Honey in the Hive: My Husband Can Still Surprise Me

June 10, 2014
My husband and I have been married almost 24 years and together over 25.  He can still stop me in my tracks and make me question do you ever really know someone?
 
For tonight's dinner I was fixing Chicken Parmigiana for two.  My sweetheart decided he'd stick around in the kitchen and help where he could even if that was just to keep me company.  I'm the cook in the family and soon you'll see why that works best for us.  
 
Chicken Parmigiano for Two
 
 
It turned out great, but let me explain how he helped.
 
I was busy cooking the tomato sauce and asked him to run out and get some basil from our garden.  Just a handful.  He looked worried about how he was going to identify the basil plant so I told him there were five of them.  What made him happy was when I said they were the only plants in which there were five.
 
So off he went and when he returned he brought me this bowl of basil leaves:
 
past its prime basil
 
 
I'm learning, albeit slowly, that I shouldn't criticize any help he offers.  I do like having him for company and he is handy at opening jars and barbecuing.  
 
So with his basil offering I proceeded to try to tear off any healthy green parts I could find.  I don't remember if it was he or I that brought up the condition of the leaves, but I think he noticed I was not using the bug bitten and brown parts.  I was concerned that maybe my plants weren't doing so well in the garden.
 
Au contraire, he tells me he purposely tore off the worst looking leaves for me, because he didn't want to hurt the plant.  He said these leaves looked like the ones the plant was ready to let go.  That the dark green ones were making the plant happy.  
 
How grateful and lucky I am to have a husband that worries about the feelings of a plant.