Girl Meets Kohlrabi

One of the reasons I wanted to get a farm subscription this summer is so we'd try some new vegetables. It's working.

Last night we had a couple of kohlrabi languishing in the lower fridge area, so I cut one into matchsticks and put it on the dinner table next to some normalizing celery and dip. I never know what will happen between my family and a plate of crudites. Sometimes there are horrible faces and ignoring. Sometimes everybody samples and gets very excited.

Nobody embarrassed himself over the kohlrabi.

I've never had it before. One or two people told me they eat it raw like carrots and celery. It has a pleasant crunch and a challenging hint of radish bite. Maybe it will grow on me.

Ben and I talked in bright, non-judgmental tones about its flavor and texture. I invited all of the boys to try it and only Owen took me up on it. He ate one piece, slowly and thoughtfully, then declined another. I tried to piece that together into a little bandwagon marketing campaign:

"Guess what? Dad, Mom and Owen all have something in common. We all tried kohlrabi for the first time on July 4, 2011!" If you try it, you'll be in our cool club.

I don't have a big future in marketing. Sam and Jude looked blankly at me and then talked about the year 2011. Who cares about stupid kohlrabi and your club.

Highlights of the week:

Jude & Owen eating baby carrots with tops. We'd just come home from the farm, they were playing in the yard, and I came outside with freshly scrubbed rabbit food. Jude yelled, "Owen, it's carrot snack time!"

Grilled garlic scapes. Ben says they are tricky to maneuver on the grill because they threatened to fall through the grate. The well-cooked segments tasted like mild roasted garlic.

Baked beets. I have no beet experience, so on Mark Bittman's suggestion I wrapped each beet individually in foil and baked for 45 minutes. Used a couple on tossed salad. I thought it was nice. Ben left most of them on the plate.