Have you noticed the flowers? The buds on the trees and, oh-my-goodness, the weeds? The ground is waking up and stretching. Even here, in our so-mild Bay Area winters, the soil needs to rub the sleep from its eyes and send tentative tendrils up to check the weather.
We are at the Almost Point.
The Almost Point catches me unawares every Spring, when the last of the winter crops are begging to be eaten, but the first of Spring's goodies are not quite ready.
Almost.
Soon, we'll have asparagus again. Soon, the berries will make an appearance and we'll have rainbows of red and blue and yellow to choose from. I've seen artichokes in the store but didn't have time to see if they were locally grown. But the fava beans are there, too and the greens along with them.
Spring is Almost here. So much food to eat and preserve. So little time.
I had a fun new experience last week, when my CSA box came with a beautiful, sweet cauliflower wrapped in a blanket of its own leaves.
Having grown up in suburban America, I didn't know cauliflowers had so many leaves. Large, elegant leaves that wrap around the vegetable. And I was suspicious.
Can they be eaten? I wondered. I bet they can.
They can.
I steamed with a batch of bok choy that needed to be used, along with a spring onion and sprinkle of soy sauce. Oh yes. Very good.
Why - grocery stores of America - why have you wasted years of our lives peeling off and throwing away these marvelous sources of greenness? Why have you taken your newly-naked, shivering cauliflower and wrapped it in plastic before placing in on the shelf?
At least two generations of Americans have grown up thinking this is what cauliflower looked like. We've grown obese and malnourished, while you've been throwing away our nutritious food.
We never had a chance.
I'm so glad it's Almost Spring. I'm not going to let a single plant get away from me this year. If we don't eat it within a few days, it gets cooked and put away for the future. Or dried. Or canned. Or frozen.
Leaves and all.
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