Maybe Surrender, But Staying Ahead Is Better!

I have limited photos on my new computer and so many stories to share.  One of my limited photos relates to Sharon Lovejoy who spoke of surrender this morning.  I do have some of the same surrender issues as Sharon.  I don't have photos to prove it, but I do have the same issues.  I think my theme will be staying ahead, herbally speaking.

The Herbal Husband said he was going to fertilize the roses!  It struck terror in my herbal heart.  I have this unknown rose that is supposed to be an Alfred de Dalmas at the back corner of my herb garden  It also has garlic chives tangled at its base!  Yikes, I thought once it is fertilized maybe a new cultivar, GIANT garlic chives!  It is not a good thing as Martha would say!  So here is an empty space, Sharon, but I think it is better than GIANT garlic chives!  I am going to try to stay ahead if possible.   When they start to coming back under this plant, I will try to be there to get them out.  The Herbal Husband is planting them in other parts of the garden!  They will be everywhere whether I want them or not.  I also found a dwarf chive plant.

I want to do a more detailed post on chives.  Here is a dwarf one that would be excellent in a container on a southern facing windowsill for winter consumption.  A little late for this year, but we are still having temperatures in the 30's!  Some are still having snow!  Yikes!  Still trying to get used to my keyboard.  I'm hitting all kinds of keys other than the ones I want.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Pray for me.  I take my car in for service tomorrow!  Talk to you later.

A Little Herbal Rice!

I can't believe in all of the years I have been blogging that I haven't shared this recipe with you!  I have been making this for a long time.  The cookbook is from 1981.  So I have been making it for 30 years!  Wow!  Just last night I had a light bulb moment, herbally speaking.  I used herb butter in this recipe.  Duh!  It was delicious!  Well, what' not to like with butter and herbs make it even better.  It looks like a lot of rice for two people and it is but, the Herbal Husband's middle name besides CoolWhip is rice!  Usually The Herbal Husband is the rice cooker of this household, but I'm the only one who makes this particular rice recipe.

Risotto Alla Zanetti
"Light and fluffy rice"

1 med. onion, minced
1/2 stick butter (herb butter recipe here)
1 4-oz. can mushrooms, drained (I use fresh)
1 cup long grain rice
2 cups liquid, 1 2/3 cups water or stock (I always use stock) and 1/3 cup white wine
salt, to taste (I never use salt.)
2 tsp. Spice Islands chicken stock, optional (I never use this.)

Saute the onion in butter.  When lightly browned, add the mushrooms and saute a few minutes longer.  Add rice, liquid, salt and chicken stock.  Put mixture in a casserole, cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.

Preparation:  15 min.               Easy             Serves:  4
Cooking:       45 to 50 min.     Can do ahead
Recipe of Mrs. Donald Brewster

I double this recipe because one recipe goes in one sitting for The Herbal Husband!  So everything doubles, including the butter!  Delicious!  Hope you enjoy it.  It is good even if you don't use herb butter.  It always turns out beautifully!  This recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Three Rivers Cookbook II  from 1981 which benefited child-oriented agencies through the Child Health Association of Sewickley, Inc.  It's movie day once again.  We are seeing Of Gods and Men.  A French film.  I'll be reading furiously!  Windy and raw day here.  Hope your day is going well.  Talk to you later.

From One Grimy Girl to Another, Thanks Sharon!

I'm a glove wearing member of Sharon Lovejoy's Grimy Girls Hands Club.  Look what I got in the morning mail.  Seeds for Italian Pesto Basil from Renee's Garden and beautiful postcards that Sharon drew herself.  Her business card is even a small book.  Very nice surprises, Sharon.  Hopefully we will get the seeds in later.  We don't have a lot of room in our house to grow seeds indoors and the weather is much too volatile and too early for basil to grow.  Here is a link to my post on basil I just recently did.

Got some surprises to share and my award with master gardening.  Hopefully, I will be linked up with my old computer later today and will be able to download some photos I took recently.  Going to start raining again shortly.  I wish I could send some rain to Texas.  We have a 5 and 1/2 inch surplus and going to get an inch and more today!

BTW, in the movies we have seen in recent days, Win, Win which you should see, see and Jane Eyre which was very good as well.   Don't bother seeing Certified Copy.  It was a snoozer even with Juliette Binoche.  Well, I hear the rain on the kitchen vent.  Going to get on to inside work.  Talk to you later.

Now Is The Time to Clean Up The Herb Garden!

I think this is a photo of feverfew that have invaded the herb garden.  Oh, I planted it first and now they are silently taking over.  It is a double blooming form and I actually like the single flower much better.  This one is coming up through a lavender.  So out it will come and be transplanted to a more spacious location.  No., not the compost pile.  I promise. 

This rosemary santolina needed to be trimmed a little.  Can't believe this is a four year old plant!  I usually work just after it is through blooming to cut it back so it is ready for winter.  It has always worked very well.  It has yellow button type flowers that if you cut them early dry very well for arrangements.

It is ready for its closeup!  Well, it is a beautiful day out there and The Herbal Husband is upstairs taking a break.  So I think I will work on getting some more garlic chives out of my her garden.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Talk to you later.

Herbal Tuna Salad with Avocado!

We just had lunch at Panera our favorite place.  So I feel like I won't get hungry again if I talk about this lunch that was a joint effort the other day.  We split a can of tunafish between us and add light mayo (my add), a hard boiled egg (our add), peas and carrots (his add) and then herbs (my adds), one tablespoon of chives and parsley and 1/2 tablespoon of salad burnet and oregano.  Quarter an avocado and give part to each person.  I get the lesser of that split.  A few olives of your choice.  Some lettuce and tomato.  It was very delish.  Off to see Jane Eyre at the movies.  Just the Herbal Husband was sorta bored! His words!  I loved it!  Beautiful day in the 'Burgh! Talk to you later.

A Yippee Kind of Day! An Update to the Kitty and Squirrel Game!

Up and running again with the new computer!  It is going to be trial and a lot of errors until I get familiar with it!  No fighting any more to get time on the computer!  Yippee!  Really Kitty has grown on me even though I'm allergic to it.  It was playing with a squirrel the other day in the front garden.

Here a dog entered the picture and squirrel ducked under the fence line!  You had to be there!  I can't make this stuff up.  They did get bored in the end and no wildlife was hurt in the process.

Then the next day I was going out to the mailbox to get the mail and discovered this.  See these bushes on the left side of the photo.  They had a new edition.

It was like the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland.  There Kitty was sitting up in this bush!!!  I just can't make this up!  Missed blogging.  Now I have to catch you up on other items, but I have to figure out how to get photos from the computer upstairs to my laptop.  The nephew in Canada said he would help, but we are going out to dinner to celebrate our new Fios!  My computer is so much faster!  Yippee!  It has been raining a lot, almost an inch!  Hope you have had a great day wherever you may be.  Talk to you later.

The Adventures of Kitty and. . .

Again you will just have to take my word for it, (archived photo of Kitty a/k/a Ginger Snap (I think))(Please correct me if I'm wrong.) GS was in the front garden yesterday taking a sunbath.  It spotted a young squirrel on the fence.  The squirrel didn't seem to be aware of GS.  GS had its eyes on the squirrel.  At times it was a game of GS, squirrel and dog in the street being walked.  Squirrel ducking down under the fence line.  We captured it in photos and I will share them later.  Somehow though GS and the squirrel lost interest in the game.  I'm happy to report both survived.  Rainy day here.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Talk to you later.

Can I Blog Without Photos?

I guess there are lots of blogs that blog without photos.  I may have to be one of those until I get my new computer online!  I do have it out of the box and started to read the instructions.  I think I will have The Herbal Husband's nephew coach me from Vancouver.  He repairs computers and knows all the latest so I'm sure I will be up and running soon.  We get Fios next week.  'Til then I'll just type and will add photos later.

We were out today working in the herb garden.  I had some herbal casualties this year.  I think age and the intense cold weather and the length of our winter this year may be the culprits.  We started pruning out dead wood and it's looking good already.  You will just have to take my word for it at the moment.  Hope you had a great day wherever you may be.

Two Hours and Fifteen Minutes Later!

Our computer monitor is slowly failing and it's torture to see and pick photos on it!  Yikes, when it rains it pours.  I have a new laptop making its way from California!  Hurry, hurry!  Here are the first large daffodils before we had snow one night.  My talk went very well yesterday, but I talked for the whole two hours and fifteen minutes!  The poor audience didn't get a break.  I had too much to say about Herb Gardening 101!  Sometimes when I practice my talk too much then I speed through it!  Yesterday I had to speed through it to get done!  I think most people were pleased!  So I wanted to let you see my award from master gardening.  The photos are so dark I can't pick the best one at the moment.  You'll just have to wait a little longer.  Happy to be back blogging!  Talk to you later.