Bragging On Bryan

I just had to take a break from all the formal entries for a minute and tell you how awesome I think my boyfriend is. No, not because of anything mushy or vomitous. Come on now, I'm not the "heeeey y'all, my boo sent me flowers today and he's the bestest boyfriend in the whooooole wooooorld" type who plasters ridiculous things like that on Facebook or whatever. What really gets me going isn't flowers or chocolates or fancy massage oils, anyway…it's the fact that my love can grow a damn garden. 

Before I left for Italy, Bryan had talked about building a couple of planter boxes for some simple herbs and tomatoes. He's got a really big backyard that he's been wondering what to do with for a while but he decided to build these boxes instead of plant in the yard. He did the tomatoes and then some herbs including 7 different kinds of basil! This is what it started as:

I was totally excited and impressed by that. I can't grow a damn thing so, as a hopeful chef, that really needs to change so I can have my own garden that I use stuff from to serve my tasty delights to faithful patrons. Anyway, as things started to grow, Bryan discovered how much he was loving it. He actually surprised himself with how interested he was in it and he got the itch to do something more with his backyard.

Before I knew it, I was getting texts and photos of the progress of his new garden. We're talking his whole yard here and, like I just said, it's big. Fast forward to today and this is what he's got going on:

Yeah, he's got corn and beans and lettuce and peppers and so many other things. I swear, if I ever thought he was sexy before, it's been topped big time. To me, there aren't too many things that really make me swoon when it comes to guys simply because it takes a lot to get me. No, I'm not a high maintenance bee-atch, I'm just a little picky. Honestly, I like two things - off the beaten path looks with tattoos or piercings (Johnny Depp, I'm in Lucca in case you're looking for me since splitting with ol' Vanessa Paradis) and a dude who loves food. Lucky for me, I got both with Bryan! Seriously though, my favorite part of being in culinary school, in Italy especially, is the way people care truly about the ingredients. They're like someone's child with the way they take care of and nurture them which is what Bryan is like with his. The guy was getting up at 5:30am just to water and check on the garden! That, my friends, is sexy.

I may be in Italy with lots of cool things going on but man, I'd really give anything to tear off some basil and tomatoes from the backyard and whip up a killer sauce in my own home. Bryan, I'll teach you to cook if you teach me to grow. Deal? Cider for you, wine for me and we've got ourselves a heck of an evening. (Can Johnny Depp come too if I throw in some homemade strawberry-rhubarb pie?)