Rosemary Baby... Baby!

Happy Monday After Thanksgiving!

After such a gluttonous weekend (both in food consumption and Black Friday Weekend consumption, if you partook in the madness), I thought a little economical freshness was just the thing to cleanse the pallet and start the week and rest of the holiday season off right.

There is very little I love more than when my husband Matt gets excited about something for the home. I spend the majority of my life boring him to death with a constant barrage of ideas for the apartment, and he usually nods along nicely (or stares off into space), hoping that eventually I will forget about whatever grand scheme I've concocted.

A recent "idea" was about how I want lavender and/or rosemary to be everywhere in the apartment - preferably a hedge of it along the windowsill - so we can pretend we're relaxing poolside in Provence even though we're really in the middle of a very cold New York City. Lavender and rosemary are not only two of my favorite scents (rosemary lifts you up while lavender calms you down), but they are also two of the only scents I can tolerate when I have a migraine, and I like my apartment to be both a great smelling and an aggressively anti-migraine space. Per usual, Matt nodded: "Sure, that sounds great, Kate. Whatever you want." Excellent, I thought. Urban lavender and rosemary hedge, here I come. It ended there, but I'd planted the seed.

After a little research, I realized that an indoor hedge of any herb in the city would be a  prohibitively expensive/time consuming endeavor for my immediate consumption given my budget and level of laziness. But let no dream be quelled by such constraints!  There's always some wiggle room for a girl to dream a little dream and make it a reality.

About a month ago (on one of the rare occasions Matt wasn't working on the weekend), Matt and I borrowed his parents' car and drove up to Westchester so I could make some returns to Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom (instantaneous credit to your card instead of waiting the week+ for a mailed return to be received by the distribution center and processed + ginormous, uncrowded suburban shopping mall experience = excellent idea), and so we stopped at Whole Foods on our way home (because when you can park a car at a grocery store, grocery shopping can be downright exciting - or at least tolerable).

When we walked into the store, something amazing happened: we were hit with an incredible scent of rosemary. We were both immediately energized and searched for the source of the amazing scent: whatever was generating that smell had to come home with us. Lucky for us, the scent generator was not only for sale, but also cheap! Matt was instantly excited (which makes me just brim with joy)... Whole Foods was selling little rosemary trees that look like mini Christmas trees... and to top it off, they were only $20?! I would be able to have the scent of rosemary permeating our home, and Matt would have the ability to use the rosemary when he had the inkling to cook (when he has the time, he is an excellent chef)?? Why, yes! Let's procure a tiny tree! Everybody wins!  

While I happily would have bought ten of them and lined them up on the windowsill to make my "hedge," we compromised at one happy tree (an only child!), and it is surprisingly potent and quite cute on the windowsill now. It's also incredibly easy to care for, which is important to me (it makes me sad when I inadvertently kill plants - and I am unfortunately incredibly good at inadvertently killing plants). I've patiently waited for several weeks to ensure this statement about the rosemary's longevity-despite-my-care is true, and I can proudly assure you: it is. Matt has also already put the rosemary to good use, most successfully and deliciously in this Tom Colicchio's Herb Butter Turkey that he made last week for Thanksgiving! And even the guy who came to fix our heater a few weeks ago remarked upon the amazing smell and utility of the tiny tree ("That's incredible! You could make rosemary bread!").

The bottom of the tree is a little too big for any holder or cachepot that I own, but we plopped the tree into a champagne ice bucket for now (we got it from Pottery Barn years ago - it's not this one, but it's very similar), and it works just fine. Part of the charm is having a little imperfection to tame the tree's adorably manicured appearance (or so I tell myself).

Bonus: Given the tree's shape, it's a perfect accent for the holidays without really going there.

Where to Buy
Whole Foods Rosemary Tree, ~$20 (I can't recall the exact price), available at Whole Foods stores

If you can't make it to a Whole Foods, here are a few other options available online - not as cheap, but if you're in a pinch:

Harry & David Rosemary Tree, $49.95

The FTD® Rosemary Riches Tree by Better Homes and Gardens®, $59.99 plus $12.99 "service fee"

Side note: Those elephant bookends in the photo are another item that Matt got particularly enthusiastic about purchasing (he and I both seem to enjoy animal themed items). We got them from Joss & Main for $40, but I recently found them at Overstock.com for $60.99 (and you can usually use a discount code there for further savings). It wasn't intentional, but I kind of love how the elephants look like they are just soaking in the glorious scent of the little baby rosemary tree - it does smell glorious.

Now go get yourself a little rosemary baby... baby! And soak in the glorious scent!

Enjoy!
KK


P.S. I haven't forgotten about the lavender. No lavender plants in the works, but more info on that scent coming soon!

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