Most of us have at least one set of well-matched and perfectly happy friends. It’ important to have a model for what life could be like when certain stars are aligned.
There once was a time when I would have called my friends obnoxiously happy, but new love fades. When my merry friends first became a couple they couldn’t stop touching each other — at the dinner table, in the car, on the front porch, on the back porch, pretty much any location where one of their hands was within three feet of the other.
I think they were in their late 40s or early 50s.
They have been together for a while, and that new love attribute has softened to a steady display of affection.
I envy them, of course. How could I not? They are the “ever-after” to every romantic comedy. Because they are bursting with goo for each other, it bubbles over. When I visit I feel warm and appreciated, which is very much needed after nine months of living in a COVID cave.
“You need to see our cauliflower,” my enthusiastic friend said, knowing that the idea would entice me. The visit was on a Saturday, and my friends live halfway between Chico and my mother’s house. Yes, I would stop by for a peek.
I won’t say they were still in their pajamas, because this is the time of COVID. They may have simply been in their lounging outfits and had no reason to leave their house that day, this week or anytime soon.
Their extremely well-adjusted 6-year-old granddaughter usually gives me the tour of the yard. She points out things I might have overlooked — a plastic monkey in the bird house or a concrete turtle hiding in the elbow of a tree. This time the whole family was there to show me their white shining star.
How this vegetable grew to such grandeur is one of those great garden mysteries.
When I saw the yard in late summer I had not noticed a cauliflower plant. They had not noticed either. All you could see was a tangle of squash leaves, overflowing into the walkway.
When the tattered squash plant was recently removed, the friendly family found sturdy leaves and the white cruciferous vegetable.
Indeed, I really did need to see this. It really was the most beautiful cauliflower I had ever seen. It really was larger than their granddaughter’s head.
Are things more beautiful when they are unexpected? I think so.
They planted seeds in the spring and were not paying much attention. The seed packets had been handed to their granddaughter, who couldn’t be expected to read instructions. When plants began to grow, they were simply delighted.
My mother was expecting me before nightfall, so I could not accept the invitation to stay for dinner in their garden. I’m certain it was delicious. Without doubt they were wildly happy.
I’ll try to replicate something in my own yard this year. I’ll hide some cauliflower seeds at the edge of my raised bed, maybe at the same time I plant my summer squash. Maybe something wonderful like this could happen to me as well.
Cauliflower cultivation
The UC Master Gardeners of Santa Clara, http://mgsantaclara.ucanr.edu/garden-help/vegetables/cauliflower, note that the vegetable can turn wonky colors when exposed to the sun. Some folks will fold the leaves over the emerging cauliflower head. In this same way, the wild squash leaves shaded my friend’s cauliflower.
The leaves, by the way, are also highly edible and nutrient-packed. The same goes for broccoli greens.
I don’t know about other gardeners in Chico, but I’ve always been disappointed when I try to grow broccoli. The florets arrive, but when they are bit-sized, they go to seed. Rather than admit I had wasted my time, I ate the leaves.
You can cook broccoli or cauliflower leaves the same way you cook spinach or kale — with garlic, ginger and citrus.
For better eating, remove the center stem.
The FoodPrint.org website has some interesting ideas for cauliflower leaves, including cauliflower slaw, or using the leaves as wrappers for ground meat and rice.
I’m fairly certain that when I tell my friends, they’ll be wild with happiness.