I have a bay tree that comes in, in winter. Also, a rosemary, a sage. I killed most of my lavendar, but am hopeful for the one I left out - not saying what kind of winter we're having, cause I'll jinx it!!! lol. I have tried to bring basil in come fall, but I think the shock is just too much here. I love having the sage and the rosemary to cook with all winter, not to mention the bay for soups and stews. Oh, I forgot, I have a garlic chive, but it is not very vigorous, with a thyme plant on the side (same thing). Once I start my basil, I do use the pinched back leaves, in early spring. Now, to the cat urine smell - when my little cat girl was alive, I had to watch large potted plants, cause she'd use them - I had to put rough rocks, tinfoil, whatever, to keep her from 'relieving' herself. lol. I'd rather the basil flowers!! Nancy.

If you have the room, like a square yard somewhere, both cilantro and parsley will establish self-perpetuating stands. Parsley, being a biannual, is pretty easy - I just threw out a few packets of flat leaf on the ground in the early spring, and its been going now for several years. I believe that both parsley and cilantro have some sort of chemical mechanism that inhibits other species of seeds from germinating, because there is very little weed issue. A stand of cilantro is a bit more complicated, because it will get huge, with big stalks becomes pretty much inedible. I've had some luck with bending over / snapping the stalks so the seed heads dry and drop off, but its pretty hard to go out at any given moment and pick a mess of cilantro. In the garden, its a lot like dill, it just sorta shows up year after year. My window box method is pretty straight forward, just fill them with potting soil, sprinkle the seed so its about 1/2 to 1" apart, soak the surface and maybe cover with plastic wrap for a couple of days, as soon as it sprouts, I water it with Miracle Grow, every time, and within two - three weeks, I can get a good cutting. As I said earlier, I'll usually get a 2nd cutting, but by then I often get aphids and its just easier to start again. I dump out the soil, fluff it up and pull out the roots, and plant again. Cilantro seed is supposed to benefit from a freeze cycle, but I'm not convinced. This is one of those occasions where I go with the more sterile approach and use chemical fertilizers in lieu of compost and manure and so on, mainly because I do it all year around, it can be hard to adjust the Nitrogen content, and I like to just go in and snip it off and eat it, without worrying about nasty microbes and so on. Re French Tarragon, this past summer, we made several batches of dill pickles with copious amounts of tarragon in the jars, they're wonderful. And if you are a hot pepper fan, anything that likes green chili likes tarragon, and better together.

For enhanced mashed potatoes, these are amazing. The best I've ever had in beyond basic mashed potato. I had them at a potluck recently and tracked down the cook for the recipe. She used red potatoes and no green onion and they are A LOT better than other make ahead cream cheese mashed potato recipes I've used. Maybe it's the proportions. Mashed Potatoes Creamy Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes Creamy mashed potatoes get even better when topped with a savory trio of cheese, onions and bacon. Plus, these potatoes offer make-ahead appeal. �"JoAnn Koerkenmeier, Damiansville, Illinois 10 ServingsPrep: 35 min. + chilling Bake: 40 min. Ingredients 3 pounds potatoes (about 9 medium), peeled and cubed 6 bacon strips, chopped 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup butter, cubed 1/4 cup 2% milk 1-1/2 teaspoons onion powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese 3 green onions, chopped Directions Place potatoes in a Dutch oven; add water to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cook, uncovered, 10-15 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile, in a skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels with a slotted spoon; drain. Drain potatoes; return to pan. Mash potatoes, gradually adding cream cheese, sour cream and butter. Stir in milk and seasonings. Transfer to a greased 13x9-in. baking dish; sprinkle with cheese, green onions and bacon. Refrigerate, covered, up to 1 day. Preheat oven to 350°. Remove potatoes from refrigerator and let stand while oven heats. Bake, uncovered, 40-50 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 10 servings. © Taste of Home 2014 About regular, basic mashed potatoes, I had the Best ever about 15 years ago and it was startling. Peel, cube and boil russet potatoes until done but not falling apart. Drain, return to pan and shake the potatoes dry until scaly/flaky. Place in Kitchen Aid Mixer and beat a little while until mashed. Add a mixture of warm melted butter and whole (or heavier) milk. Keep adding the butter milk mixture until the potatoes are soupy! This makes soft, not gluey, whipped, beautiful potatoes. I have been doing this for years until I switched to a ricer 2 years ago. I still add HUGE amounts of melted butter/milk to the riced potatoes.

* Posted by coconut-nj (My Page) on Sat, May 30, 09 at 11:27 Sally, anywhere that has alot of British imports would probably have it. I was checking out who had it online the other day and while you might not want 6 bottles of it.. smiles... Amazon has 6 bottles for $27.05. It's free shipping too. Most places sell it for between five and six or up to eight dollars, so that's a great price. They say they're 15 oz bottles. Maybe somebody else would want to go in on it with you?? I've always heard of it described as a mayo with more vinegar and also with a mustard taste. Sounds good. Smiles. My DW used it when she used to travel to the UK all the time for buisness. Surprised she didn't bring any back. I have a head of savoy cabbage so I'm going to make my easy 'stuffed' cabbage casserole that I described above. It makes it so easy and quick which is just what we want on a Saturday night. Steam the cabbage briefly, layer it with dirty rice, pour some tomato juice mixed with onion and garlic powder between layers and on top and bake for about 40 minutes. I'll see if I can manage to take a picture. I seem to be terrible at that. The camera is always in the other room and it's a kind of big house and by the time I'm done cooking I'm not walking very well. LOL.. We will see. Oh btw, I always make two dishes of this because Christy gets burnt out on "red" since I always have something made with red sauce around I make her a version with just some broth on it. I do stuffed peppers for her the same way. No red. I do love the red on it but prefer tomato juice since it's nice and light although I'll just water down tomato sauce or puree with chicken stock/broth, if I don't have any handy.