Home Grown

I want a dog. This statement comes out of my mouth nearly every day. Thankfully for dutiful friends, like work-friend-Bryan, I understand there are several hurdles. Bryan's main arguments: "If you ever want to go on vacation again, don't get a dog" and "if you want a dog, you might as well have a kid."  Hm...okay...

Other arguments (both in my head and from loved ones) include the fact that I live in an apartment, dogs are truly expensive, and that I'm some percentage of a workaholic.

In lieu of becoming a "cat lady" (no offense), I've opted to be "plant lady"! It started small. One basil plant. What happened next is akin to what (I'm told) happens when one gets a tattoo...I couldn't stop. I am now the proud mother of tomatoes, basil, rosemary, cilantro, mint, peppers, geraniums, and soon-to-be zenias.   

What, prey tell, does a city girl need with all these plants? 

 
Tomatoes and basil are coming off the vine soon for some scrumptious (please!)  Caprese salad. This weekend we made Mojitos with the mint.

• Duct tape moment: I needed to make a pitcher of mojitos so I could take them to a friend's birthday party, so I used this recipe. I love using Epicurious.com for quick finds. I returned from the grocery store with all my ingredients and alas, I didn't have a portable pitcher to transport the mojitos to the party. Instead, I used a big mason jar that typically stores my dry pasta. I threw in some sliced limes, and it didn't look half bad! 

But back to the important things:  If you look in the middle of the picture, you can barely see the baby pepper. Once it gets larger (and gets some friends), I'm thinking kabobs? And who doesn't like rosemary and flowers. Stand back, I think I'm addicted...

Oh and just to keep the record straight, work-friend-bryan has two dogs.