Basil seedlings sown in soil

Ocimum basilicum –botanical name

Alphabetically in English, it’s the first of my twelve must haves.

Basileus means “kingly” in Greek.  In France it is named the herbe royale.

It is believed basil came from India and then spread through the world.  In India and Thailand, where Hindu and Buddhist religions prevail, basil is considered “the king of herbs”.

It is a sacred herb, dedicated to Krishna in Hindu.  In fact, my first mala beads were threaded through Holy Basil seeds.  The leaves are scattered around temples in India and Thailand.  They are laid on the chest of the dead in Hindu tradition, believed to be powerful protection for the spirit on its journey into re-incarnation.

The scent of basil is reminiscent of mint, cloves and thyme, according to some herbalists.  It’s taste is spirited, pungent and keenly appetizing.  It has a peppery, sweet and refreshing flavor all at the same time.

It marries well with tomatoes and garlic.  But don’t be afraid of trying it in different dishes, just make sure to add it towards the end if you are cooking, otherwise it’s a delight raw in any salad.

There are many different cultivars to try; Thai or Licorice basil, Lemon basil, Cinnamon basil and Purple Leaf to name a few.  Each has it’s own nuance and uses.

Basil seedlings started hydroponically in water

Wherever you live, when you can plant your tomatoes in the ground safely, without danger of frost, that’s when it is safe to plant your basil.  Basil loves water, it is a thirsty plant, but don’t overdo it.  They hate to be transplanted so do it only once and immediately water with a cup of cooled chamomile tea so the roots don’t go into shock – just a gardener’s tip.  Plant them in sunshine or even in part sun.  The leaves are delicate and tend to scorch.  Watch for green slugs on the underside of mature leaves and just pick them off or if you are squeamish, like me, just cut the whole leaf off with scissors and place the slug in your garbage.

My friend JC (yup, that’s her initials), vouched for reading Drop Dead Healthy – One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection by A.J. Jacobs.  She said it was witty, hilarious and informative.  I agree.  It’s also an easy read, not one of those heavy-duty health diatribes.  Jacobs is self-effacing, accurate and adventuresome.  His journey is memoir at its funniest.  I actually snickered out loud today in my chiropractor’s office.  He also includes humorous pictures of himself in comical predicaments as he experiments on himself.  A clever and lighthearted view on what is sometimes an obsession with our health.

Canyon in Anaheim Hills –A restaurant my husband and I enjoy sans the kids, mostly. Both our daughters are home and we celebrated my mom’s birthday today there.  It’s also a bon voyage as she flies out to Argentina in four days.  All of Chef Mead’s menus are planned around locally sourced produce and is distinctly fresh, many times organic and always interesting.  Last time, I had the special – ostrich.  They have an open kitchen and their own organic garden.  Their ahi tuna, tempura battered green beans and blue crab cakes are delectable for starters.  You can order a personal pizza any way you want. The veteran wait staff is knowledgeable.  Desserts are insane!  In November we had their seasonal pumpkin mousse parfait layered with ginger cookies and cinnamon cream.  Chocolate always appears in some decadent form.

Barimundi Catch of the Day with Risotto – What the Birthday Lady had!

Dessert trio – Warm Chocolate Cake with Merlot Sauce, Bread Pudding with Ice Cream and Carrot Cake with Walnuts swirled with Caramel Sauce

Indian Corn Cactus as taken in Botanical Succulent Garden at Wild Animal Park

Euphorbia mamillaris ‘Variegata’ euphorbiaceae

Isn’t nature extraordinary?

 In all its grandeur – The Pacific Ocean at Laguna Beach at sunset.

And hauntingly beautiful?

Happy harvest

What a wonderful winter baby greens and herb salad I will be enjoying today. I harvested nasturtiums, cilantro, spinach, swiss chard, arugula and kale.  Harvesting at least twice a week keeps the crop delivering.  It stimulates plant growth.

Kale from my garden this morning before snipping.

I will use the Kale separately, sautéed with organic mushrooms and green onions I purchased.  It has a slightly bitter, hazelnut edge to it and the leaves are considered more a cooking green.  Whenever I do have baby kale raw, I like to let it marinate in a lemon, oil and salt simple dressing for at least an hour to allow the leaves to soften a bit.  You can even cover it and keep it overnight in the fridge and then let it come to room temperature for at least half hour.

Here is a tried and true healthy recipe for raw kale:

Kale Salad

1/4 cup or 1 ounce  dried organic Goji Berries or dried cranberries , softened in a bowl with 1/2 cup of warm water for @ 2-3 minutes and drained.

7 cups of organic Kale, stems removed, finely shredded strips or cut into bite sized pieces

3/4 cup chopped organic red pepper

1/4 cup chopped and pitted Kalamata or green olives

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

3/4 cup Thai Basil (or any basil – I just like the contrast in color and the mild flavor),  finely shredded

1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. Olive juice from Olive Jar

3/4 cup Feta, cubed or crumbled

Dressing

2 Tbs. fresh organic lemon juice

2 tsp. organic first and cold-pressed olive

1 Tsp. agave nectar

Combine and toss all salad ingredients.  Whisk the Dressing and distribute over the salad.  Mix well and let the flavors meld at least for 1/2 hour at room temperature and up to 1 day refrigerated.

Voila!

My friend sent me an email explaining the origin of Valentine’s Day.  The Romantic in me just has to share this with you:

According to legend during the reign of Emperor Claudius II, the Romans saw many unpopular military campaigns.  In an effort to strengthen his military, Claudius outlawed marriage for young men, believing that men with wives made poor soldiers.

Saint Valentine, a Roman priest under the rule of Claudius II, defied the emperor’s decree and continued to secretly perform marriages for young lovers. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, he was imprisoned, condemned to death and beheaded on February 14, 270 AD.

During his confinement, Valentine fell in love with the daughter of a jailer, who showed him great kindness.  Before he was taken away he slipped her a note and signed it, “From your Valentine”, unknowingly establishing a tradition that would become a gold mine for greeting card companies many centuries later.

So then I got to researching it further.  It seems there were two beheadings that day.  One a priest and doctor from Rome, the other, the bishop of Terni.  The year was @ 270 AD.  Valentine was the name of the priest and they were both denounced, beaten with clubs and killed for assisting the martyrs during the persecution under emperor Claudius the Goth’s reign.  Both refused to renounce their faith under torture.

February 14th had coincidentally been an ancient day associated with the mating of birds. The next year, people drew lots for valentines (sweethearts).  And so it continued, and by the end of the 18th century, the exchange of gifts accompanied the drawing of lots.  Later it became customary to exchange letters, which sometimes were secret and/or humorous. This evolved into the affectionate sending of roses, candies and cards today.

In reviewing the history, I dare to opine:  we owe it all to sainthood and sacrifice –  the practice of doing what is right or authentic even faced with the sure terror of pain and ultimately, death. The red rose proudly exhibits this badge of courage.

BTW – every rose bush I have in my garden has been a gift from my beloved.

Thank you, M

Some people love it. Others say it tastes like soap.  Cilantro, Culantro or Chinese Coriander or just plain Coriander Leaf is an herb I love to have in our winter garden.  It resembles parsley and many cuisines use it to balance the flavor of hot, spicy and acid.  It has flavors of lemon, pine and sage in its leaves and stems.  It is used medicinally as well as in the culinary world.

Dried Coriander seeds have a milder taste and are lemonier than its leaves.  Cilantro bolts or goes to seed quickly if the weather warms so you can harvest the greens and then allow the plant to flower and gift you with seed.

Fresh coriander root tastes nuttier than the seed and can also be harvested and added to spicy protein dishes such as gumbos, jambalayas and stews.

Therefore, all parts of the Coriander plant are edible and in all stages of its life.  This is a very useful and invaluable herb evidently.

Next time you make a Pico de Gallo, salsa, hummus, spicy dish or a salad, sprinkle one to two teaspoons of chopped up leaves and relish the garnish and notice how it pumps up the flavor.

If you live in Southern CA, now is a good time to plant a small specimen or two outdoors (it does fine in a pot) and enjoy snipping off tasty additions to your meals.

A quick, easy and low fat/calorie cilantro pesto to use over fish, in a sandwich or atop a soup:

1 cup packed fresh cilantro

4 scallions or green onions, chopped

1 clove garlic, mashed

2 tablespoons rice or white wine vinegar

3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds

Whir it all together in a blender or food processor till you have a coarse paste.

Add a Serrano chili and pick up the heat or substitute the seeds with peanuts.  Experiment.

Little known facts:

This herb was introduced to China about 600AD.

It is listed among the medicinal plants mentioned in the Papyrus of Thebes, written in 1552 BC!!!!!!

The two pictures here are of Snow Drops. Planted in September one year in the past and they multiply and return every year without any help from me.  They delicately and teenily  bloom like little pure white fairies every January to my recurring astonishment and delight!I must have been a dog in a previous lifetime because I love hiding flower bulbs shallowly into the ground and being surprised three to eight months later finding them peeking out of the dirt and in full bloom.

Today, I planted four different kinds of shade lovers and two types of sunny spot late summer bloomers.  If you live in Southern California, from now until late March or early April, is the time to dig two to six inches into the soil and place your bets, eh hem, I mean bulbs.  Make sure the hairy, widest part sits down and the pointy or irregular part is up.  Sometimes, I add plant food, but not always.   I didn’t today.  Then, cover with nutrient rich loam and voila! Forget about it!  One day, unexpectedly, you will be rewarded with one, a few or all of your tubers fully grown and in bloom, peeking out of unusual spaces (because the garden is fuller in the spring and summer) impressing you with color, texture and form of the startling and the usually brief kind.

Today, I planted sixteen sweet smelling Muguet de Bois, white Lily of the Valley, two purple Clematis climbers for a trellis, two pink Curcumas – a unique spiked flower, one red and white striped, deeply throated Crinum, twenty-four mixed Tigridia and twenty-eight lilac Liatris spikes.  Plus, I got ambitious and planted a hot pink camellia and a white, fragrant gardenia.

Happy Planting!

And I will get to the Anxiety/Stress releasers tomorrow, I guess, well I don’t know, sooner or later….. today I practiced gardening as a distraction, and I went to the movies…. but that is another story.

The very first thing I afforded myself and realized after renouncing my career and raising children, which I never could have accomplished without my husband assuming all weekend kid duties – including softball, soccer and just nourishing them physically as well as emotionally on his only two days off wherein on countless occasions he scooped them off to work to their delight although half-asleep, was become a UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener.  I always read the gardening section but I believe my husband was the one who pointed out there was an opportunity if you sent in an application and qualified (a short essay on your interest in gardening). My entrance exam was accepted, my husband and family committed to supporting me and I dove into the world above, at and below planet earth.

We were the second class of OC UC Master Gardeners (not to be confused with Cal State Master Gardeners out of Fullerton we were constantly reminded) around twenty-five eager amateur gardeners of various levels, all walks of life and all ages.  We met routinely at OC fairgrounds, hence the two pictures I took this past summer, here.  Our only payment due was to volunteer in some capacity for at least fifty hours every year.  I enjoyed working in the classroom with a second grade teacher as my internship while taking the course – preparing and sowing and nurturing a school garden, reading The Lorax and other environmental aware and Earth-friendly children’s books and sundry scientific/botanical experiments such as germinating with the adorable, inquisitive and highly energetic second graders.  Later, after I graduated, I volunteered on the Hotline – researching and answering diverse queries.

I understood finally now what my father used to philosophically mutter in a way that seemed sublime.  “The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.”

Every Saturday and Sunday, for months, we took field trips.  Our tome was a giant six-inch binder that resembled Webster’s Dictionary at the library you see on a podium because of its heft. This was before and while it all progressed and became documented on the Internet, 1997-9. Every week we pre-read the necessary chapters we would explore on the weekend.  Basically, it was a crash, intensive course in horticulture.  I loved it!

We grafted, we bonded and we questioned. We visited nurseries of every type not available to the public – Native Californian, fruit, Cal Poly Pomona and their poinsettia industry, the succulent world and dozens more.  We were entertained and informed by premier entomologists, arborists and specialists of every agricultural aspect.  I felt fortunate to live and study the gifts and the drama of cultivation and earth/insect/botanical biology in the largest and most diverse agricultural state in the nation.  My Latin improved as a side benefit.

Needless to say, this was an invaluable experience and inspired me beyond measure.

p.s. on my walk today with a dear friend, she pointed to a plant and asked its name.  “Nasturtiums, ” I replied. “The flower,” as I showed her the orange yellow deep-throated specimen, “is edible, quite peppery!” and I added. “Great in salads” and I further had to announce when she look astonished and said, “Really?”   – “Other edible everyday flowers include the pansy and rose petal, as long as you grow them organically.”

NASTURTIUM from my garden today – delicious, chopped up and sprinkled over my salad tonight! Yum!  Looks like the dilophosaurus that spit on Newman in Jurassic Park?

 I wonder if my love affair with herbs, flowers and vegetable gardens brought me into the kitchen or vice versa.