I’ve never managed to overwinter a rosemary plant, so I’ve been harvesting the branches for a week or so. Tonight it’s supposed to go down to 32, so I finished up this afternoon.

After drying the branches on parchment paper for a couple days, it’s easy to peel most of the herb off. I don’t worry about getting every single blade of rosemary off because I’ll throw the stalks into stock pots.

Today I made potato leek soup. Good for a raw, rainy day like today.

We’re at the point in our shopping cycle when we’re “eating down the fridge.” Like to see it get fairly empty before stocking up again. It becomes a little bit of a game

This salad from last week was good, unusual for us. Butternut, chic peas, and cauliflower gave it a hearty, main course feel. There’s feta cheese and lots of escarole too. Obviously I used the ingredient list below as inspiration but not gospel.

Here it is served with salmon, rice, leftover coleslaw and peas, but really the salad could’ve been the main course.

Also last week, I tried out a new recipe for a root veggie gratin. Parsnips, rutabaga, turnips, and potatoes mashed up and then baked with Gruyère, Parmesan and some cream. I didn’t really like it maybe because of the texture. A little ick. Unfortunately, we have a ton leftover.

The best part of making that dish, honestly, was the comical grocery store scene. “Charlie! What’s this?” (holding the bulb aloft). Charlie: “Rutabaga! Code ####.” “Charlie! What’s this?” “Turnip! Code ####.” Of course I was naming them too but Charlie could supply the codes.

I often buy vegetables the clerks can’t identify. Endive. Ancho peppers. Broccoli rabe. Not sure if that says more about me or them.