Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last weekend I picked up my final share of the season from Tantré Farm: the Thanksgiving share. It was so massive I had to split it into two pictures.

Root vegetable bonanza: squashes, potatoes, rutabaga, onions, more potatoes.

More veggies! Brussels sprouts, turnips, radishes, chard, cabbage, kale, spinach, beets, cauliflower, parsley...I know I'm forgetting something...

The whole thing. That's a lot of vegetables!

Obviously, clocking in at over 60 pounds (lowball estimate), there is enough food here to feed 30 people for Thanksgiving. As such, most of this is going into my refrigerator and the cool basement for storage. I am taking some Brussels sprouts to my parents' for Thanksgiving dinner because I am going to introduce everyone to the miracle that is roasted Brussels sprouts. (I can hear my brother now..."You want me to eat what? No way! Ewwwwww!" By the way, he's 31.)

I had to take some close-up pictures of quite possibly the most visually amazing vegetable I've ever seen. This is Romanesco broccoli (a variant form of cauliflower).

The thing that is so interesting about this vegetable-cum-work-of-art is that it exhibits a complex mathematical pattern known as a fractal.

Each of these points is a universe unto itself. The pattern repeats itself into infinity. This is quite the marvel of nature. I'm reluctant to eat it (but better to eat it than let it go to waste).

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

7 comments:

Laura said...

Oh that looks SO good and I'm totally jealous!!

Anonymous said...

I had an idea. When I get the notice to subscribe to the Tantre Farm, would you mind driving my check over for me? I will give it to you well in advance. I don't trust the mail enough to mail it....

Anonymous said...

Thank you for identifying the Romanesco broccoli! We had no idea what it was when we picked up our Thanksgiving share.

How do you plan to prepare this marvel of nature?

Anonymous said...

I love RB - for its amazingness. Somehow that color and fractal pattern make me feel all giddy. It looks more like a creature of the sea! But, I have not been into the taste. Let me know if you find a delicious way to prepare it. I prefer the graffiti cauliflower myself. =)K

MICHmash said...

The romanesco broccoli is probably the most surprising thing I'll unwrap this holiday season. Our's was still covered by leaves when I opened the share box.

Shayne said...

Wow It looks like this year was really good for the farmers all the CSAs that I have been drawling over all summer and full have looked so wonderful.

Diana Dyer said...

I still have not eaten my green spiral cauliflower (i.e. Romanesco broccoli - RB!) simply because it is so beautiful and almost mystical. :-) But I better cave in because I sure don't want it to end up in the compost pile or worm bin! Great pix of your Tantre share!