I never thought about it before, but we use a lot of herbs and spices when we cook around here. Maybe it's because Mr. HeyLucy is trying to consume less sodium, or maybe our taste buds are just dim and need more spice to wake them up these days. Whatever the case, the spice cupboard was out of hand. I had most things in little metal watchmaker's tins, which look quite nice. Once upon a time I had big plans to hang up a magnetic bar to hold them, so they'd be right at our fingertips whenever we needed them. There were just a few problems with that scenario. I'd need at least five bars to hold everything. The lids on some of the tins were loose, and would be prone to falling off if they were hung vertically. And it was just too darn hard to find what we were looking for in all those stacks of identical tins. Also, I buy most of my herbs and spices in bulk, so I was constantly filling those little plastic bags too full, so when I got home, only about half would fit and the shelf was filling up with bags, tins, and spicy dust.
So. I decided to re-do the whole mess. I raided our drawer of jars (Mr. HeyLucy likes jars, and would like to save them all. I suppose I should be grateful in this case), and headed to World Market to stock up on some more from their selection of 99 cent spice jars.
I had some label rubber stamps from way back, so I just stamped them and cut them out and glued them to the jars. It's nothing fancy, but it was a very satisfying craft project. Our shelf of herbs and spices is so pretty now, and things are much easier to find.
I think this may turn into a cooking blog for the summer. I've been making so many delicious things (if I do say so myself). This weekend there was a pie, one of the best I've ever tried.
I used this recipe, and I highly recommend it. I left out the kirch, and I cheated and used pre-made pie crust from Trader Joe's. I was so happy to find the crusts in the freezer section, all rolled out in perfect circles, with an ingredient list that wasn't much more than flour and butter. I make good pie crust, but it's so messy and I just don't enjoy it, so I've seldom made pies. I think that is about to change. The filling was sweet and tart at the same time, neither overwhelming the other. My nectarines weren't very ripe, but it still worked.
And one last photo, because it's still peony season.
