Speaking of spring veggies, I had these hard green things in 2002 (at 59 Wall, I think) and haven't had them since, and have been wondering what the hell they were. I finally saw [link] this week and they were fiddlehead ferns! Memorable texture, for sure.

This semi-hippie kid's cookbook I have (from my childhood) has a whole thing on fiddlehead ferns, but I still have never eaten them.

Those are pretty common in Canada but now that I think about it I don't know that I've ever seen them here.

Huh, until just now I thought ramps and fiddlehead ferns were synonymous. Now I know (and knowing is half the battle.)

Those are pretty common in Canada but now that I think about it I don't know that I've ever seen them here.

Just coming into season now, I think. They are a specialty of New Brunswick.

Bon, were they a little slimy?

I've never heard of ramps before I read that article.

I feel like someone used fiddlehead ferns on Top Chef once, but I'm not sure.

My most adventurous fruit/veggie outing this weekend was a banana and some overripe grapes.

Bon, were they a little slimy?

IIRC they were grilled in a salad, so I don't think so.

That's where Kansas City Rep's prop storage is. They have a pretty amazing collection of stuff there, all amazingly well organized and cataloged. The tunnels are all large enough for semi trucks to easily navigate.

I spent many hours down there, sorting and searching! We made up stories about the people who worked down there full time. We speculated that they would be the last to know if nuclear armageddon occurred! They would only know when the snack truck failed to come around.

It also gets very, very dark when the power fails! I was down there with another grad student when that happened. The flashlight that was supposed to be by the door didn't have a battery, so I felt my way to the hand props area and found the little pen lights I had used to make fairy wands for Midsummer Nights' Dream. I then had to walk all the way into the deepest part of the cave where the other grad student was stranded! On the way back out all these little yellow green "eyes" appeared in the darkness! It was the glow-tape stuck on the backs of all the prop furniture!

Also hilarious: I ate ramps last night.

Eons ago, when we lived in Oak Ridge, TN, my father wrote a Sci-Fi story about aliens who came there to get ramps to fuel their space ship! That's all I can think of when I hear about them.

I felt my way to the hand props area and found the little pen lights I had used to make fairy wands for Midsummer Nights' Dream. I then had to walk all the way into the deepest part of the cave where the other grad student was stranded! On the way back out all these little yellow green "eyes" appeared in the darkness! It was the glow-tape stuck on the backs of all the prop furniture!

This image is giving me great happiness.