A whole lot of nothing...

I have been doing a whole lot of nothing the past two days, because I am so incredibly tired.  Being un-productive is hard for me.  Mary was kind enough to send me some editing work to distract me for a bit.  [Thanks, Mary!]

I finally remembered to take a photo of the Roasted Rutabaga and Parsnips Beer Cheese soup before I started chowing down on it.  So, I added it to the recipe page.  I do find it a bit remarkable just how well this soup freezes (and tastes after thawing).

I've spent a lot of time watching Amos battle his fear.  This is typical of him.  Once he dares step onto the dreaded tall, wet grass, my puppy dog become almost paralyzed and does not move any part of his body save for his head.  He looks around at his predicament and then will send pitiful gazes back my way.  I am impressed, a bit, at just how long he can remain stock still.  Of course, to give him credit, you cannot even see the bottom of his legs once he steps out into the yard.

I have utterly failed at finding anyone who would like to have some of my fresh herbs.  You can see that I've only harvested from one of the ginormous basil bushes.  Despite eating lots and lots and lots of sages dishes, I've barely made a dent in those.  Neither have I made much inroads on the thyme.  And, much to my surprise, having harvested half of each of the rosemary bushes, they have grown more.  That is a bit of a victory.

I want to try drying the herbs, but I am ... nervous about that.  I haven't read anything online that gives me confidence.  Primarily, I've noted that it is recommended to dry them in warm air.  Very, very, very little air in my house is warm.  The two options I've thought of are either the solarium or the attic.  I thought I would try to tie bundles to the wooden clothes drying rack I have.  I am just not sure how long it will take indoors.  I could, of course, try the garage, but I thought the house would be a better/cleaner place.  With the unusual amounts of rain, I am reluctant to try until everything has dried out a bit.

[Yes, I am procrastinating.]

Anyway, if I am successful in drying the herbs, then I thought I could mail some off to friends and family.  The nerdy part of me would like to take the position that if I can successfully dry the herbs, then I ought to have a mortar and pestle to crush them.  I wonder if mortar and pestle sets come in GREEN.

The other way I've occupied my mind whilst my body languishes (other than reading the commentary on the Gospel of Mark) has been to Google for pulled chicken recipes.  I very much want to try pulled chicken tacos, but I have run across two obstacles in trying to find a recipe: 1) I want to use chicken breasts, not thighs and 2) I want to use my dutch oven (since I don't have a slow cooker).

I did just do some shopping in the basement freezer for meals.  I admit that I still enjoy grabbing the basket and heading down to fill it up.  I chose:  black bean soup, chipotle chicken chili, pulled pork (for tacos), Vietnamese chicken curry, lemon chicken gyros, black eyed peas, butternut and goat milk cheese pasta, and the beer cheese soup.