Nothing gets you over a psychopathic-murder-suspect-kidnapper-fugitive like drying chives and pulling beets.

Ya, well, chasing those types all over the place (like, to say, Baltimore for the past 4 days) is all in a days work as a bonafide member of the Media Circus. I can't officially connect my life here (that is, my personal live off the clock) with my professional life, but suffice it to say I just returned from an inglorious parade of non-stop concrete jungle stomping in pursuit of a curious lowlife.

I'm home now, thank goodness, to my husband, kitty and garden, which went through puberty and applied to college in my absence.

The tomatoes look like spent muppets whose strings have gone slack, and it's long past time, lordy lord, to harvest the chives. Other fabulous developents are the first ripe orange tomato (eaten and gone now), and the continued story of triumph and survival as the dear squash battle powdery mildew (with a little help from our "beautiful soup" spray).

Chives, chives, chives.

You don't need them until you need them, and then you have to spend 5 freakin' dollars on

a bunch of grass you could have grown yourself. So I harvested a bunch, and now what?

This post on iVillage Garden Web looked good:

• Posted by granite z6 NC (My Page) on Sat, Feb 25, 06 at 16:05

Next time instead of drying your chives and basil, wash them thoroughly and then spin dry in a salad spinner. Pack tightly into a freezer zip lock bag, squish the air out and freeze. Tastes close to fresh and its a lot less work than drying. Having said that, I like a few bundles of dried herbs hanging in my kitchen for decoration. I just don't consider them as cooking value due to dust, etc.

So, that's the plan right now. Will report back how well this works. If I forget, please remind me. (All you 12 readers out there. Hi, Grandma!)

And now, for the beets!

Dinner tonight will be wilted beet greens with a roasted beet and goat cheese salad with walnuts and a citrus vinaigrette! Don't ask me how to make it 'cause I'm going to make it up as I go. Will report, though.

And soon, dear solitary, imaginary reader, I will share with you the holy grail of bread recipes...