Branching out...

Artichokes. I'm 37 years old and I have never eaten an artichoke. Truthfully, I've never had the slightest desire to... Rhys, however, is rather intrigued by anything with spikes (vegetable or not)! It seems our local Costco carries this odd culinary treat. Couple Rhys' curiosity with my rule of never denying a request for any veggie or fruit (particularly anything new to us) and we brought home four of these things...

I am not adventurous but I am on a mission to feed my family well. Alas, buying the artichoke is not enough. Apparently, one has to actually cook & consume them to reap any health benefits. (Sort of like the treadmill... one has to actually get on it AND turn it on AND run... Grrrrr!)

So, dinner with friends on Saturday became the occasion of choice to debut these green pokey globes . Jason did a little internet research and discovered that they can be microwaved in lieu of steamed (our steamer basket is too shallow). He did that and then grilled them for a bit. Served alongside melted butter, we dared one another to try them. Four adults and six kids trying to figure out how to eat those 2 artichokes. We liked them once we figured out what part is actually edible... but as Jason says, "Anything that hard to eat doesn't really want to be food."

Verdict? We have two more to cook. We will cook & eat those. Nonetheless, I'm guessing, short of a specific request, artichokes probably won't make my grocery list.

However, the rest of dinner was worthy of a repeat. We made Bangkok Chicken Satay (chicken skewers with peanut sauce), fresh cauliflower & broccoli (from the farmer's market) and wild rice (made in the awesome new rice cooker~ our old rice cooker wouldn't adjust for brown/wild rice).

I took no photos so you'll just have to take my word for it... Delicious!!!