We just got back from a long (much needed) weekend in Portland, Oregon. It was great, we walked, we talked, we ate everything (I have never been so full in my entire life). Among all the sight seeing, and in between bites of food, I started to notice little splashes of yellow on all the trees.

It's happening people! 

Autumn is around the corner, and I couldn't be happier. As much fun as this summer was with hikes, and traveling, my work load was crazy. Seeing just a snippet of Fall is giving me the motivation to power through the rest of September. 

Honestly the only thing I am truly going to miss is my plants.

Not really sure if I told anyone, but over these past two months I have planted and grown an herb garden on my porch. It has turned into such a fun, little daily ritual. Every morning right after I made my coffee, I would head outside and stare at my garden bed. Hunting for new little sprouts of green, to offer words of encouragement. Just nice things like: good job chives! Look at you Mrs. Rosemary! Get some baby basil!

I have never really gardened before, so I am not entirely sure if this was a normal practice, but I thought, “what could it hurt?” I knew I was going to eat them eventually. I wanted to make sure they had a happy, positive life in the meantime.

By the time mid August came around I had a full grown herb garden. Happy, little plants ready for picking. It was so exciting, and at the same time a little upsetting. Knowing I would have to trim some of them left me feeling a bit verklempt. I somehow mustered up enough courage, and got to harvesting. Though I thought it was good practice to say thank you after each trimming, in hopes they wouldn’t hold to much of a grudge.

And if they were upset it definitely didn’t destroy the flavor. My herbs were delicious. I decided to make this fresh herb pasta right before we left for the weekend. I just kinda trimmed a bit of everything parsley, basil, rosemary, and sautéed them with some some garlic and olive oil. I tossed the pasta in right at the end, and topped it off with some grated parmesan. It was so wonderfully simple, and now that I know fall is coming I am going to try and use up as many herbs as I can. Maybe try my hand at drying some too!

This recipe is from Mario Batali