Where do Brussels sprouts come from?

I thought they came in little green pint cartons, but no. They come on stalks.

I never even wondered how they actually grow before. This is the best idea Brussels sprouts have ever had.

I can't believe how much stuff we got today.

I got the ingredients for an Indian Lentil Soup my friend Jen gave me the recipe for, and I'm making that tomorrow. It has red lentils, red peppers, sweet potatoes and curry. Would have been great for this very cold week. The coming week should be warmer, so we'll consider this a trial run.

I should have missed the farmers' market today, because I should have been on North Broad Street learning about Discrete Math and Matrix Algebra in my final day-long Math Immersion class. The Praxis exams are next Saturday, and we have our final review session Tuesday night.

But SEPTA drivers are still on strike (pesky union wants the ability to check and see whether the workers' pensions actually exist - imagine that), and even though AccuWeather said it was 40 degrees, as AccuWeather says every morning at 8 o'clock, my face hurt from the cold by the time I got back from the ATM this morning, and that's only a block and a half away. It was in the low-ish 30s, I would say, and windy. There was no way I was riding my bike in that. (I think someone from AccuWeather comes by my living room and paints a "40 degrees" and a sunshine on my computer screen every morning just before 8 o'clock, regardless of the weather.)

So I went to the farmers' market, and I learned that Brussels sprouts grow on stalks. Several tables actually had Brussels sprouts, which is great news, because they've become a staple for me recently. I love to saute them with sauerkraut, as a side for lettuce, tomato, and onion sandwiches. But only one table had them on stalks. So we went for that.

Saturday shopping list

1 stalk of Brussels sprouts
1 lb of red beans
1 lb of red lentils
5 or 6 sweet potatoes
4 red peppers
maroon carrots
1 head of green leaf lettuce
1 head of purple cauliflower
1 head of Romanesque broccoli (Romanesco broccoli, Roman cauliflower)
1 head of Nappa cabbage
a bunch of fresh fennel
6 tomatoes
several small yellow onions
1 Portabella cap
a jar of strawberry jelly
2 apples
1 ounce coriander
1 ounce southern spice mix
1 loaf multi-grain bread
1 loaf sourdough bread
3 chocolate-banana muffins

total: $56.76

No repeat of the bizarrely low bill from last week. I really have to let Mark go to the market alone more often, apparently.

In line at one of the tables today, I was writing down prices and items, and one of the vendors asked about the notebook. I mentioned I write a blog about food, and both the vendor and some other customers asked for the name of the blog. If you're reading, hello, and welcome.

We're going to use the Nappa cabbage in soup. A vendor tells us the fennel is good in stir-fry. The Romanesque broccoli is great in stir-fry with Brussels sprouts.

I think the theme this week is red. Red lentils, red peppers, sweet potatoes, purple cauliflower, maroon carrots, red beans, and I'm making a red soup.

And green, because I learned about the Brussels sprouts. Red and green. Merry Christmas.

Oh, that reminds me, I did go to my class, for the last two hours, when I worked up the nerve to ride my bike all the way from West Philly to North Broad in the wind, which was still cold even though the temperature allegedly warmed up into the upper 50s. My instincts said don't go, but I went because I wanted the textbook that was supposed to be delivered in class today, which I would love to read before my exams next Saturday. Found out in class that it was just a cruel joke - the textbooks will be delivered at our final session Tuesday night.

So. Happy effing Holidays.

Look at my perfect math vegetable.

I spent all day in math class today, a crash course in functions and calculus.

Then I come home, and Mark has brought this perfect fractal home from the farmers' market.

It's a Romanesco broccoli, also called a Roman cauliflower, or coral broccoli.

I don't want to cut it.

Sometimes, when someone decides to be an asshole, they say something to me like, "Well, what about plants? Don't you think plants have feelings?" (Unfathomably, used as a reason why I should eat animals, because there's an outside chance plants might have feelings.) Obviously, such a statement doesn't get a serious response.

But in this case?

It's not that I think it has feelings. It's just that it spooks me, because I think it might have reason. How did it do the math, to come up with those perfect spirals and cones? It's a plant. It grew its nutrition into spines and cones like a coral. Shouldn't it live free under the water somewhere off a coast? Shouldn't something with tentacles develop a partnership with it that allows them both to hunt?

Look at it from different angles:


Any non-profit types reading this know how to open a museum?

On top of being stunning, this thing is a good source of vitamin C, potassium, and carotenoids, among other things, I'm sure, but they don't list it on NutritionData.com.

OK. It's late at night. I took a lot of time to unwind after my seven-hour math class today. I couldn't go to the farmers' market this morning; class started at 9 a.m. But I hear we did very well at the market.

Saturday shopping list

That perfect Roman cauliflower
10 Brussels sprouts (a pint)
1 head of green leaf lettuce
1 bunch of kale
4 small white onions
2 red onions
maroon carrots
1 pint tomatillos
2 leeks
blue potatoes
white potatoes
2 portabella caps
1 very large garlic bulb
1 oz ground rosemary
1 loaf multi-grain bread
3 chocolate-banana muffins

total: reportedly about $33

I don't see how that's possible, but that matches up with the amount of money we still have, so OK. Pretty miraculous. I think he flirted with all the Amish girls and got crazy discounts. Heheh. That's my baby.

I was going to broil some potatoes tonight, which would have been my first experience with broiling anything.

When the kitchen filled with smoke, I changed my mind, and after it cleared out, I roasted some blue potatoes.

They are dressed with olive oil, rosemary, oregano, garlic (2 cloves, crushed), and salt. Roasted in the oven for about half an hour at about 375 degrees. But... 375 degrees after pre-heating the oven to broil and then turning it off and letting the kitchen air out, so, however many degrees that is.

I needed some good food. Last night, I fed myself fried potatoes, sauerkraut with semi-nasty fake hot dogs, and raw tomatillos. I was kind of down and only got lower after that dinner. The potatoes were undercooked. Today I had Subway for lunch (6" Veggie Max on wheat with spinach, lettuce, tomato, onion, green peppers, and mustard, and a bag of barbecue chips). After class, I had a tofu hoagie from Fu-Wah, which is great, but, you know, it's another tofu hoagie from Fu-Wah.

So tonight, with the perfectly-roasted and seasoned potatoes, I had a couple of Brussels Sprouts I had seared in a pan with just oil and salt. Brussels Sprouts are great for protein and iron. I love how the outer layers of the sprouts get crispy in the oil, and I love the burned taste of the browned, cut edges.

Here are things I want to do in the coming days: Make a potato-leek soup and garnish each bowl with crispy Brussels Sprout layers. Make mashed potatoes and do the same thing. Do something with that perfect vegetable at the start of this post.