Tarragon

My home is, alas, far far away from the glory that is Stanley's market. But I was almost out of shallots and cringed at the thought of paying the ungodly $7 a pound at Whole Foods or sorting through the old ones at the Asian market. I decided that this was an enough of an excuse to head down this weekend.

Once again, it made me wish this could be a weekly venture. I picked up:

• Perfect shallots at less than $3 a pound
• Artichokes! Fer cheap!
• Avacadoes
• Fresh thyme
• Fresh basil

And the kicker? Fresh tarragon for $1. My summers throughout high school and college were spent in upstate New York with a huge and wildly enthusiastic tarragon plant growing just outside the back door so the taste of it always reminds me of summer.

I put some in the butter to go with one of my steamed artichokes and some sprinkled over asparagus. Since I'm taking a few days of slack between student teaching and returning to my old job this morning I went to the gym and then had a breakfast of an omelet; while it was cooking I added goat cheese and a generous sprinkling of fresh tarragon and then wrapped the lot around steamed spinach. Hard to beat.