Artichokes..umm..hmmm

This artichoke was NOT growing in  Monterrey but in Bath, England of all places in a courtyard of an inn where we were staying

When you eat an artichoke you take a little bite,
Stick you in the finger if you don't hold it right.
Take a little nibble, throw away the rest,
Enough left over for a google-birdie nest.Malvina Reynolds from Artichokes

It must be artichoke season again. We were able to buy 3 of them for a low price and cook them last night to be served with butter-lemon-soy garlic sauce. Yum. I never saw them growing in CA but saw the ones that had gone to flower in Gagliano, Italy. Think of the world's biggest thistle flower..very bright magenta. The above artichoke plant I found in Bath, England.

No artichokes for me growing up. My mom went with the 4 cans alternating system: peas, corn, wax beans, green beans. We'd have corn on the cob in the summer. In college, I belonged to a  vegetable co-op. If there were extra vegetables, they would be placed in your bag where one day, I found an artichoke. I had no idea how to cook it but fortunately, a housemate who had more sophisticated tastes did. He showed me that everything you taste immediately after eating an artichoke was sweeter..especially milk. Later my kids quickly learned to love them. I'd cook them for their friends who for the most part, never had them before.

Wedding planning is going  slowly. Princess tastes with a pauper's budget make for plenty of conflicts.