B E B E R E

I was pretty excited to meet one of Hal's old undergraduate buddies, a jewelry maker/mountaineer/survivalist vegan type from the southwest. Hal was worried about getting the two of us in a room together given that we're more or less polar opposites on the politial scale and have the tendency to wax pretty eloquent on the subject.

What a wonderful evening we had! We compromised a little bit food wise: both the vegan and the omnivore enjoyed the pesto aux fines herbes over homemade pasta, salad, cheese with fruit. I enjoyed meeting Hal's friend who is probably the most interesting and charming of all his college buddies.

He returned to his corner of the country the next day, leaving a few things behind: his swiss army knife (which would have been confiscated), some vegan seasoning made from soy protein and two yams. I'd been getting on Hal's case about the yams, which have been sitting on the kitchen windowsill since last September. Eat them or they'll go bad!

Today, in my mail, I received a little surprise in lieu of my Monday Morning Flower:



Tuesday Morning Yams. How fun!

Here's the other yam in a sort of homage to Mapplethorpe:



When they sprout a bit more, I'll bring a couple of pots over so that we can try planting them. The cultivated sweet potatoes I've seen in garden catalogues have very pretty flowers. It'll be interesting to see what sort of "dressup" these guys (who came from the midwest somewhere, I'm told) will play.