Vegetable!

A strange place to start maybe, but it is a subject close to my heart, so here I go, I am a lover of my veggies and will eat all varieties offered with the exception of the broad bean and that is cos I am too lazy to peel the hard shell off, otherwise these are good too.

I had visited America several times before moving here, and assumed the reason I dreamed of veg half way through the second week was due to having the whole American experience and ordering every fat laden item on the menu, but having been here 6 months I have had to face the problem head on and admit that it is probably the high price and lack of variety that is more to blame... Although I have to say the corn on the cob has been the best I have ever eaten and the Apples ummm! the apples are fantastic and I can't wait for the next harvest.

so some of my musings on this subject;

On a menu "seasonal veg" means Broccoli...nothing else, don't get excited, it is always broccoli, this is a fact and I have done extensive testing on this subject without any fear for my own safety or waistline.

Carrots, come in 2 forms, carrot shaped and some sort of FBI witness protection program shape unrecognisable as a carrot except in color!

corn on the cob in a resturant, ask for it without all the rubbish on it, don't be fooled, this is an attempt by veg haters to make it inedible and as stated before, they are lush.

eggplant does not belong on a pizza.

Is it state law that no more than 1 vegatable is allowed on a Pizza? and if more than 1 they must be the most improbable mixing thereby making it yukky, I quote from a random menu selected by me from the menu draw...(I love this country there are so many places to eat the menus need their own draw) "vegetable pizza, onions, pepper, mushroom, olives (so far so good, but wait for it) broccoli !!! and tomatoes...

Broccoli AND eggplant DO NOT belong on a pizza!!

Roast onions and pepper do not exsist on a pizza in this state, you have to have so much of the fresh stuff that it becomes a soggy, slimy mess.

actually this is becoming a little pizza related...

You can't buy runner beans only squeeky ones...don't remember the name, they taste lovely don't get me wrong, I am not one of those squeeky bean haters, its just that they are not runner beans, I did some extensive research on this subject, well googled it, thinking it was possibly a native of Europe or something, but no shock horror! it is a native American plant, and not only that, native to New England!! where I currently reside, much prized food of the Native Americans and rejected by the early settlers in order to cut their numbers, prefering to starve to death! this was also much researched... well a Bill Bryson book on America.

It is illegal to sell prepared potato without fat being added.

Savoy cabbage must be kept until it is a little bit withered and soft before it can be displayed in a shop (of course that could just be my local supermarket)

So what to do? I could go home and be surrounded by all my lovely farm shops again which obviously I don't want to do, after all its only veg and I do like broccoli within reason, or grow my own! genius! I have absolutely no experience of gardening prefering the slash and burn and cover it in grass method, however I have a large plot which the previous owner kindly put over a small part to gardening and some lovely top soil by the looks of it, don't ask me how I know this, cos I don't really, I am an optimist.

so $100 later I await my seeds and even managed to track down the elusive runner bean, helpfully located in the flower section of my Johnny's seed catalog!!!!!!