I almost gave up on it completely. Little did I know, it would be brighten up my day today.

I’m talking about cilantro. You might call it coriander or Chinese parsley, but I call it a plant that doesn’t like growing in North Texas.

I never had any trouble growing it in a little pot in my tiny backyard in Toronto. But try as I might, I could not make it flourish in Dallas.

I planted some last spring. It became crispy in the North Texas sun. I tried again in the fall. The same thing happened. Or so I thought.

Apparently my sickly cilantro likes winter!

Today when I wandered outside to check out the garden and make sure the 3G Network wasn’t feasting on kale or rolling on fresh compost, I saw three bushy mounds of cilantro where my once scraggly plants were planted!

Of course I picked some. It will grace a dish of Quinoa and Roasted Corn from Mark Bitman’s excellent cookbook How to Cook Everything for tonight’s dinner. I’ll savour every mouthful — and hope that I’ve finally found the proper growing time for cilantro. Maybe it’s also an annual that’s a perennial down here. One can only hope!

Other crops that are getting closer to harvest:
Brussels sprouts (they’re purple!)
Romesco broccoli (looks like a Gaudi house’s turret)

Ongoing harvests:
Nero kale
Mixed salad greens
Parsley
Mustard greens
Spinach
Collard greens
Swiss chard
Thyme
Oregano
Red romaine

PS: Thank you to everyone for their well-wishes while I was so sick with the flu. I am feeling much better though I found that I got tired easily today.