Posted by Suzanne McMinn @ 3:26 pm | Permalink
Archive for April, 2006
Apr
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Apr
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Daily Dribble
West Virginia is the ramps capital of the world!!!! And to think, I had never heard of them…… They have entire festivals devoted to ramps here. People hike into the hills and woods here to dig them up, then sell them on the side of the road…………. where other people buy them and actually EAT THEM!! Ramps are a wild leek that thrive in the Appalachian mountains and valleys…….and they SMELL SO BAD YOU WANT TO BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN AFTER YOU COOK THEM IN IT. (Notice the rubber gloves when handling them!!!! They are like TOXIC WASTE!!!)
So we took them OUTSIDE for preparation.
And then into the cellar porch to cook them. We keep the kittens in the cellar porch. I was afraid we would kill them with the odor.
Mary sauteed the ramps in olive oil and butter, with a little salt and pepper, in an iron skillet on the gas stove in the cellar porch then served them over fresh-baked french bread.
Do they look pretty or WHAT? Mary is a gourmet chef! She can even make toxic waste look beautiful!! She decorated them with japonica quince blossoms.
They say ramps will make your skin and breath stink for days………… Clues to this week’s contest question: My cousin’s mother Georgia has eaten ramps before but said she was all done with ramps. My cousin Mark brought us the ramps but said he wasn’t planning to try the ramps. The dog will eat anything. Mary cooked the ramps and turned them into the most beautiful dish you’ve ever seen. What happened then?
For an autographed copy of your pick from my contemporary backlist–who risked life, limb and bad breath to try the ramps? (One winner will be selected from the correct guessers on Monday!)
1) Me, Mary, and the dog.
2) Me, Mary, and Georgia.
3) Mary and the dog.
4) No one–we burned the farmhouse down and moved on.
5) Me, Mary, and my cousin Mark who gave us the ramps.
6) The dog.
