Bread and Herb Butter

I love bread and butter. I run into trouble when I go to restaurants that start you off with a big bowl of warm bread and some pats of butter- I eat it all until I am actually not hungry for what I ordered. It's usually worth it. I pretend not to know how little nutritional value a thing like bread and butter has. It's such a comfort food, I can tell even if it doesn't do much for my body (ok, anything) it is at least nourishing in another way. I sit on the couch with a magazine and eat some slices of french bread with butter and get crumbs everywhere and get grease on the corners of the magazine pages. I snack on some toasted sourdough slathered in butter and sprinkled with coarse salt at my desk while I study for a final or browse blogs. Tiny bread crumbs get in between the keys of my computer, causing the N key to require an extra hard push to work. It's all fine by me, I don't mind.

I was given a pot of thyme, oregano and rosemary from my mother on my birthday. I went out and bought a second one, too, and now they live on the sunniest windowsill in my living room. I remember to water them. I fuss over whether I should open the window for them, or if they get enough sun. I haven't clipped any yet.

I think I'll make some herb butter, slather it on some fresh bread, and sprinkle it with some coarse salt. I think that's all I need right now.

Simply chop up fresh herbs, and combine with soft cubes of butter. Add salt and fresh ground pepper, and even a squeeze of lemon juice if you wish. Knead it all together inside a piece of folded wax paper.

  Then form it into a cube, roll, pat or even put it in a cute shaped mold, and stick it in the fridge for a bit to chill.