"I feel like a...like a...sh@$ shoveler. I can't help it and I know I'm like a broken record whining and moaning about this every year at this time. But I do. Every year there's this grand celebration about gifts and giving but once it's over and everyone has moved on to the next "big thing" who has to take care of the clean-up? Go through the old stuff to make room for the new stuff? Figure out what to do with the old stuff? Dump? Goodwill? Craig's List? Me, the sh@$ shoveler, that's who. Where's the giving in that?? I should have known that this would be part of my destiny. All those years of my parents handing me a bucket and a shovel and pointing to the dog pen while my father called out, 'There she goes, our little Super Duper Pooper Scooper!'"

And on and on I went, lamenting to one of my dearest, dearest friends about the aftermath of the holidays. Same old song and dance. But I can't help it. It's how I feel every year. The prospect of a pile of new stuff coming into our house just doesn't thrill me the way it might for other people. I tend to be cranky about it. I've been called Scrooge. I've even been told by my sweetie that I can be downright "scary" about the whole thing. And I know that any family member of mine who might be reading this right now is probably rolling his or her eyes....."Here she goes again."

But here's the thing....nothing thrills me more than a small handful of freshly sharpened pencils. A medicine cabinet that is organized and labeled. Lego pieces that have been separated into individual bins - Small, Medium, Large, People...as opposed to dumped into one big bin or "Horrors!" strewn across the floor making it difficult for people to walk down the hallway without knocking over a prized creation. A toy closet with up-to-date toys as opposed to one filled with toddler toys no longer used or wanted. A bookshelf with just a few loved possessions on it. Less is more. Less is more. Bring more stuff in the house and now "we" (ie: me)  have to find a new place for it. In closets that are already full.

As the years have gone by and time has become scarce due to the magnitude of responsibilities required for raising a family, I haven't been able to indulge my OCD tendencies like I used to. Organizing and purging take a lot of time. But, opening a closet, a cupboard or just walking in our garage has become a hazard. And every passing day, I become grumpier and grumpier about the situation.

And then, the funniest thing happened. I hung up the phone after my "vent session" and paragraph one, above, kept replaying in my mind. Over and over and over. And what I heard was that I am, in fact, the "Super Duper Pooper Scooper." So let's get going. Less talking...more walking. Just like the dishes....can't think about it. Just do it. And so, right at that very moment, I grabbed my labeler, wrote garbage on one bag and donate on another and ran up the stairs. I hauled everything out of my medicine cabinet and my toiletries drawer and dumped it on the floor. I wiped down the shelves. Dug out from another closet the organizing bin I'd purchased years ago for my drawer. Fired up the labeler. Categorized. Organized. Pitched. Purged. And not but an hour or two later, I stood back and admired my new sparkly clean and organized bathroom. I felt refreshed. I could breathe.

Right then and there, in that moment of blissful deep breathing, I decided that this had to continue. I had to make this a goal for 2011 - Clean out all closets, and dare I say it, the garage!! Lighten the load. And so, my dear friends, I have blocked out a regular time each week that I will be purging based on my prioritized list. Whatever gets done during that time is what gets done. I have been trying to talk my dear friend and neighbor into doing this with me. It could be like a race. As soon as the last ones are on the bus, we announce what we are organizing that day and then,...."On your mark get set go." We would meet back up at lunch time to discuss our progress. A little competition is always good for getting things done.

Want to join me...us? Choose your day, afternoon, evening. Perhaps tell me what is first on your list to organize. A little accountability is always good. I will be posting at the bottom of my weekly posts, what I will be organizing that week and whether or not I finished the project from the week before. That's my way of being accountable. Once winter is over....the spring cleaning may already be done.

In the meantime, as a way to lessen what actually comes into our home, I will continue to preach my time-honored mantras to my tribe:

Less is more.
Use up what you already have. 
Don't just buy to buy.
Take a moment to actually consider your purchases. 
Purge what is no longer needed. (This does not mean throw it in the garage or an already full closet.)
Time is a gift.

Hopefully one day, on the way from one ear to another, what I'm staying will get stuck there in the middle.



And speaking of gifts, here is one for one of you.....

Seattle's Best Coffee Curiosity Pack

The kind people at Seattle's Best Coffee have sent me a Curiosity Pack - 5 blends, 1 box - to give to one of you. I think the idea is quite ingenious. It's a way to try out a variety of blends, without having to purchase large quantities, in order to determine which type of coffee you like best. Mild, light, crisp...to bold, dark, intense. Should you be interested in receiving this little gift, leave me your name and email address in a comment below by the end of the day Friday, January 14th. I will draw a name from a hat and email the lucky person.

And while you're leaving comments....does anyone have any tips for organizing my nemesis....LEGOS!!



White Bean and Kale Soup Peppered with Pancetta

Since I was so busy with my organizing frenzy, no plans were made for dinner that evening. No inspiration was to be found. However, preaching my own mantras to myself, especially, "Use up what you already have.", I went to the cupboard and discovered I still had the ingredients for a soup I had planned to make the week before but never did. My family loves this soup and it incorporates one of those nutrient filled winter greens...kale. I'm sure if you wanted a vegetarian version, you could omit the pancetta and substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock. Wouldn't be quite as richly flavored but would still be good, I'm sure. If you don't have cannellini beans, you could substitute any other white bean that you like. Make sure you read through the recipe below before starting. Dried beans are added at a different time than canned beans.

Ingredients:

1 lb dried cannellini beans OR 3 15-oz cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp olive oil
4 oz pancetta, diced
1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced
4 large carrots, peeled and diced
4 large celery sticks, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried oregano
pinch of red pepper flakes
freshly ground black pepper
10 cups chicken stock
6 c loosely packed kale, chopped (I prefer lacinato kale.)
grated, parmesan cheese

Directions:
If using dried beans, rinse and pick over the dried beans, removing any possible pebbles. Put them in a heat-proof bowl. Cover beans with 8 cups of boiling water and let them soak for 1 hour. When they are finished, drain them in a colander. Meanwhile, start the rest of your soup.


In a large soup pot, heat your olive oil. Add pancetta and brown, about 5 minutes. Add onions, carrots and celery. Saute until soft about 8 minutes. Add garlic and saute 1 minute more. At this point you can remove from heat until your beans are ready.

Once dried beans have finished soaking, add them to the pot with your vegetables. Stir in the oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, a few cracks of black pepper and your chicken broth.

Bring the soup to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes. (30 minutes if you're using canned beans.)  Test for seasoning. Adding a bit more salt and pepper or red pepper flakes if needed.

Add your kale to the pot and if using canned beans, add them at this point as well. Simmer another 30 minutes until beans are soft.

Ladle into soup bowls. Top with grated parmesan cheese and enjoy.

Yield: One big pot full.


Super Duper Pooper Scooper Goal:
Jan 3-9 - medicine cabinet/toiletries drawer - done.
Jan 10-16 - dreaded shelves in game/toy closet


All original text and photographs copyright: Carrie Minns 2009-2010

Oregano Chicken - A Simple Dish with a Regal Air

Maybe it's that we're finally getting into a rhythm two months into the school year. (Has it only been 2 months?) A "Limp-a-long Cassidy" kind of rhythm but a rhythm nonetheless. Maybe it's that the days are shorter. The kids are in bed earlier. The house is quieter. The rainy season has begun. I don't know. But on the sporadic occasion that the afternoon sun bursts through our windows and lays down a warm path of light across our floor, I look for him.

A month into our marriage, we were still in the stage where we were more than happy to appease each other's little obsessions. Such as me pretending to be a runner and him pretending to love furry little animals. So, somehow knowing that this stage wouldn't last forever, I dragged my new beau across town and pulled down off the curtains a little bundle of fur which we would bring home and have with us for the next 18 years. (As for the running, I dropped it shortly after and that was that.) Wanting to encourage any possible bonding between man and beast, I encouraged my sweetie to name our bundle of joy. He pronounced him, "Bruce." And Bruce, it was. Others came after him. Another cat. An 80-pound dog. But at the 18-year mark, Bruce was the only one still around.

He had this way of silently being everywhere. As if he could materialize out of thin air. One would sit down and out of nowhere he was curled up on your lap or trying his darndest to curl up on your chest and snuggle his head in the crook of your neck which could sometimes be a little awkward for guests. You wouldn't see him for hours and then, "boom" there he was waiting to curl up under the covers for a good night's sleep. Or eerily you would notice that one minute no one's there and the next minute there he was sitting ramrod tall right next to your keyboard as you typed away. Every now and then, stepping on the keyboard just to make sure you noticed him. And the lawn....oh, the lawn. It had never looked better since he moonlighted as a mole catcher. And catch moles he did. Always leaving his handiwork for us to admire on the front porch.

I tend to put out of my mind the fact that he could actually "fling poo." That he found it necessary to cough up a hairball, "Puss N' Boots" style wherever we might least suspect it but were sure to step in it. That he was known to howl like a coyote, over and over, for hours, especially middle of the night hours, when he didn't get his way. (Although, that howl saved his life when, in his old age, he lost his way home.) That he would run from one end of the house to the other like a cat gone mad during a full moon. And that he had a peculiar tick of sucking his paw that could be thought of as tender and sweet or as just plain weird depending on one's mood.

A couple of nights ago, as I prepared our family dinner of herbed chicken simmered in wine and served along roasted potatoes, I looked for him. I expected him to be silently standing nearby, regally sniffing the air around him like some upper crust feline and secretly hoping that one little morsel of that chicken might fall to the floor. And it's true, he may have silently left his spot by my side and gone directly to the front door where he purposely coughed up a hairball "just because" but that doesn't matter. I miss that furry feline. His presence.

And don't you think it's true that whether it's a person or a hairball coughing cat, when they are gone, we don't think of the good or the bad but simply their presence? And I definitely miss the presence of that howling, paw sucking, poo flinging, furry feline.


Bruce went to the Happy Hunting Grounds in April where I'm sure he is happily keeping the lush grounds mole free. It's strange though how I miss him most now. Now that the house is quieter.


A Quick Question for You Before the Recipe:

My kind and generous mother has been tirelessly preparing our Thanksgiving turkey, gravy and stuffing  almost every year since, well, since I was born which is to say....a long, long time. Whether the crowd was 5 of us or 20 of us, she would selflessly prepare the dinner's main attraction and for that, I and many others are so grateful. Well, now that she has two daughters of "a certain age" (little brother gets a free pass this year since he has a newborn on his hands), the time for the passing of the torch has come. And the torch has landed squarely in my lap. (Funny how the eldest child has to do everything!) (Ahh....just kiddin' sister.) So, I have been researching turkey preparations and I'm intrigued by the brining method. What do you think? Do you brine? What do you like in your brine? Or is it a lot of extra mess? If you don't brine, do you have a special rub you like? If you don't mind sharing your thoughts with me, I would be grateful. Trying to follow in the footsteps of my grandmother and mother....well, let's just say..."Pressure's on!"

Oregano Chicken Simmered in White Wine
Inspired by Rosemary Chicken, Saveur 

Now, that the holidays are looking us square in the face, I'm assuming most of us have thought of the main meal....the Grandaddy meal....but what about the other nights? Are your guests only there for the Thanksgiving extravaganza or will they need to be fed other evenings as well? Well, this is a dish I love to serve to guests. (Although, be forewarned, if you drink the wine that you'll be cooking with while cooking, it can lead to lots of animated chatting and loud laughing which will ensure that the dinner won't actually hit the table until 8pm or later.) This isn't a dish you prepare in advance or leave in a crock pot all day, but it is one that has only a few ingredients, minimal prep and sits in the oven for 45 minutes while you drink wine and chat clean up the kitchen and prepare the side dishes. I use a variety of chicken pieces...always with the bone-in and skin-on. This makes for a much moister meat and it's easier on the pocket-book. You can always take off the skin once it's done cooking if you'd prefer not to eat it. If you don't have fresh oregano handy, you could always use rosemary or thyme. And as a testimonial to this dish, the last time I made it my 5-year old said to me, "Mawm, you prob'ly won't be too surprised when I say this to you, but that dinner was so delicious."


Ingredients:

A medley of skin-on, bone-in chicken pieces - ex: 2 drumsticks, 3 whole legs and 1 breast
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup flour
3 tbsp olive oil
1 c dry white wine (I usually use King Estate Pinot Gris or Erath Pinot Gris)
4 sprigs fresh oregano, leaves removed from stem, stem discarded (I haven't tried it but you could probably substitute 1 tsp or so of dried oregano)
3 bay leaves
juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Generously sprinkle your chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Put your flour on a plate and then, dredge your chicken pieces through it, coating them evenly and completely with the flour and then, shaking off the excess.

Heat a heavy-bottomed pot, one that can move from stove to oven, on your stove over medium heat. Pour in your olive oil to heat. Then, add your chicken pieces, skin side down. Cook for 5 minutes then, carefully flip your pieces over and cook for another 5 minutes.

Slowly and carefully pour in your white wine. Add your oregano and bay leaves. Allow wine to reduce for about 2 minutes. Then, pour in 1 1/2 c of water, put the lid on your pot and put the whole concoction in the oven for 45 minutes.

At this point, I usually cut up some potatoes - fingerling, red potatoes, etc. - toss them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and sometimes some rosemary, and put them in the oven along with the chicken when there is about 25-30 minutes left of cooking time. Then, all I have to do is cut open some bagged lettuce whip together a little green salad or steam some broccoli and we have a meal.

When the timer goes off, take the lid off your pot and allow the skin to crisp for another 5 minutes. Then, carefully take your chicken out of the pot, put on a platter, tent with foil and set aside. To the juices left in the pan, squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lemon (more if you like things really "lemony") and stir it up a bit. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Add a ladle and have people spoon this heavenly "au jus" over their chicken and potatoes. If you didn't want to monkey around with preparing the potatoes, you could also serve this with rice which would also soak up all of the delicious "au jus" beautifully. However you decide to go....enjoy.

Yield: 5 or so chicken pieces - This recipe can easily be doubled to serve more people.



All original text and photographs copyright: Carrie Minns 2009-2010

Slowing It Down with a Simmering Ragù

We laid out the napkins. The cheese sticks. The apple slices. Just he and I. Me and my littlest one. He contentedly set out a cup at each place and while in motion, said to me, "I like setting up snack." And, then turning and looking at me directly, adds, "With you." Later, when it was my turn to go and his to finish out the day, he sent me off with crocodile tears running down his cheeks. It was all I could do not take him with me....but, well...I had a hair appointment. What could I do?

As I locked up the house for the night, I was surprised to find my 10-year old quietly standing behind me. I thought he was sound asleep. I noticed that he had a look of sadness about him and I waited for him to talk...my one that never shares much. "Mom, I just don't want to grow up too fast. It's going too fast." I took him in my arms and hugged him and thought, with that load of parental guilt weighing heavy on me, "Have I made his life too busy? Have I struck the wrong balance?"

I had every intention of taking her to school...a bit late...but then, we found ourselves detouring toward Lovejoy Bakers for a quick breakfast. "She's already late...what does a few more minutes mean?" And, then, somehow, the sun, the fresh air, just being together, me, her, and the littlest one...we found ourselves on the streetcar headed for the aerial sky tram. And, silently, as we rode up and up and up, we took in the beauty of our city...the stark winter beauty. Once home, after our impromtu adventure, she says to me with a sincerity beyond her years, "Thank you, Mom...for today."

And so, after that week, I wanted to take them...my three chickens...load them in the car and take them away...for a weekend, or even a day. Get away from the schedule, the responsibilities, the clock. Just be. And, although that wasn't an option, I did "load them up" into "Mommy and Daddy's" bed and there we sat, curled up under the blankets. Each one with his or her own favorite pillow. We watched movies. We read books. Some would draw. Some would bring in legos. My sweetie came in from time to time reading his iPhone book. We were all together and time seemed to slow down...if only for the afternoon.

When the sun started to sink behind the coastal range, I gathered them around the kitchen table and fed them a ragù sauce over bowtie pasta. A sauce that had been simmering all day, filling our house with the warm, rounded smells of tomatoes and Italian sausage and oregano. We sat around that table and we talked and shared and each of us, in his or her own way, was grateful for our afternoon "time slowed down".

Farfalle al Ragù

(Bowtie Pasta with Meat Bolognese Sauce)

I know that everyone has a pasta sauce that he or she goes back to time and time again. This is one of mine. I like to make it on a day we're all huddled in together. Most of the time I have the ingredients in the pantry and the freezer so there's no special trip to the grocery store. Sometimes if I have mushrooms or a zucchini, I'll slice and dice those up and throw them in at the same time as the carrots. And, while I love the flavor Italian sausage adds to this sauce, sometimes I don't have any on hand so I'll just use the ground beef and decrease the tomatoes to one 28 oz can and one 15 oz can, or thereabouts. And, if you're concerned about ground beef, I recommend searching out a place where you live that gets they're beef from a reputable ranch and grinds it daily on their premises. That's just my two cents...for what it's worth.

2 tbsp olive oil

1 med yellow or white onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 carrots, peeled and diced, about 1 cup

1 lb. ground beef

1/2 lb bulk Italian sausage (mild or spicy, your choice) or 3-4 links of the same

2 28-oz cans diced tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato paste

Fresh herbs: 3 tbsp fresh oregano & 3 tbsp fresh basil

OR

Dried herbs: 2 tbsp worth: 1 tbsp oregano & 1 tbsp basil OR 1/2 tbsp oregano, 1/2 tbsp basil & 1 tbsp Italian seasoning

water

salt & pepper to taste

grated parmesan cheese

Heat your olive oil in a large pot. Add your onions and saute on med/low heat for about 5 minutes, until they begin to soften and become translucent. Add your garlic. Saute another minute. Add your carrots and saute until they begin to soften about 5 minutes.

Once your vegetables are soft, add your ground beef and sausage. Break up your meat with a wooden spoon. Add a pinch of salt and a crack or two of the black pepper mill and cook until the meat is browned. Stirring occasionally.

Add in your tomatoes, tomato paste and herbs. Stir to combine. Then, add enough water so that your veggies and meat are just covered. Bring to a boil and then, turn the heat down to very low and simmer, uncovered, at least 40 minutes and/or up to 3 hours on very, very low heat.

About 15 minutes out from when you're ready to serve your meal, boil up a pot of water, toss in your bowtie pasta and cook according to the directions on the package, usually about 10 minutes.

Spoon your sauce over your bowties, sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top and enjoy. Or, if you can possibly stand it, wait and eat it the next day. Even better by then. (You may have to add a little water to it when reheating.) The flavors will have mellowed and created this smooth, rounded bite full of tomatoes and meat and carrots and herbs. Simply delicious.

Yield: One big pot. Enough for a family of 5 and leftovers the next day.

All original text and photographs, copyright: Carrie Minns 2009-2010

Herbes de Provence Goat Cheese Spread

We are of the opinion, our household that is, that the tooth fairy is an unreliable, flighty little thing. That she is prone to wild mood swings and is picky. Picky, picky, picky. Our dear children, having just survived another round of the molting process, bless their hearts, will wrap their precious little gift, carefully, ever so carefully, in a tissue. I then instruct them to place the tiny object into an envelope, carefully, which they will then seal and place under their pillows to await the arrival of the tooth fairy. More often than not, come morning, their little eyes will be filled with tears instead of joy. The tooth fairy did not come.

Just as disappointed as they are, I shrug and say, “Maybe she doesn’t do envelopes anymore. That’s what I did when I was your age but maybe now, she prefers the box.” “Which box?” “You know. The special little box that holds teeth?” So, into the box the wee bit of ivory goes. And, believe it or not, come morning, there are times when she even snubs the box. To my children’s questioning gaze, I sigh, strike the thinker pose and pause, before exclaiming, “Ah ha! Maybe you just have to leave it out in plain view. Otherwise she can’t…she can’t sniff it out. Her sniffer doesn’t seem to be working.” At which point, they become suspicious.

Say what you will about the tooth fairy, there is; however, one area in which she can be consistently relied on. If her prize is a molar, the payment to the child is always, a Susan B. Anthony dollar. Now, as the child races down the stairs to show me her reward, I brace myself in anxiety-fraught anticipation. You see, to steal a quote from a dear friend, "I should have been born Catholic I have so much guilt." And, as the child opens her sweaty palm to show me the warm coin, I have to force myself not to recoil. Not to recoil away from that face. The face with the look of disappointment on it. The stern, Susan B. Anthony face that seems to say to me, “What are you doing to further my cause? My life’s work? What? What I ask you?!” I quickly fold up the child’s hand, pat her on the head and say, “Good job, now why don’t you go put that somewhere safe.”

I have often pondered what it is I’m doing. What I’m actually doing to further the cause of women put in motion over a hundred years ago. My mood swings between the elation of being alive, at this point in history, where women enjoy freedoms not even conceivable hundreds of years ago and the despondency I feel when I hear the latest report of tragedies incurred by women around the world. And, just when I feel that bit of panic rise up my throat, that feeling of “What can I, one person, possibly do?” I turn on Pink Martini’s Una Notte a Napoli, pour myself a glass of my favorite “cab of the moment,” and start chopping. Something. Anything. Today it’s the herbs gone wild in my garden’s last push of the season that I’m using to liven up an Herbes de Provence goat cheese spread that is irresistible.

My chopping tool of choice today is a beautiful, perfectly sharpened, Wüsthof chef’s knife. The prized possession of my 10-year old son. Perhaps the sole reason, he skipped out the door without a single complaint the entire week of his summer cooking camp. He knew that for a week’s worth of work, he would come home with the King of Cooking Tools. The tool to trump all others. The tool for which, using his Birthday money, he purchased a locking case and into which he carefully and ever so deliberately placed his prize and had to really think about whether it would be okay for me to borrow it from time to time.

On the other hand, another possible explanation for why he didn’t complain is he’s always known that when he turned the correct age, he too would begin to go to cooking camp each summer, just like his sister before him and his baby brother behind him. Because, perhaps, furthering the cause of women is less about how I raise my daughter and more about how I raise my sons. Perhaps. Perhaps, not.

Do you think, dear friend, that if I can teach my sons to nourish themselves, to have an appreciation for the preparation of a meal, to gaze out at their yard and recognize it as the support-system from which they too can harvest herbs, tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, then, maybe, just maybe, they will treat their yard, the earth, the soil a little more tenderly? Maybe they will be a little more deliberate when deciding what to put in their mouths? Maybe, just maybe, they will know the feeling of satisfaction that comes from making and sharing a meal? Of nourishing themselves and their families?

I must admit that not much cooking has gone on since the completion of his camp but occasionally, like today, he will pass through the kitchen when he sees me chopping and say, “Hey, Mom. Do you want me to do that? I really like to chop.” And, once I pass the knife over, he’ll instruct me by saying, “Now, Mom, you’re really supposed to hold the knife like this. See? With this finger like this.” I’ll try not to smile and simply be grateful that a tiny, little seed has been planted. I can’t know if it will grow but I’m just glad it’s there. And, maybe the next time I see Susan B. Anthony’s face, I’ll realize that it’s not a look of disappointment but the very real fact, that nobody but nobody smiled in pictures back then. That’s it. Plain and simple.

Herbes de Provence Goat Cheese Spread

(Adapted from Herbed Goat-Cheese Toasts, Epicurious)

6 oz. mild goat cheese, room temp

¼ c chopped, mixed herbs – oregano, basil, rosemary & thyme – heavier on the first two, lighter on the second two

1 1/2 tbls minced chives OR minced shallot

½ tsp black pepper OR to taste

a pinch of salt

1/3 c well-chilled heavy cream OR for a tangier version, ¼ c plain, yogurt

Stir together first 5 ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat the cream with a whisk until it just holds soft peaks, then fold into cheese mixture. If using yogurt, add it once the first 5 ingredients have been mixed-together. Enjoy immediately or let the flavors mingle for a day. Delicious.

“What do I do with this?” you ask, my friend. I keep mine in a little glass container in the fridge that I can serve it from whenever the moment arises. At times, I’ll set it out with our favorite seeded flatbread crackers and sliced pears as an after-school snack. Or, the other night, I set it out with sliced bread as an accompaniment to pre-made spinach & cheese raviolis topped with Dave’s Gourmet Red Heirloom Pasta Sauce, which is currently at Costco and I can’t say enough good things about it. Or, use it as a spread on my aforementioned, Heirloom Tomato Sandwich.

Whatever you do, though, take it out of the fridge at least, 20-30 minutes before you serve it. The other day I plopped it down for some friends straight from the fridge and then had to painfully watch as they politely tried to stab at it and awkwardly tried to “spread” it on their crackers without breaking them. I heeded Julia Child’s advice and did not apologize for the mistake but I had to avert my eyes from the rather uncomfortable situation.

PS: My favorite “cab” of the moment is a cheapie. Black Mountain Vineyard (Fat Cat) Cabernet Sauvignon which you can find at Trader Joe’s for $6.99 a bottle. Definitely let it breathe before drinking. And, if you happen to stash one in the back of your attic, improperly stored for say, 9 years, can I tell you that upon finding it and drinking it you will be treated to a most exquisite glass of cabernet sauvignon. Try it and let me know if you agree.

All original text and photos copyright: Carrie Minns 2009