We did a new garden segment last week Tuesday, 9/30 on NBC4 at 4pm. It was on fall garden edibles and getting another flush of blooms from your roses. Both are featured articles in our current issue of Washington Gardener Magazine. If you watched you saw one minor flub -- the cameraman focused on the Swiss Chard when the teaser headline said "Fall Rose Blooms." But hey, that was just to test if you all were paying attention.For me, the deer-caught-in-the-headlights moment was when meterologist Chuck Bell asked me how one actually prepares that Swiss Chard to eat it. I think I recovered quickly enough to blurt out "you cook it" and then moved on to the other edibles. Whose idea was it anyway to put two non-cooks live on-air discussing growing edibles? Inevitably the topic of how to prepare and eat them would arise. I can't blame Chuck for that -- though I can question why he assumed I would know the answer.
Don't you know some of us gardeners just grow things to see if they will actually grow? No intention of consuming them ourselves you see. Instead, we just pass on any bounty we create to those who enjoy the kitchen arts. That pot over-flowing with herbs? I have not once used so much as one leaf in food prep this year. Those red, ripe tomatoes? Left on the vine until the squirrels steal them. Sure I feel the occasional twinge of guilt that I'm not making the most of my edible patch, but in my head they are all grown as "experiments" and were I to actually have to rely on them for sustenance, it'd be a rather sad diet.
About 2 minutes before I went to your blog, I was reading the NY Times food section that had articles on Swiss chard. Weird!
ReplyDeleteWere you wearing an apron? Maybe that confused Weatherman Chuck.
Yes, I did have a work apron on so that could throw things.
ReplyDeleteSwiss Chard is coming into its own now - it is just too pretty.
You don't have to cook tomatoes. You can just snack on them. Did you really not eat any of them?
ReplyDeleteKathy P - yes, I snack on a few cherry and tiny pear ones right off the vine. But those I bring in with thoughts that I'll actually do something with them just end up as kitchen window decor. So I try to give out as much as I can to lessen my guilt. I think if I was home for more meals the situation might change - as it is I'm booked out at garden meetings and such most every eve and lunch on the run isn't helping my waistline either!
ReplyDeleteI laughed out loud at this one. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, cooking is not your forte, is it? No worries, I cook and kill every plant I have.
Thanks for stopping by Gila - and yes, this is why I need to marry a cook. Oh, and a skilled carpenter. And yeah, if he could dance too - that'd be nice. :-)
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