Fresh Herbs

For the one year I spent in North Carolina, my Saturday morning routine was to get Dunkin' Donuts coffee and then drive to the state farmer's market in Raleigh.  To this day, one of my top three all time favorite spots on the planet.  I would get all sorts of fresh vegetables; tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, onions, eggplant (all for about $3 total) come home and roast them in olive oil and garlic to make this awesome ratatouille.  Then I'd toss it with this homemade feta cheese I bought from some lady that called me "Suga" every time she saw me.  And finally, I'd top it with fresh basil from the basil guy who sold these huge bushels for $3 that would last for 2 weeks if you kept it in water. 

The vegetables were great, the feta - awesome, but that freaking basil; That pushed it over the edge.  Not like I'm the first person to discover it.  But I don't know that I had ever had fresh grown, non packaged basil picked that same morning available to me prior to living in NC.  As stupid as it sounds, thats the thing I miss the most about living there - that basil. 

But the $3 basil man will not always be within driving distance, I realize this.  So now, I've decided to take back control of my own fresh basil supply chain.  I must plant.  And this past weekend, plant we did.