You can check out the Lemon Verbena Lady at http://lemonverbenalady.blogspot.com.

I enjoy my life every day because it is full of herbs and herbal thoughts.  Twenty-two years ago I married my Herbal Husband whose birthplace is Lima, Peru, and in 2006 we traveled there for a visit.

Peru is a magical place, but it struggles to survive on a daily basis.  One bright spot on our last visit was to the Agricultural School where our friends' two sons attended classes. It has a market each week where they sell produce and herbs that are grown by the students. 

Coming from a nontropical area of the United States, I am always jealous of how enormous some herbs can grow in tropical zones. In Peru, this particular rosemary was as big as a small car!  The students used it for propagation and would make a lot of beautiful rosemaries with it!

We then went to the foothills of the Andes Mountains and Chaclacayo.  A much smaller city than Lima and there we went to the central market and found the salsa man. 

He sells his homemade sauces and heads of garlic to the locals.  Yes, there are supermarkets, but the old traditions of the marketplace are still important.  The market is where the action is.  I loved his location because he was bathed in natural light unlike the other stands that had one small lightbulb to light their areas.  He obviously had the spot of honor in the market.  He makes red sauce, green sauce, orange sauce and the famous yellow aji of Peru made into a delicious salsa.  His salsas were in demand as you can see he was doing a brisk business.

Here is a salsa recipe that is typically Peruvian:

Salsa Peruana Aji de Miguel
(Miguel's Peruvian Aji Sauce)

Serves 3/4 cup
Heat scale:  Hot

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 or more fresh aji chiles, seeds and stems removed, minced, or substitute yellow wax hot chiles or jalapenos
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1. Heat the oil in a small skillet, and when it's hot, add the chiles and the garlic, lower the heat, and stir constantly to avoid burning the garlic. 

2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. 

3. Simmer for ten minutes and then serve over potato or beans.

Recipe courtesy of Dave DeWitt, Mary Jane Wilan, and Melissa T. Stock, Hot & Spicy Latin Dishes: The Best Fiery Food from Las Americas (Prima Lifestyles, 1994).

Hope you enjoy it!  Please let me know if you do!

You can check Dave Liske at http://micuisine.com/lunapiercook/.

A local treasure-trove of activities, information and just plain good times you shouldn't be overlooking is the local herb society. About 15 years ago my sister Barb gave me a copy of the fundraiser book "Herbal Favorites" from the Genesee County Herb Society. This particular herb society, located in Flint, Michigan, and the surrounding area, hosts a number of events each year. For example, on June 27th and 28th in 2009 the society will present "Gardens in Thyme" at Historical Crossroads Village just north of Flint. This presentation, in cooperation with Michigan State certified Master Gardeners, will demonstrate how people from Michigan's past used herbs in their daily life, not only as health remedies and for the beauty of the herbs, but in their cooking as well.

One of the hardest working gals in the Genesee County Herb Society is Betsy. She posts in her herb blog, Betsy's Herb Garden, as often as she can at http://betsyandherbs.blogspot.com and hers is a blog I visit quite often. Betsy's posts tend to be amazingly informative with both photos and video, and she's always entertaining. It's people like Betsy who make an herb society as vital and as interesting as they can possibly be.

My sister Barb was involved in the Genesee County Herb Society's cookbook the year they published this particular edition. Not only did she submit a number of recipes for inclusion in the cookbook, she was also a member of the committee which assembled the book for the society.

What's interesting in a book like this isn't just the money coming in from sales of the cookbook. In the case of a book from an herb society, a lot of information is included in one place, information which may not see the light of day if it weren't for the cookbook. When people take part in putting together a cookbook fundraiser project they tend to submit their favorite recipes, family heirlooms which have been passed from generation to generation. They might even include a recipe for its fun factor. These are all well and good, but after a while all these little cookbooks tend to look the same.

However, when it comes to a cookbook for an herb society and the focus is actually on what you can and should do with herbs, it becomes more of a local treatise on history and culture. Members will tend to include what can be grown in that region or recipes that have been used in that region in the past. If techniques and garden plans are included, as they were in this book, they'll like be a bit more specific to what grows well in the area. This is important not only from a historical standpoint but also for beginning herb gardeners as well.

One of the recipes Barb included in this particular book is Summertime Chili. This is a lighter chili that's thick with vegetables. It's also topped with large chunks of zucchini and partial ears of corn. This makes it an excellent springtime chili as well as a solid summertime dish.

Summertime Chili
Adapted from a recipe by my sister, Barb Liske

• 1-1/2 lb ground chuck
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chopped green bell peppers
• 1-1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons mild chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 cup crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup pitted black olives
• 2 ears corn or 1 cup frozen, thawed
• 2 zucchini

1. Brown the ground chuck and drain the oil off. Add the butter, onion, garlic, green bell pepper and celery, then cook until the vegetables have softened.

2. Stir in the spices and cook one to two minutes. Add the chicken stock, vinegar and tomatoes and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. Add the olives. If using ears of corn, break them into thirds or half. Slice the zucchini in half lengthwise then cut into large chunks. Place the corn and zucchini on top of the chili.

3. Cover and cook slowly for 20 to 30 minutes. Serve with grilled herb bread with garlic butter.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Have you caught a leprechaun? Are you wearing your green today? Have you found any four-leaved clovers? Start your Saint Patrick's Day celebration with a great video from Yankee Magazine. Learn how to make Irish Soda Bread, a staple of the Irish diet that dates back to the 1840s, with Yankee senior food editor, Annie Copps.

If you’re in the mood to make even more Saint Patrick's Day themed bread, try our Guinness-infused Herby Beer Bread from our May 2009 article “Many Mints.”

Herby Beer Bread

Howard Lee Puckett

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried lavender flowers
• 1 teaspoon dried mint leaves, crumbled
• 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated
• 12 ounces dark beer
• 1 teaspoon rolled oats, sunflower seeds or sesame seeds
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, herbs and cheddar in a mixing bowl.

2. Stir in beer and mix until combined.

3. Spread in a greased 8-inch loaf pan; top with rolled oats, raw sunflower seeds or sesame seeds.

4. Bake until golden-brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

You can check Dave Liske at http://micuisine.com/lunapiercook/.

There are plenty of breakfast dishes out there. Breakfast cereal, grits, oatmeal, pancakes and waffles, eggs with meats and toast, omelets, skillets and scrambles … the list goes on and on. There are plenty of sweet dishes out there, lots of fruits and, in many cases, quite a bit of sugar. Vegetables show up on occasion as well, particularly in omelets, skillets and scrambles.

Rarely will you find any herbs in a breakfast dish. More robust breakfast dishes tend to be either creamy or meaty. It seems to be a meal specifically designed for comfort foods, and anything savory whatsoever almost seems out of place. There are some standbys that have a savory bent to them. Biscuits with sausage gravy, heavily peppered as it is in southern states, is one savory dish that's widely accepted even in the northeast. Mexican omelets and breakfast burritos, which include sausages or even taco meat, and possibly a spicy tomato and pepper salsa, are also rather popular. And a good breakfast casserole will serve an entire family quite well.

Savory breakfasts are more popular in the UK than they are in the US. At The Cock Tavern, in the basement of the Central Markets at Smithfields in London, you'll find the Butcher's Breakfast, enjoyed by countless numbers of the market's butchers over the years after a long night of charcuterie. The Cock Tavern's Butcher's Breakfast consists of deviled kidneys, liver, rump steak, bacon, sausage, beans and a single egg, making for an excellent meal before those folks head off to bed.

I grew up with one breakfast that was a touch on the savory side. My dad would make us Eggs In A Frame each and every Wednesday morning. I'm not sure why he picked Wednesday, but that's when he cooked the dish on an electric griddle on the counter. He would put salt, pepper, garlic powder and celery seed on the buttered bread slices prior to grilling. But as far as I can recall, that celery seed was as close as I would normally come to having any kind of herbs in something I had for breakfast.

For a very long time I also hadn't thought of fish or seafood being included in any kind of breakfast dish. One Sunday at a restaurant in my hometown I spotted a seafood omelet on the menu and decided to order it. It wasn't too bad, containing the imitation crab you'll find at most grocery stores, the omelet being topped with mozzarella cheese. Just a couple years later I had a similar experience at another restaurant, ordering a seafood scramble. This scramble was just a touch different than the seafood omelet I'd had at the other restaurant. The seafood in the scramble was the same, imitation crab that had been in the earlier omelet dish. However, the seafood scramble was topped with a dollop of sour cream that had a bit of dill weed folded into it.

A few days ago some gifts showed up from a good friend. Tad Cousino, owner and Executive Chef at the Frog Leg Inn in Erie, Michigan, arrived at our door with some extra salmon filets from his fishmonger, Superior Seafood in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Almost immediately, my mind went back to those earlier breakfast dishes.

Salmon and dill go together extremely well. The Swedes discovered this centuries ago when they developed Gravlax. In this dish, raw salmon is marinated in a brine with chopped dill for about three days. Made right with the freshest-possible salmon, the fish will simply melt in the mouth, the dill and salmon presenting an amazing balance of flavors.

I've made it a goal to create dishes that are specific to Michigan. After receiving these wonderful filets of salmon from the Chef, I began considering combining salmon and dill into a breakfast dish. We have salmon in these Great Lakes, transplanted here from the world's oceans. Dill grows readily here as do almost too many other herbs to count. And as to the eggs needed for a breakfast dish, there seem to be chickens everywhere.

Another concept I like to address in the dishes I create is whether or not they can be made in a single dish. Hunting and fishing are quite popular here in Michigan, and the folks who participate in those sports need good dishes they can create without too much trouble while not carrying a heavy load out into the field.

For equipment, all this dish needs is a skillet, a spatula, and a small bowl to scramble the eggs in. This would likely be even better if it were cooked in a cast iron skillet over an open flame. As fresh and flavorful as the salmon was that I used in this, I'd bet if the fish had been taken just a few minutes before after a long fight, it would be quite satisfying.

Dill & Salmon Breakfast Scramble

• 4 oz salmon filet, deboned and skinned
• 3 eggs
• Dill weed
• Sour cream

1. Preheat a 9-inch skillet over medium heat. Lay out the salmon filet and sprinkle it with the dill weed on one side, not being too generous but not too light either. Once the skillet is hot, add a little oil and, with the dill side down, lay in the salmon. Sprinkle the same amount of dill weed on the other side of the filet.

2. Break the eggs into a bowl and scramble them. Cook the salmon for only 3 - 4 minutes before turning it over. Cook it for just a few minutes on the other side before removing it to a board or plate. Give it a quick chop … it should flake apart.

3. As quickly as possible, add the eggs to the skillet so they'll start to cook, stirring and folding them with the spatula. Add the flaked salmon almost immediately so it will heat through together with the egg, continuing to stir and fold the mixture. Once the eggs are cooked through, remove the scramble to a plate.

4. Serve with a small dollop of sour cream and some lightly toasted and buttered basil garlic bread.