Julia wasn't a gardener.

In her book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," Julia often calls for using fresh herbs. So far, I've had several recipes which have called for fresh basil and fresh parsley. The first time I needed fresh basil, my lovely sous chef (Elizabeth), was kind enough to purchase some fresh basil at the store for me. It came at a price, however, since I was reminded that fresh basil was costlier than the dried stuff in a spice jar. I, of course, explained that in order to become an accomplished master chef I must use only the freshest ingredients. My logic, and the results of my cooking project (?), must have prevailed because Elizabeth surprised me with my own basil plant!

Yes, that's right, a whole plant with wonderful fresh leaves that could be trimmed off when needed. Quickly consulting YouTube, I learned how to trim the leaves off so that the plant would remain healthy and continue growing. My next couple of recipes had wonderful minced basil leave that were as fresh as could be -- trimmed off the plant, minced on the cutting board, and plopped right into the concoction on the stove. You can't get any fresher than that!

Next was parsley. Julia loves having fresh parsley added as a bit of garnish or minced and added into whatever is being cooked. The problem with parsley wasn't the cost - a huge bundle only cost about $1. The real problem for me is that you can't buy just a couple sprigs of parsley, it comes in bundles that seem to be the equivalent of a hay bale. I'd promptly chop up a couple sprigs of parsley for the recipe and put the remaining parsley in the refrigerator to use later. Elizabeth would notice my wilting parsley bundle and point out that my "fresh" parsley wasn't looking so fresh anymore.

Then, much to my surprise, guess what my sweetie Elizabeth did? She brought me a potted parsley plant so that I could grow it and trim when needed. Parsley and basil, as fresh as can be, right at my fingertips! This little forest of herbs was working out wonderfully until I noticed a couple of days ago that some of the leaves were losing some of their dark green color and seemed to be wilting a bit.

They're plants, right? What do plants need? Water and sunshine, what else could it be? On a nice sunny and warm day last week, I took the plants outside and introduced them to fresh air. Figuring they'd be having a lovely day sitting out there doing that photosynthesis thing, I left them alone all day and was expecting to find some nice and dark green plants happy to see me when I check on them.

Hmmmmmmm, apparently these two plants hadn't read the instructions in Julia's book. Wait a minute!!! Julia didn't write any instructions in her book. She tells me of about 100 different ways to prepare these lovely plants by chopping, mincing, boiling, roasting, etc. but do you think she told me how to grow healthy fresh herbs and spices? I came home from work and wandered outside to see how my little friends were doing. I'd done a reverse miracle -- I seemed to have killed everything in just one day!! Parsley and Basil were both dead. As you can see from the photos, they didn't exactly perk up and respond to the sunshine.

It didn't seem like it could be that hard to grow these little weeds (errrr, spice and herbs) but it is. If any of you are skilled herb gardners, let me know the trick. There's are still a few green leaves, perhaps my plants are just trying to trick me? Seems like I need to spend some time watching HGTV instead of the Food Network...

That's it for today! More cooking to come, it'll be a busy week!

Bon Appetit!