Kohlrabi My Old Friend

So, as always, I haven't blogged in a long time and I still owe a lot of you thank you notes.

Let's pretend that neither of those things are true. Let's also pretend that I'm not responsible for my organization's blog and that I haven't neglected it for about a month too. Let's just start as though we were friends that actually talked on a regular basis and you knew so much about what was going on in my life that my babbling about food we've eaten recently/recipes we enjoy would be natural.

Good, I'm glad we got that out of the way!

Anyway, we went to a Free Friday Flick a couple of weeks ago to celebrate my friend C's birthday. The movie was Tangled. I am pretty sure that Disney declared that after Tangled they were going to stop making princess movies because they don't have the turn out they used to. Let me just say that I like princess movies, I am especially partial to Sleeping Beauty, but generally I'll watch any princess movie (it's Bambi I hate!!). I don't think that Tangled is an indication that they should stop making princess movies, I think it's an indication they should stop making shitty, trite movies that simply aren't funny. . . The absolute funniest part of that movie was when the witch/mother says: "I don't want to be the bad guy" and a kid a couple of blankets over from us shouted "YOU ALWAYS _WERE_ THE BAD GUY!"

C enjoys a good theme as much as I do, so for her birthday we pulled out all the stops on a salad themed menu. There were about six salads, but the top salads based on consumption seem to be the Vietnamese Shrimp and Glass Noodle Salad and the Corn Salad with a sweet lemon dressing and salty/crunchy sesame seeds. I also tried this watermelon salad and learned that I love the combination of dill and watermelon (I think I like it more than basil or mint and watermelon) but I am just not a sake fan -- at least not the kind I used.

Skipping ahead to last weekend (BECAUSE WE TALK ALL THE TIME REMEMBER?!?) we hosted two brunches (listen, we're not clean people so when our house is in some semblance of order we have to make the most of it). On Saturday we had friends over to the house who had gifted us with a waffle maker and a toaster for our wedding (I mean doesn't that sort of imply that they expect to be invited to brunch?). We had two types of waffles plain and banana (we used mixes, but I feel no guilt, the stonewall kitchen mixes are super yummy) and a slew of toppings: there was blackberry lemon butter (my boy thinks I needed to push it a little more because it tasted mostly just like colored butter), Amish butter (from Lancaster and everything!), freshly made vanilla whipped cream, bananas in brown sugar, lemon curd, peanut butter sauce, and this super easy praline ice cream sauce (I know it calls for pecans we used walnuts) -- I would use salted nuts next time or add a little salt to the recipe.

We also offered various bread products to be toasted and a yummy egg dish I like to make with caramelized onions, sausage, sharp cheddar cheese and dollops of ricotta. To wash it all down we had iced coffee using this recipe, maple lemon iced tea (I did not make it well), and mimosas (both orange and grapefruit).

I had high hopes for our organization and planned on making some sample menus for people, things like, "the new england elvis waffle" banana-bacon waffle with peanut butter sauce and maple syrup; "The nutty monkey," a banana waffle with brown sugar bananas and caramel walnut sauce; and then I ran out of ideas. . . I had plenty more toppings just no more clever names :).

One of our friends is a plain vanilla kind of guy and so when I asked him what type of waffle he wanted and what he wanted on it (mind you, by Saturday we'd added a maple waffle to our list using these pellets from King Arthur Flour) he sort of balked. Later I asked him what he wanted to drink and he said, do I have to pick a topping for that too?! Of course, these brunches occurred before I read this article.

Whew, I see why more bloggers use pictures in their posts :). If I haven't lost you already in the long boring lists of food we've made and eaten, I thought I'd try one more. On Monday night we got our delivery of vegetables and I was giddy with excitement. Included in our box was a kohlrabi. I haven't had kohlrabi since I was a little kid and I'd wander across the street to our neighbor's yard. They had a double lot and one whole lot was devoted to their incredible garden, row after row of raspberry bushes, strawberries, fresh carrots, and other yummy items, including kohlrabi.

One of the bloggers I read was complaining about kohlrabi and how much she not only didn't like it but refused to believe she ever would like it. Growing up we ate it raw, just sliced that puppy up and ate it like you would a carrot stick. It was mildly flavored and totally refreshing. It's sort of like daikon in it's refreshing crispness, but with a subtle cabbagey flavor. It looks like a majority of people eat it cooked. If we get another one, perhaps I'll try this recipe, but our kohlrabi is long gone, eaten raw with much pleasure as soon as it was brought into the house.

A lot of blogs I read end with a question, so I'll leave you with this, what vegetable do you absolutely adore which you don't eat often enough?