Kitchen Herbs

Meryl Streep is my all-time favorite actress. Her class and intelligence can turn a middling film like "The Iron Lady" into compelling drama. Even with her charisma and earthy chemistry with Alec Baldwin, however, I'd have found "It's Complicated" a somewhat forgettable movie, except for one aspect: Garden Porn. Every scene in that kitchen garden sent waves of lust and envy washing over me. I read an article revealing the secrets behind the perfection, and while the produce was real, it was grown in greenhouses and only perfect plants made it into the garden (and even that wasn't enough--those gorgeous tomatoes were wired to the vines). Just like fake breasts don't seem to deter men's fantasies, the artificial perfection of those cabbage rows didn't cool my flames one bit.

I don't even have time for a PG-rated garden of my own right now. Fortunately, I live where it's easy to find lots of fresh produce at farmer's markets and stands. With real estate in a slump, investors are holding on to open land and farming is a good way to catch some extra tax breaks while doing so. I make strawberry jam from berries grown and sold a mile from here on a couple of acres tucked in between housing developments.

The one thing that truly needs to come "fresh off the vine" is fresh herbs. Because they don't keep well they're expensive at the market, so growing your own isn't just a culinary advantage, it makes economic sense as well. Fortunately, this takes no extra time or effort on your part. I've devoted a corner of a planter right next to my front door to rosemary and several varieties of thyme and sage, and oregano grows among the flagstones next to the stoop. These herbs need so little attention--non-culinary versions of them all show up throughout my low-water landscaping (and even those are edible, just a little sturdier). The hose is right next to the kitchen herbs so it's easy to spritz them regularly but if I get busy and miss even a week or two they hang right in there.

Most importantly, when I'm cooking all I have to do is pop out the door with a pair of scissors and snip all the freshness required to make a dish memorable.