HUNGRY GERALD

For years, for decades really, this is a much maligned vegetable. Like kale, brussel sprouts have become surprisingly trendy. HG presumes the vegetable’s former bad reputation was caused by institutional lunches where they were overcooked into mush. Gifted Daughter Lesley R. is an expert brussels sprouts cook. She separates the leaves and gives them a squick stir fry in olive oil, garlic and herbs. For festive occasions she adds crumbled bits of crisp bacon. Lesley’s brussels sprouts are a very delicious accompaniment to almost any dish–fish, meat or fowl. Last night’s dinner was rare rib steak with Lesley’s sprouts plus quartered Prince Edward Island potatoes roasted to crispness in the oven. Good eating on a rainy, windy night (PEI is feeling the after effects of Hurricane Michael). BSK always liked brussel sprouts. They accompanied the Sunday roast beef when young BSK lived with her grandparents in Sarnia, Ontario. BSK’s loving grandmother told the little girl that brussel sprouts were “fairy cabbages”. That made the vegetable desirable.