Suddenly spring has sprung, it's 70 degrees outside and I'm putting sunscreen on my girls before we go for our walks. Certainly the perfect time to think about gardening, and I spent a lovely hour today doing just that at a class on how to plant an herb garden, given by Shannon at the always-beautiful Poet's Garden. Couple that with the story I'm working on for the D-H, about curb appeal (aka making the outside of your house look pretty), and suddenly I can't wait to run off to one of the many nurseries around here and spend lots and lots of money.

I want to get things that I have grown before: basil, oregano, rosemary, tomatoes, and petunias.

I want to get things that I have been yearning to try growing: lavender, cilantro, mint, dill, parsley, sage, and strawberries.

I want to get new, exciting things that I had never considered growing until I heard about them today: bay laurel and germander.

Since I will probably do only container plantings this year, my dreams also require lots of lovely containers and mounds of potting soil, and fertilizer. And hanging baskets for my patio. And some pruning shears for my ivy hedge, but that's just a side note.

I probably will not actually be getting all of that all at once. But some day I would like to have a garden with all of that, plus lots and lots of vegetables. And tulips. We have no tulips here and I would like some tulips. And maybe I can find some place where a trellised arch would look appropriate, and then I can have climbing roses, or wisteria.

Hey, if you're dreaming, why not dream big?

After hearing about all that herby goodness I was also thinking about cooking this evening, so I checked out my favorite cooking blog, Simply Recipes, and found all kinds of fantastic-sounding recipes I want to try: Honey-Glazed Lemon Roast Chicken, and Bauernfruhstuck and Triple-Layer White Cake with Orange Curd Filling and Croque Monsieur Ham and Cheese Sandwich.

And this brings me to my final snippet of information for the evening. Thanks to Elise, I know now that the French word croque comes from the verb croquer, or "to crunch," which is appropriate for what is basically a fancy grilled cheese sandwich. So Croque Monsieur, roughly translated, means Mister Crunchy.



I find that hilarious. It sounds so...American. Can't you see it on the menu at the diner down the street? "I'll have the Mister Crunchy, ma'am." If you say it in French, it just automatically sounds more sophisticated. (Another side note: there is also a Croque Madame. It's the same as the Croque Monsieur, but with an egg on it. I find this amusing as well).

Croque Monsieur? Mister Crunchy? You take your pick.