day four

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."




Until a couple years ago, cabbages, for me, were never something that should be paired with kings. Sealing wax, I could see. In fact, I imagined the taste was something similar to sealing wax... unspeakably bland and better suited for idiotic soup diets than my kitchen.

Then I discovered the magic of caramelization, and its reliable power to elevate and transmogrify even the most vanilla of vegetables.

Today I picked up a beautiful, firm, pale head of organic cabbage on my daily trek to FRESH. Generally speaking, I'm not one to grab something because of the organic label, but this cabbage was so cunningly displayed, scattered among halves of purple cabbage, the celadon and violet so lovely against each other... and anyone who knows me at all knows I am helpless against the allure of well-placed colors.

The cabbage (after being tossed into the air by my husband like a volleyball -- see below), ended up shredded, sauteed in chicken stock and olive oil, and thrown into a giant pot with rice soup, smoked chicken and asiago cheese. Hearty and warm, and an apt farewell to the winter months.

Day Four: a tasty, albeit safe, success.