A couple years ago, my mom came to Austin to visit. It was spring and I had been wanting to plant a little herb garden. Since my mom has no less than three green thumbs (ok, two thumbs and a finger, but you get the point), I asked her to help plant it. And she did. And it was awesome! Full of parsley and thyme and mint and basil, we picked our herbs fresh from the garden all spring long. And then summer hit and the tarragon suffered, then the basil, then.. well, you get the point. So our poor little herb garden was forgotten and neglected all winter long. And since my mom didn't come to visit last year and I'm not that much of a gardener, I let it sit all of last year with no pruning or weeding or replanting.

The Kitchen Space is situated on the east side of town, not too far from Boggy Creek farm and our soil is quite awesome. The garden itself is on the back side of the walk in refrigerator, which juts out from the building proper. It is situated so that the drain from the walk in trickles into the garden, essentially watering itself. Since it is behind the building, I will admit that I had checked on it in months. So we hit the garden store and picked up all our supplies and headed over to the kitchen. I was totally surprised to find that not only had most of the herbs survived, but that they were thriving and with absolutely no attention for over a year. So much so, in fact, that the parsley and mint had so filled up the space that there were virtually no weeds. So we ...ok, my boyfriend, got to work digging and pulling and fertilizing (organic) to get the little garden in order. After he pulled out the majority of the parsley and the arms of mint that had run amok, he uncovered the French thyme, chives & oregano from the original planting. We added a new basil and tarragon as well as a small tomato plant.


I also intended to put in a cucumber plant, but realized that I had actually picked up an okra plant, so we went ahead and put it in. The tag said 45-50 days till it fruits, so I would expect to see an okra dish or two on the menu in late May or June. I'm really excited to have the garden all cleaned up and will definitely be using its bounty in our meals for as long as the season lasts!

A big bowl of parsley (and some mint) that we pulled from the garden.

Some French thyme, recently used in the split pea soup and soon to be in every other soup too!

Portion Size, Then Vs. Now - DivineCaroline

"Many of you are aware that portions have been increasing, but maybe not by how much. This article breaks down a few of our favorite treats and how they've grown."

Over the past few decades, portion sizes of everything from muffins to sandwiches have grown considerably. Unfortunately, America’s waistbands have reacted accordingly. In the 1970s,…

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Have an iPhone? 5 great apps to help you manage your diet

True Nutrition - $0.99 For those of you not too good at math, this app takes the guess work out of how many calories you actually consumed. Enter in some figures (number of servings, calorie, fat, etc) and it will instantly calculate what you ate, not what you think you did.

Still Tasty - $1.99 Based on the website with the same name, this handy little app lets you know just how long you can keep that stick of butter in the door before it's no longer safe to eat. Updated regularly, the list of info includes shelf/refrigerator/freezer life, tips on handling and storage and even allows you to enter items you've purchased so you can keep track of whats in your fridge! This app actually pays for itself with the money you'll save on NOT tossing things that are still safe to eat.

Drinkfit - $1.99 I couldn't tell you how many texts and phone calls I've gotten from clients and friends FROM THE BAR asking if this drink is better or worse than another. Drinkfit lists nutrition information for over 1,600 different beers, wines and mixed drinks. It even allows you to track your drinking in case you've been questioning your sobriety.

Eat This, Not That - $4.99 (I hesitated to include this app because of the number of negative reviews regarding crashing. They do update quite often so I'm hopeful the problems will be taken care of soon.) This really is a gem of an app! It allows you to easily look up nutrition information for over 13,000 menu items. Other features include a comparison chart for menu items and it even allows you to email me your grocery list for review!