On Recent Foods

i strongly recommend that folks

should eat a lot of artichokes.

steamed or sauteed, stuffed or dipped,

i am fully arti-whipped.

these were from a local farm,

pricey? yes! but what's the harm

in steaming up a few to see

'bout total veggie luxury.

pull a leaf off, scrape with teeth:

discard, repeat, 'til a wreath

of cast-off leaves rings 'round your plate,

and leaves a heart you're glad you ate.

grass-fed, local, gently raised--

one tastes the plants on which s/he grazed.

within the parthenon of meat,

little lamb chops reign elite.

garlic shards and fresh green beans,

lightly butter-sauced and steamed

lend the taste of summertime

to any plate they touch of mine.

early corn! the sun's warm rays

are captured, into sugar made

and packaged into rows and rows

of tasty kernels. tall it grows,

'til harvested and grilled in foil.

corn demands such little toil--

touched with salt and kissed by butter,

it makes gastronomics flutter.

seek the holy leafy grail?

look no further than sweet kale.

green of leaf, oft veined in red

kale is cabbage, finely bred.

chopped, sauteed and garlic-blessed,

this queen of greens outshines the rest.

Spring Break!

with the spring comes warmth and rains, so trees begin a-budding
and fowl, freed from coop constraints, go merrily a-mudding
to seek and ingest grass and seeds with eager scratch-and-pecks,
while drunk on pollen from the weeds are slow-flying insects.

the sun climbs back from southern climes a little more each day,

giving light for longer times, inspiring hens to lay.

finding four eggs in the nest is common happenstance;

the rooster preens his feathered breast and struts his mating dance.

the coop was scrubbed, vinegar-spritzed, and stuffed with brand new hay,
we held a household/closet cleaning blitz the other day.
springtime zephyrs whistle by and tease all windows open;
out the doubts of winter fly to make way for new hoping.

yesterday's experiment was mini pita bread.
puffed pocket bites were what i meant to get; i got instead
a kind of tender flatbread, small in size, and good with dip--
i cannot escape hummus and its culinary grip.

and that's the word from 'round the TUF. happy spring break all!
here's hoping hope and weather hold; we'll spring it up 'till fall!