Hey, Just Waiting for the Snow!

This was the other day and my buddy the squirrel was hanging out on the windowsill grooming!  It is raining out today and more snow is headed this way for tomorrow!  Still March in the 'Burgh and just in time for the St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday!  Hopefully you are having a great day wherever you may be!  Working on my Power Point presentation for my April talk!  Yesterday I thought I had to start over, but fortunately I didn't!  Talk to you later!

Joining the Red & White Quilt Exhibit!

I'm joining in the Red & White Quilt exhibit hosted by Taryn at Repro Quilt Lover.  It is conjunction with a major exhibit of red and white quilts sponsored by the American Folk Art Museum in New York from March 25 to 30 at the Park Avenue Armory.  Admission is FREE!  Nothing is free any more especially in New York.  650 red and white quilts in one location!  Hope some of you get to see them!

My quilts from top to bottom are the Double Irish Chain in time of St. Patrick's Day, a Basket quilt and a Feathered Star quilt.  They were all purchased at antique shops or shows.  Hope you allow me this small diversion from herbs!  Just do a post about your red and white quilts and you may win some great red and white quilt magnets!  Go on over to Repro Quilt Lover at the link above.  I'm going right now!

A Big Shoutout for the Ladies of Guyasuta Garden Club!

This is my new and improved storyboard for my Flavor Infusions presentation.  I had a great time with the Guyasuta Garden Club.  Great questions and a wonderful, delicious lunch.  Thanks for coming and participating and allowing me to inspire you all, ladies!  It was a fun day!  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be!  A mild day finally!  More rain to come!  Talk to you later!

OK, Couldn't Stay Away! Making Herbal Butter!

Hi, just wanted to come by and show you that the chives are up and growing in the herb garden.  I needed some this morning when I made the herbal butters for tomorrow's class.  They are going to try a butter with my favorite butter dried mix (second and third photos) from The Village Herb Shop.  I truly sprinkle it on mayo in a sandwich to give it an herbal boost.  It is a very delicious mix.  I think dill based.  Then they will try a fresh herb butter (the bottom photo) and here is the recipe:

Herbal Butter
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons fresh herbs, chopped (your choice)
• 1 clove of garlic, pressed
1. Finely chop herbs and mix into softened butter, add other ingredients.  Put in a covered container.  Refrigerate for 24 hours before using.
2. Herb butter may be kept refrigerated for two weeks or frozen for up to six months.  Put butter on vegetables, pasta, fish, meat, poultry, bread, etc.
Courtesy of  Pete Louquet, Tom Hamlin and Don Haynie, Spring and Summer Herbal Sampler, Raphine, VA:  Mid Valley Press, 1993, page 10.

The nice thing is that you can make it with or without the garlic.  I'm making it for tomorrow's class without the garlic.  I think they will enjoy and you will as well.  Got to run.  Hope you are having a great day!  I'll talk to you tomorrow after my talk!

March in the 'Burgh!

I was going to name this post "Now This is Just Getting Silly".  But it is March in the 'Burgh!  A few years ago (17 or so years ago) we had a two foot snow storm for the St. Patrick's Day parade!  This is nothing compared to that!  Getting ready for a presentation on Tuesday.  So I may take a short timeout to get my herbal ducks in a row.  Got to run!  The Herbal Husband with all of his calculations is helping with my presentation board! Talk to you later!  Maybe tomorrow!  Can't stay away too long!

Check out the parsley recipes post a few days ago.  I have added additional information.  Barbara Swain the original author of the parsley salad recipe stopped by.  I added her comments to the post!  Very cool to "meet" the actual authors of my favorite recipes!

Here's My Dinner from The Herbal Husband's Birthday!

I wanted to share my dinner from The Pines Tavern the other night.  Here's my salad baby field greens, pine nuts, prosciutto, balsamic vinaigrette, Gorgonzola cheese, some apples and those big juicy raspberries!  They were pretty good even if they weren't ours!  The Pines Tavern has a big garden every spring and summer and I always enjoy the salads there.  Here is my entree:  sea scallops,  lobster risotto and asparagus with a dusting of herbs.  It was delish!  Hopefully, you had a good day wherever you may be.  Talk to you later.

Another Yippee Kind of Day!

Here are four yippee kind of moments!  I thought there were only a couple and then I found a couple more!  Yippee!  Spring is just around the corner.  Off to see The Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt and to Red Robin for hopefully, a free burger for his birthday.  Don't have that darn Rewards Card so I think we will have to beg!  Have sort of dropped the quotes.  I'll get back to it soon!  Talk to you later.

Guest Blogging for The Herb Companion Magazine-A Journey to Fenton House!

Here are the additional photos of Fenton House in Hampstead, England.  The first three were during the walk to the house from the Tube Station.  The next ones around the house and inside.  The last photos are of the three distinct gardens, the formal, the perennial borders and the kitchen garden.  It is really a lovely house and gardens and one if you are in the London area, you should not miss.  My English Herbal Companion and I had a great time. This is my last post on my England trip from last September.  Here is the link to the guest post called Herbal Travels:  The Fenton House Garden in England.  Hope you have a great day.  Talk to you later.

Found my Favorite, Lemon Verbena on the Way to Fenton House

The English Make Good Use of the Window Box for an Herb Garden!

What Not to Do With Trees in Containers!  Not Part of Fenton House!

The Front Gate of Fenton House

Big Bowl of Lavender as a Room Freshener

A View of the North Garden from the House

A Yew Hedge Forms the Entrance to the Gardens

Quite a Lavender Hedge!

A View of the Cross Borders.  I Spy Some Purple Sage!

Staircase to the Rose Garden with a Thyme Surprise!

The Rose Garden

 A Glasshouse

 A Flower Border in the Kitchen Garden!

The Orchard Waiting for the Apple Festival

 One of My Favorite Edible Flowers, Sunflowers!

 Nice Looking Lettuces for September!

My Favorite, Lemon Verbena

Part of the Herb Garden

 A Peek Over the Wall into the Kitchen Garden

Wishing him a Very Happy Birthday!

Please wish The Herbal Husband a Happy Birthday.  It is a beautiful sunny day here.  I made him coconut cupcakes and we are going out to dinner at The Pines Tavern where we had our wedding reception almost 24 years ago!

The day started with coconut cupcakes and ended with tropical carrot cake!  It was quite the day.

The Herbal Husband enjoyed the cupcakes at lunch and the tropical carrot cake at dinner and in between he had an iceberg wedge and veal schnitzel.  It's all about The Herbal Husband today.  I'll share my dinner in another post.  If you are looking for Fenton House garden photos, I promise I will post them at Midnight.  It is a very long post with lots of photos.  Please come back later or tomorrow.  It will be tomorrow's post.  We had a great day.  Hope you did as well.  Happy, happy Birthday, Herbal Husband!