In praise of the cauliflower
The Hodmandods in this household (rather unusually for molluscs) do not favour the cauliflower. Once Hodmandod Senior woke claiming to have had a nightmare about them. I'm not sure what happened to him in this dream but he wouldn't touch a floret for months afterwards.
I, however, am quite fond of the cauliflower, especially with cheese, and think them quite beautiful. Another thing that struck me as interesting as I was plunging my knife into this one's hard white little heart a few minutes ago, was that the outer surface consists of fractals.
It also reminds me of a brain, a lump of coral, a cloud, a piece of fungus, white paint dispersing underwater, pillow lava seen through red glass, malachite in a dim light and the mashed potato which tonight turned up on the plate next to it. So not a good menu choice. I think Hodmandod Senior is in for another bad night.
posted by Clare Dudman at 5:53 pm
7 Comments:
I am puzzled about something that happened in that void between childhood and parenthood (an interval in which I never went into a supermarket), ie that food shops put cauliflower florets and broccoli "heads" (is that the word? or are they "florets" too?) together in a bag. Why? Is there some rule that says you have to eat these vegetables together? When I was a girl, nobody ever had broccoli cheese (or even broccoli, come to think of it). Yet in my first emergence into parentood, I discovered this dish one day, in the aisle of M&S.
The evolution of eating habits is most strange and wondrous to me.
(Maxine)
Yes, Maxine, it's strange where all these 'new' vegetables have come from and why.
I can't even remember when I first saw my first bit of broccoli but am still inclined to think of it as exotic. Courgettes I do remember encountering for the first time - boiled, watery, too soft and slightly bitter - at college. At first I didn't like them, but now I do - but they have to be stir-fried in a pan with other exotics - red onions, chestnut mushrooms and red peppers.
Cauliflower Cheese is my prime comfort food.
I loved it as a child and still make it, now and then, as a treat.
I'm so pleased to see I'm not the only one whose brain works like this. Imagination sometimes gets the better of me, turning things askew until nothing just is anymore, its always a list of others things as well!
I loved this post!
Me too, Anne!
Jem - I think that is, in some ways, a definition of creativity - the ability to think askew.
Thanks S!
Terms of endearment for the humble cauli. It's a poem! Lovely.
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