Great name, no? Mama planted this stuff from seeds that her friend, Jacquie, sent and lo and behold (where did that come from? have to look it up), a forest of dark green, thick-leaved, lovely plants pushed up out of our garden’s magic soil to make a perfect hideaway for…guess who…? Or, guess whom? Haha.
In these hot summer afternoons, there I am, lounging and lazy under the canopy of the spigariello, which is, by the way, now one of the “happening” vegetables, whatever that means.
Mama says that in LA there is always something “happening”—a food, a piece of fashion, a way of exercising, meditating, dancing, thinking….whatever is “now” and “happening” is what everyone wants to do, be, think, etc. Mama says she just wants it on her pasta–basta.
So I am under the “happening” leaves of this delicious member of the chou family (cabbage, that is, in that other language), wondering when mama will discover me with her flashlight because it’s night and I have disappeared and can hear them calling, “Loulou, Loulou, where on earth are you?” As usual.
Maybe I blend into the earth here or something. They just never see me here and I’m certainly not GREEN!
Here’s what mama does with greens: Steam them first for 10 minutes or simply sauté in olive oil until they are wilted and getting crispy on the edges. Toss in a couple of garlic cloves, chopped and a tiny hot pepper and then guess what—a handful of biscotti crumbs!!!
You can eat this plain or add a bit more olive oil and some parmesan and toss it with pasta.
Personally, I don’t eat anything with hot peppers, but I have been known to chew on the occasional weed that grows under the spigariello plants. That’s AFTER the roll in the catnip—makes a kitty hungry, as you well know from that catnip that anthros sometimes roll in. Or is it just, roll?
They won’t find me here, either…
Loulou, we are impressed that your ape grows such a variety of cruciferous goodness, because this kind of stuff seems to do apes a lot of good. Our ape is considering the Biscotti crumbs.
We are also terribly pleased that you have catnip to roll in and roll over. Long may your euphoria last.
Any good slugs in those Nasturtiums? We have too many slugs in the SW UK to grow them successfully. Our ape has put the flowers in salad and ice cubes on occasion. She enjoys their prettiness, how she needs extra pretty in her life when she has us, we cannot fathom
As cats we only only accept catnip, silvervine, valerian, honeysuckle and oat grass as useful to nuzzle, chew and generally fawn over. Though we will hide under pretty much anything, especially at curfew time hehe.
I guess I am spoiled here as there are no slugs or snails or anything interesting to bat at or jump from and I just lie there and love the greenery and clementines, as they are called here (nasturtiums, that is) and what a GREAT idea to put them in ice cubes!! For Pimm’s…?
Mama does use them in salads all the time but they are NOT my plant. Give me the drugs any day…legalize catnip, NOW!