Something A Little More Modest

After the poinsettia extravaganza of yesterday, here's something not quite so grand. It's our bay tree/laurel bush with Weihnacht decorations and it's in the stairwell. I think it looks cheerily odd.

Bay leaves perplex me. I've used them in recipes for years and I've never seen the point of them. I have never tasted a dish and thought "that bay leaf has made all the difference there. Without that distinctive bay leaf flavour, that would have been rubbish." I have absolutely no idea what a bay leaf tastes of.