I have yet to plant any herbs in my garden, mostly because I don’t know what to do with them. Well, until last night that is! I attended a “Cooking with Herbs” event at the Lauritzen botanical gardens and now I’m just itching to get some herbs planted… The evening started with a tour of the Herb Garden, located deep into the vast grounds of the facility, and maintained by the Omaha Herb Society. The herb garden was divided into small plots based on theme – there was a dyers plot, filled with colorful herbs utilized for their wool-dying properties; a culinary plot containing the usual suspects of mint, sage, basil, chives, etc; a fragrance plot used for potpourri; a tea plot, and so on. It was fascinating to stroke the leaves of various exotic herbs – I had never touched cinnamon basil before. Quite educational.
Back at the visitors center, we were treated to a cooking demonstration by a locally-based, but world-renowned chef, Teresa Kramer-Ruback. Teresa grew up here in Omaha, but interned with Wolfgang Puck at Spago, and has practiced her culinary arts all over the world, including post-Oscars parties and Middle-Eastern peace talks! She demonstrated the preparation of several kinds of pesto (Chive-Dill pesto…mmm…), hummus, and a goat cheese dip. All of these splendid concoctions, with the exception of a rose-geranium pound cake, appear to be low-carb treats as well, so I am planning on trying them at home.
I love that we have events like this here in the Mid-West, and I’m grateful that I took the time on my evening off to attend – I learned a lot and have some new gardening, as well as cooking, inspiration.
No comments:
Post a Comment