Fresh herbs make me very happy. I love the look of them in the grocery cart, the smell of them in the fridge, the satisfying way that the kitchen shears chop through their little stems and leaves and then the way they have of making any old dish look extraordinary.

My one misgiving about these lovely bunches of fragrance comes from my inability to use the whole bunch in any given dish and so the inevitable mushy mass that heads for the compost some days later, filling me with regret. The most recent near casualty to the compost was this bushel of parsley I used for a bacon rice bowl calling for about 1/4 a cup fresh chopped parsley. I put the already drooping bunch of leftovers in this green pitcher and on a whim thought i would give the poor leaves some water while they waited for their certain death by coffee grounds. But then something miraculous happened. They stayed lovely and alive for many days. And this morning when I photographed them they looked as spry and healthy as the day I admired them in the cart. And I started thinking that as beautiful as they are, and as little room as my budget has for fresh cut flowers, herbs in lovely vases may be my answer for all these relative problems. So here's to delicious smelling $1.29 bouquets for kitchen tables! Hoorah!