SURPRISE AND DELIGHT
Ginger Rogers II Discusses “The Little Things in Life”
Spring flowers, leafy wild greens, and sunshine ☀️
Hello everyone!
Ginger the dog here again, and I wanted to share a little bit about my first-ever experience of a British winter.
You see, I am originally from the Philippines where I lived as a street dog before I was adopted into a loving family at the age of 3. I only came to England in June of 2021, and so I had no idea that the beautiful, warm sunshine would desert me completely for several months.
Even in winter, the sunshine is cold for a Filipino!
I actually thought winter was going to last forever and I thought my life would always be somewhere between frosts, fog, and cold sunshine. But then, one day recently, I noticed that the sunshine was seeming a little brighter, and a little warmer, and it gave me a little weensy bit of hope.
My mum even seemed excited. She kept coming out with one excited phrase after another!
“I love this sunshine!”
“Ooh, look at all the snowdrops!”
“Daffodils, crocuses, violets, celandines! Spring is here!”
Spring? What is this spring thing? Is it the warmth returning?
And what’s with the flower obsession? My colour-vision isn’t so great, being a dog, so I don’t care too much for the colourful flowers that she goes on about. I just love this sunshine!
This “spring” sunshine is, to me, pure surprise and delight!
If “spring” means warmer sunshine, then I am all up for it!
But, there’s another thing about my mum and her odd habits: She keeps going on about edible greens!
Excuse my Filipino but what the f*^* are edible greens when they’re at home?
I mean, I can make out some colour and, as far as I am concerned, “edible” and “green” do not go together. Bones, meat, and fish are not green.
But my mum is weird and never cooks any of those things anyway. It’s always vegetables. Lots and lots of them. And there appears to be quite a lot of green there, to be fair.
Yuk!
Anyway, apparently, each of the photos shown here contains some edible greens: wild garlic, stinging nettles, cleavers, dandelions, and navelwort.
She uses the wild garlic, the nettles, and the cleavers in soups; the dandelions, cleavers, and nettles in infusions, and even makes omelettes with wild garlic in them. Weird!
She says she loves foraging, especially in spring. If this is what she eats now, goodness only knows what the rest of the year will be like.
Personally, I think it’s just that she’s lazy about going to the supermarket. Which is fair enough, because she can’t even take me in with her.
Oh well, whatever makes her happy! As she says,
It’s the little things in life that make you smile!
From my mum:
Recipe for nettle, wild garlic, and cleaver soup:
A little extra virgin olive oil 1 large onion, chopped 2 sticks celery, sliced 4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced A large mixing bowl filled with nettle tops, cleavers, and wild garlic Vegetable stock for 6–8 servings Salt and pepper
Method: 1. Sauté the onion in the oil for 5 minutes, until transparent. 2. Add the sliced celery and sauté for a further 7–8 minutes, until softened. 3. Add the potatoes and the vegetable stock, bring to the boil, and then add the wild greens. 4. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes. Leave it to sit for a further 20 minutes. 5. Add the salt and pepper to taste, place in a blender, and blend until smooth.
Serve alone or with freshly baked sourdough bread.
Recipe for wild garlic omelette:
A little extra virgin olive oil or butter 1 small onion, sliced 4 large free-range eggs 1–2 tablespoons milk A large handful of wild garlic leaves, chopped finely Salt and pepper
Method: 1. Heat the oil or butter in a frying pan and then add the sliced onion, stir, and sauté for 5 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a bowl, add the milk and whisk with a hand whisk or a fork. 3. Throw in the chopped wild garlic leaves, add salt and pepper, and stir with a metal spoon. 4. Add the egg mix to the frying pan and cook on low heat so that the omelette cooks all the way through without burning the bottom.
Serve with a crunchy, fresh side salad. Enjoy.
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