Red Letter Day
Today was a bit of a red letter day for me. Oh, all right, I do now have the wretched DVD burner/ writer thing- right over there on my right in fact- but that wasn’t the big event of the day.
Well, I suppose that there were three Big Events today. After searching for months, ( or something like that, hmmm, Roberta?) I finally stumbled across- what my dictionary insists are- parsnips ( I myself wouldn’t know one if it bit me on the …). I was going up and down the rows of the Green Market ( Read : With Bugs !) in the Big City today when I saw a little card saying Pastinaak ( give or take an ‘ a ‘ there).
Of course, I stood there for an amazing amount of time. All of the cards for the other vegetables said ‘ X euro per kg’ or ‘X euro per bunch’, but this one simply said ’1.60′. Was that per piece, I wondered ? Per kilo ? How many parsnips does one need , in any case ? I finally decided to buy a pound, seemed reasonable- even if the price were 1.60 per piece, it wouldn’t be too outrageous of an expenditure, one to satisfy my curiosity about the vegetable that the potato replaced.
Of course, it was 1.60 per kilo, and I paid my 90 cents with a pleasant, oh silly me smile.
Roberta ( she’s over on the Blogroll there, and has very much been on my mind today) suggested either steaming them or frying them in butter. Since I’ve never had them, I decided to steam them, but now that I’ve tasted them, they probably would be very nice ‘fried’( uh, sautéed ? Although a crisp on them might be nice).
What did I find a parsnip to be like ? A cross between a sweet carrot and potatoes. I liked them fine and wonder how they would hold up in a soup ( they seem a bit delicate, not as tough as carrots). Perhaps I shall next go in search of a rutabaga. Haven’t a clue as to what it is or how to spell it, but live dangerously, no ?
While getting the much coveted DVD thing has pleased me immensely, as well as stumbling upon the parsnips has, I suppose that it really is a red letter day today because of what The Father told me in the car, as we went to pick up my computer….
‘By the way’, he said to me, ‘as of March 1, you are now officially working for the company. I’ll bring the contract home for you next week. ‘ ( Here I’m looking like I’ve been hit by a bolt of lightening… my work for them has always been … freelance). ‘That means’, he continued ‘you will get benefits and all- like vacation money, maybe you can go back to your old health insurance plan, build up your pension, get paid even if you are sick…’.
Well, I wasn’t expecting this. Not at all. I’m some sort of flexible worker now, minimum of 10 hours a week to whatever I want.
After all of these years of working for the company, I’m now official.
And pretty flabbergasted by it all.
I *love* parsnips.
I like to put them in stews along with potatoes and carrots. Try roasting them in the pan with carrots the next time you roast a chicken. Also good done similarly with roast beef.
Rutabagas are more like turnips and do nothing for me.
My favourite is roasted especially with pork or beef drippings involved. Very, very good.
Aw, I didn’t read the more before I posted. Congrats on the ‘official’ job! Now you’ll have your own booty to spoil yourself with.
Congrats on the job! You’ve been an official employee for more than a month before knowing it. That’s great going!
Yes, the first thing that came to my mind was roasting the suckers, or frying them- get some sort of ( oh lord) textured coating covering that carrot-y, potato smoothness.
Eh, Chef Bor-are dee here…
Marleen, this came as a total surprise to me, for the original company policy was “no wives working for the company’. But I always have, if you know what I mean.
Even when I had my other job ( 8 years, 32 hours a week), I always worked for the company as well. They paid me to do computer input type of stuff and in return… I got the computer ! Fair deal for me.
But still, after 16 or 18 years, to be suddenly official is rather mind boggling.
What do I get paid ( like, did I ever know ?)- the same as a siblings wife who is an accountant.
You see, the wives in the company business policy only affected the first wife.
Oh well. For many years, I was all they had. Not that it was personal in any way- just one of those ‘oh, you never know’ kind of policies..
Rutabagas are foul-that’s all I have to say.
Congrats on the job and trying a Parsnip…. Of course now I wanna go out and peruse the veggie isle and see what delicacies I can find – Maybe…. {HUGS}
Congrats on becoming an official employee. The word pension is mind-boggling to me.
Parsnips are wonderful in soups and with roasts. Rutabagas are gross. Blech.
I remember squirreling away my serving of rutabaga in a paper napkin behind the corner cupboard when I was the only one left at the table. It was ‘belong to the clean plate club OR ELSE’ in my family… hee! By the time that cupboard was moved for spring cleaning, the offender was no longer recognizable.
Hmmm, general consensus seems to be to skip the rutabagas..
Uh, Eliz, in the states don’t you automatically begin putting money into a pension when you start working ? I have one ( and a small one it is) built up from the years I worked in the greenhouse here…
Plus, I’m not that far from retirement age ! Har!
I have an awesome recipe for a borscht stew, that calls for parsnips. Mmmmm! It’s the only thing I eat them in. But it’s a two-day process, to make the base broth, then go at it again with fresh veggies. So worth the effort though. Hmmm, maybe I’ll have to make it some time soon, before spring gets too warm and springy finally.
Wow, if others hadn’t posted bout the job, I’d have missed that little “more” hanging out at the bottom. As it is I had to go looking … Congrats Sue!
Hi Sue. It did turn out to be a pretty special day didn’t it. Despite what many commentors say about rutabagas, my daughter makes a pretty mean ‘turnip puff’. This is often her contribution to special meals at Thanksgiving or Christmas. For clarity sake maybe you should rename this ‘Red Letter Day’ — ‘The Day of Parsnips and Roses’ or something like that.
Ummm, automatically putting money in a pension? Nope. Just ask my bil and sil. They are starting to panic since they have nothing set aside for their retirement. When I say nothing, I mean nothing.
Congratulations on the job. I think. Ah but I’m sure you’ll still be free to do other things.
Now parsnips. Excuse me but I am Parsnip Queen. Roasting them – divine. But the bestest, bestest way to eat parsnips is to boil and mash them just like potatoes. They need a good 30 minutes to boil until quite soft (not mushy), drain them, add lashings of butter and a drop of milk (or a dash of single cream if you have it) then mash as you would potatoes. Can I use the word orgasmic? Yes, I think I should.
Just remembered that my mother will sometimes add nutmeg to mashed parsnips – I *loathe* it but some folks like it this way.
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