Of Cabbages and Kings

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

                                    From The Walrus and the Carpenter, Lewis Carroll.

Well, its time to talk about cabbages anyway.  Cabbage seems to have taken over my kitchen, and in an effort to be frugal I have been eating a lot of cabbage lately.  Last night, I finally finished the harvest stir fry, featuring chicken, hoisin sauce and, you guessed it, lots of cabbage.

            Tonight, it will be cabbage roll casserole--its title gives away one of its main components.  And there is still cabbage in the fridge.

            Not that I mind cabbage.  I actually like it a lot.  I go through bags of coleslaw mix, adding sliced almonds, sunflower seeds and sesame-ginger salad dressing.  I rarely tire of the combination.  I think I have a vegetable grain soup that may use up the remaining cabbage in my crisper.  Suddenly I have remembered also a stove-top casserole of my Auntie Eileen’s which would also use some of the bounty. Mmm… I’m always amazed when I discover people who don’t like cabbage.  Mind you, I’m sure a lot of folks don’t understand my distaste for onions.  I do cook with them, but I chop them very finely and effectively hide them from myself.

            Several years ago, while traveling in Cuba, our pre-dinner salads were usually some chopped cabbage, a slice of tomato and, if we were really fortunate, a bit of green pepper.  A retired oncologist in my tour group remarked that he had never eaten so much cabbage in his life.  That seemed strange to me, since it is one of the very healthy cruciferous vegetables and an excellent source of fibre.  You would think that a cancer specialist would be eating all the possible cancer-preventing foods that he could find. 

            Some of my acquaintances would tell me that cabbage is cheap and that I could discard that last large chunk and not feel bad about it.  After all, I probably have used my money’s work from that head.  But since I have decided to start saving in earnest for retirement, I have found myself becoming increasingly frugal.  Menus are being devised around ingredients that need to be used and I am trying not to let any of my food purchases go to waste.  It has actually been an interesting exercise and has cut down on my grocery bill quite nicely.  I enjoy cooking, although it can get tiresome cooking for one.  I try to make a couple of recipes per week and then alternate leftovers to give myself a bit of variety.  This self-imposed challenge has brought back some creativity to the routine of cooking dinner and so far, I’m enjoying myself.

            Uneasy lies the head [of cabbage] in my kitchen.