Herbs I can't get enough of and Herbs that are too much before I even use them.

So I made steak & chips the other night for my British companion, John, because he's been nagging me for them for the past week. I blanched the potato slices while heating the oil for frying them. I like to fry on the back burner because it's safer. I drained the potatoes and fearlessly dumped them into the oil. I don't know why I was so cavalier about it...I am usually so careful. But the oil was too hot and splattered all over my walls and stove and anything else in it's way. Now, I'm usually very good in medical emergencies, but there's something about environmental emergencies that makes me draw a blank. So I just stood there screaming for John. It was really embarrassing because I'm not the helpless type. But he was really good about it, and by the time he got to the kitchen. everything was fine. So, I resumed my cooking. (He did laugh at my high pitched screaming a little bit, but was ultimately nice to me.)

I put the steak under the broiler (we don't have a grill here at the apartment.) and started on my Bruschetta. I wanted something fresh to go with the meat and the chips that almost caused a house fire. I had stopped by the health food store on the way home and saw these tomatoes on sale. They had a pint of "heirloom and exotic" tomatoes on sale for $2.99, marked down from, get this, $4.99! A tiny little pint of tomatoes! (I find that to be highway robbery because my aunt back home grows a garden full of them, which are so fresh and tasty. I don't think she's ever charged anyone $4.99!) But I bought them for the sale price because I really wanted my bruschetta to be colorful and different. I also bought some fresh herbs to go in it.

I had a leftover baguette, which I drizzled with olive oil and then browned in the oven. (I salted them too.) And then I took apart my little pint of purple, green, yellow and red tomatoes. I chopped them up and put them into a bowl. I bought some really beautiful looking basil and carefully chopped it and added it. Now, I love basil. I can't get enough basil. I think basil adds so much and has such a refreshing flavor. But then there's oregano, which usually goes in Italian cooking. I had some fresh oregano that I wanted to add to my bruschetta. I slid the little leaves off of the stems and started to chop them. But the smell overwhelmed me before I even got it into the bowl. I just can't quite manage oregano. It seems to take over whatever I am cooking. Pretty soon it's all I can smell, which isn't really my favorite scent.

I realize that I have trouble with certain herbs. Oregano makes the top of my list. Next is marjoram, then thyme and lemon grass. I just can't use the recommended amount of any of them. They're overpowering to me. Cilantro starts to get that way, but I can manage it better than any of the other herbs I listed above.

Then there are the good herbs. Basil, rosemary, sage, parsley, Italian parsley, chives, etc. I love them. I love cooking with them. I think dishes are complete with at least one. Basil is so fresh and livens up any dish. And rosemary is rich and adds depth. Parsley is pretty standard, but it adds to the look and flavor. I love chives because you can mix them into creams and spreads. There are more, but those come to mind right now...

I canned the oregano idea because I just couldn't stomach it. So I added extra basil to the bruschetta mixture, along with garlic, olive oil, sea salt, freshly ground pepper and a little bit of Italian parsley. I tasted it and it was SO good!! But the heirloom tomatoes have a really low acidic content, so they don't have that punch that I wanted. So I decided to add just a touch of redwine vinegar.

I plated my different dishes...John's steak and chips, the bruschetta, and the homemade pizza that I made for my son and myself, and put everything on the table. We all started eating, and my 4 year old son, Nathan, said that the tomatoes were "super, extra good!" And John loved them, which he normally doesn't. And we ate the eight large slices of bread and bruschetta in under 5 minutes!

All in all, it was a satisfying dinner. And I was very pleased that disaster was avoided with the oil.

I will include the recipe for the bruschetta later today, although I'm sure you get the idea already.