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Yesterday, I picked up some fresh basil with aspirations of making a delightful noodle dish (fresh vine tomatoes, spaghetti noodles and some leftover Italian spices from our last trip…yummy!). The noodles weren’t made in the end because SOMEONE (Fialonia) managed to convince me (ok, it wasn’t exactly difficult) to get a veggie wrap from Quinn’s instead (before you judge me, it was the first good day of patio season and I was really missing A.. And I didn’t drink too much. Which is a big deal in and of itself. So there). Anyway, I brought the basil home and realized that part of the bunch is all soggy gross ick. Boo. I’ll still have enough to make tonight’s pasta awesomeness but that’s not the point. The point is I’m tired of paying for things that are sub par and I’m really tired of buying overpriced fresh herbs.

Blog Reader: “So why don’t you grow your own, Ezmy?”

Because I suck with plants. I’m really, really quite bad at growing things. Every plant that has ever set foot in my home has promptly committed suicide. Sometimes it takes a day, sometimes a week but it always happens. The only survivor is a vine that resides on top of my bookshelf and I think it might actually be a mutant weed. I have killed FIVE basil plants. Last year, my landlords,who have an amazing garden and who could grow corn in a cement block, gave me a rosemary plant that they had had for years. I took care of it just the way they said and it died three days later. I kid you not. Worse, every year I go through what I’m going through right now – I get frustrated at the cost of fresh herbs (which I love) and I go to Byward Market where I pick up a few unsuspecting plants. I take them home, I make maybe one pasta dish and smile to myself as I pick fresh herbs from my ‘herb garden’ and the next hour/day/week, they die. It’s tragic.

So over-priced herbs it is. But I need to find a good source. That’s the project for this weekend. That, and taking lovely pictures of tulips. Tulip Festival has arrived!