more owww

A day or two after the serrated knife incident, I burned my index finger on the same hand so subtly I didn't even know it for a while. Okay, I might have known that I was using a pot holder mitt that had a thin spot in it, and that pot holder mitt ended up in the trash, but I was surprised to wake up with a huge blister on that finger, two days later. Of course the blister broke off, then the raw sore rubbed against something, and well you know. Never use a worn oven mitt.

The thumb, miraculously, is almost healed.

Owww...

So, the lesson to be learned is this: Serrated knives and somewhat dry,tough bread are not a good combination.

I was trying to cut a loaf of good, organic, but day old bread, with a serrated knife.

Need I say more, except I didn't cut the entire tip of my right thumb off (I'm left handed), it just hurts.

Basil revelation

I had a revelation of sorts as I was cooking tonight. I just happened to need some dried basil, since I have no fresh this time of year, and I opened up a plastic jar of store bought basil. For some strange reason, I sniffed it. Nothing there, really. A vague sweet aroma, but that basil was clearly past its prime.

There were, however, several whole basil plants that had been stashed in the corner, dried, since the first frost in September. I sampled a leaf, and found it full-bodied, spicy, fragrant, unlike the store-bought basil. I proceeded to strip the leaves from most of the basil I had left, storing it in the jar I had recently emptied of store bought basil. There just is no comparison.

And, one can never get too much basil. I am upping my seedling production tenfold!