"That got me thinking…"

So far, the “patty pan squash” is the weirdest looking vegetable to arrive in our share this season. (We have a half share at First Light Farm, which is beyond totally awesome. We have a peck of fruit each week too. Unbelievable. It’s also been very cool to get to know my farmer Mike, who informed me at this week’s pick up that he read my blog! Congrats to him as the first non-related, non-friend who I know (my new internet friends/fellow bloggers aside) who reads this…) Anyway. It took me about two weeks to a) stare intently at the aforementioned squash with no idea what it was or what to do with it and then b) google it. Actually, it was while we were on vacation with friends, and my friend boasted that his (non-Apple) smart phone was so…smart that it could take a picture of it and the intertubes would then magically tell us what it was. That sorta worked, but by the time we had finished our discovery, the squash had gone soft. Soft squash = no good.

At any rate, treat the patty pan (or as the green ones are called “Peter Patty Pans”) as you would a zuchinni or summer squash: slice and grill. Delicious!

But, that got me thinking about weird vegetables. And then I came across this article: “The Weirdest Vegetables.” I thought patty pans were kinda weird, and garlic snapes have their own snakelike allure to be sure but boy, these exotic veggies are just plain awesome.  Makes me so glad for the variety of harvests world-wide, but especially in my own backyard. Or Mike’s backyard.