In the mid 80’s I lived in a country without Saturday Night Live. It also lacked malls and all of the wonderful sights and sounds that these offered teenagers. In my mid-teens this seemed like an affront to my American personhood. I bitched about it quite a bit. Of course there was also no drinking age in said country, so that I could actually sit at a bar and complain about missing SNL. I could also go to the beach on a Greek island for a long weekend and complain about not begin able to go to the mall. My parents laughed at my complaints. They still laugh at me, but now it’s because of my clothing.
However, in my defense, I missed some important cultural touchstones. For instance Dana Carvey’s “choppin broccoli” sketch on SNL (http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/920731/). The odd nature of such cultural memes means that I know the song and it can get stuck in my head despite never having seen the video. The miracle of google and you tube (also google I suppose) now means I have seen it.
I sure wish I were on the beach in Santorini.
I’m not though. I am thought the possessor of a hell of a lot of broccoli.
pic.
This Sunday before the torrential rain I decided to harvest ten or so of my broccoli plants. I cut off the heads of broccoli then cut down the plants and fed the leaves to the chickens. As it was rather hot, I immediately submerged the heads in water and took them inside. Some years I add a little salt to the water as that tends to kill any beasties leaving in the heads. This year there weren’t so many worms, so i just let the water do its work.
After an hour or so, I microwaved a plate of broccoli at a time. Once cooled and in baggies, I popped it in the freezer. It is important to steam or microwave vegetables before freezing or enzymes in the plant will continue to work and will slowly spoil the food. Heat denatures the enzymes.
I left about five plants in the ground as they will continue to put out side shoots of broccoli into the early fall. We won’t have to dig into the frozen stuff until winter.
Perhaps you noticed an unusual kitchen appliance in the image above. I assure you that a bausch and laumb dissecting scope is essential in the kitchen.
In the mid 80’s I lived in a country without Saturday Night Live. It also lacked malls and all of the wonderful sights and sounds that these offered teenagers. In my mid-teens this seemed like an affront to my American personhood. I bitched about it quite a bit. Of course there was also no drinking age in said country, so that I could actually sit at a bar and complain about missing SNL. I could also go to the beach on a Greek island for a long weekend and complain about not being able to go to the mall. My parents laughed at my complaints. They still laugh at me, but now it’s because of my clothing and career.
However, in my defense, I missed some important cultural touchstones. For instance Dana Carvey’s “choppin broccoli” sketch on SNL. The odd nature of such cultural memes means that I know the song and it can get stuck in my head despite never having seen the video. The miracle of google and you tube (also google I suppose) now means I have seen it.
I sure wish I were on the beach in Santorini.
I’m not. I am the possessor of a hell of a lot of broccoli.
This Sunday before the torrential rain I decided to harvest ten or so of my broccoli plants. I cut off the heads then cut down the plants and fed the leaves to the chickens. As it was rather hot, I immediately submerged the heads in water and took them inside (broccoli heads, not chicken). In years past I added a little salt to the water as that tends to kill any beasties living in the heads. This year there weren’t so many worms, so i just let the water do its work.
After an hour or so, I microwaved a plate of broccoli at a time. Once cooled and in baggies, I popped it in the freezer. It is important to steam or microwave vegetables before freezing or enzymes in the plant will continue to work and will slowly spoil the food. Heat denatures the enzymes.
I left about five plants in the ground as they will continue to put out side shoots of broccoli into the early fall. We won’t have to dig into the frozen stuff until winter.
Perhaps you noticed an unusual kitchen appliance in the image above. I assure you that a bausch and laumb dissecting scope is essential in the kitchen.
