Scorpions in the Brain

Let me start this blog off with an apology to myself and to you, my dear readers. I just re-read yesterday's entry: I sound like Pitiful Pauline! Whining, sniveling, woe is me. I promise you that you will not read again of my pathetic lack of a love life. That's my new rule for myself...no more pity parties. I can't let myself get down like that as I am the only one who can pick me back up. So - - no more of that nonsense (I'm metaphorically brushing myself off LOL). I had a nice little surprise yesterday. A co-worker who knows of my interest in herbs brought in for me a pot of mint and a pot of basil and mint planted together. He and his wife have a garden and grow all kinds of vegetables and herbs, in addition to the chickens they raise and eggs they sell. I did some research to see how I can grow mint and basil as organically as possible all year round inside my apartment so I looked on the Herb Society of America's web page to learn more about basil propogation. In addition to growing information, I found some really interesting information about its history:

"Basil has a long and interesting history steeped in legend. Probably originating in Asia and Africa, it is thought to have been brought to ancient Greece by Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.E.), to have made its way to England from India in the mid 1500s and arrived in the U.S in the early 1600s. It was grown in medieval gardens and is mentioned in many classic herbals, including those of Culpeper, Gerard, Parkinson and Dioscorides. Basil's folklore is as complex as its flavor and aromas. In terms of its legend and symbolism, basil has been both loved and feared. Its associations include such polar opposites as love and hate, danger and protection, and life and death.The generic name, Ocimum, derives from the ancient Greek word, okimon, meaning smell, which suggests the impressive nature of basil's fragrance. The specific epithet, basilicum, is Latin for basilikon, which means kingly/royal in Greek. Henry Beston, in Herbs of the Earth, suggests that basil was so named for the regal "Tyrian" purple color [of its flowers]. According to Parkinson, basil's scent was "fit for a king's house." Many authors suggest that basil's negative associations stem from the similarity of its Latin specific epithet, basilicum, to the name of the basilisk (or basilicus), the mythical serpent with the lethal gaze. According to Helen Noyes Webster's 1936 Herbarist article, the first mention of basil was by Chrysippus (pre-206 B.C.E.): "Ocimum exists only to drive men insane." In his seventeenth-century herbal, Parkinson claimed basil could be used "to procure a cheereful and merry heart." Gerard praised basil as a remedy for melancholy but also repeated Dioscorides' warning that too much basil "dulleth the sight...and is of a hard digestion." Culpeper and Gerard claimed basil would cure scorpion and bee stings, and Gerard mentioned that basil could spontaneously generate worms if chewed and left in the sun. Basil was also reputed to cause the spontaneous generation of scorpions and to cause scorpions to grow in the brain. This connection with scorpions persists to this day in basil's association with the astrological sign, Scorpio. Culpeper sums up the disagreement among ancient writers by deeming basil "the Herb which all Authors are together by the Ears about, and rail at one another like Lawyers."

I feel vindicated! I wasn't really depressed. I wasn't really having a pity party for one. I found my answer as to what happened...the night before my whatever-it-was-thing, I had eaten some fresh basil with fresh mozzerella on fresh baguette and topped it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The basil made scorpions grow in my brain!