My rosemary incident.

Have you ever looked in your freezer, pantry or fridge and thought, Hmmm, I wonder what I can do with this?  And then you googled it?  I do that all the time.  Waste not, want not, right?

This morning I googled beef chuck roast.  (That sucker’s been in my freezer for months.)  Realizing an opportunity to clear out even more space in my fridge, I settled on the recipe that called for white wine.  (That half a bottle has been sittin’ pretty, too.)  I printed the recipe and headed to my favorite produce store, The Grand Mart.  One problem.  The Grand Mart didn’t have rosemary.  The recipe called for exactly one teaspoon of fresh rosemary, so Square Piece needed one teaspoon of fresh rosemary.  Even though the recipe gave a substitution for the dried equivalent, resorting to that just felt like settling for last place.  (Did I mention that I’m competitive?  Proof.)  Stubbornly committing to the fresh herb, I headed to Safeway to try my luck in their produce department.

My eyes scanned their herbs, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.  Seriously?  No rosemary?  *sigh*  Turning around and feeling defeated, I mentally caved and began to head for the dried seasoning.

“Do you need help finding anything?” a friendly employee named Brandi asked me.

I explained my rosemary situation.  Then I followed her back to the fresh herbs as she poked around, making sure that none was hiding.

Brandi, “It looks like we’re out of it.  …But we do have rosemary trees…”

Rosemary trees?

Intrigued, I followed her to a little refrigerated room in the floral department.  Sure enough, there was a rosemary tree looking all cute and Christmas-y (joy!).  Brandi began to tell me about her rosemary tree and how it’s somehow managing to survive outside with very little care.  Now, if you’ve ever read The Mint Incident (and I do recommend a refresher before you continue reading), you already know that I have the exact opposite of a green thumb.  In just a few minutes, Brandi gave me the confidence to believe that maybe this time I could keep a plant alive.  (You know, I do love some rosemary.)

When I got home, I went to work right away on our dinner.

I needed this much rosemary:

I had purchased this much rosemary:

When I told Brian what I had done, he said, “Do you need some thyme?  I’ve got a ton of it growing outside.”

Me, “We have thyme?!  I needed thyme!”  (This is true.  But I had spent $15.00 on a rosemary tree, so I decided to double up on the rosemary and forego the thyme.)

Brian, “You should have told me.  We have a ton of it.”

I looked sour.

Brian, “Do you want to get some right now?”

Me, sulking, “No, it’s too late.”

While our dish was braising in the oven and before taking the dogs out for a walk, I showed Brian my new rosemary tree.

Brian, “Wait a second.  That’s rosemary?  Huh.  Maybe we don’t have thyme.  I think it must be rosemary we have growing outside.”

Me, “Are you SERIOUS!?”  (Does this sound familiar?  How am I so oblivious to the herbs growing right under my nose?! )

So we checked.  Well, wouldn’tchaknow?  Now we have a crap ton of rosemary.

I decided not to return the tree.  Instead of refreshing the flowers on my kitchen table once a week, I think I’ll keep this little guy through the season.  Cost-wise, it all evens out.

I’m presently open to any recipes you might like to share that contain this herb.  Please don’t hold back.