On Mother's Day and Fiddlehead Ferns

It was Mother's Day yesterday and I have to say it was definitely up there in my top two Mother's Days of all time. I am happy to celebrate the day for myself and for my mother and all the other mothers in the world who came before me but honestly, I have mixed emotions about this day. That's because, when it takes you longer than your original life plan to become a mother (because I don't know if you know this, but apparently, your mind can't control the future) every time Mother's Day comes around what you actually want to do is give it two giant middle fingers and cry into an entire pint of ice cream.

But then my son was born proving to me that even after all the strife and heartache it was all worth it, blah, blah, blah. That said, last year was pretty cool and incidentally, still involved ice cream but with none of the tears, so win-win.

So last year I was a first-time-mom but this year I bought fiddlehead ferns at the Ferry Building in San Francisco so....there is really know connection here. It was the best segue I could come up with. Anyway, HOW COOL ARE THESE THINGS?!?!





According to their Wikipedia page they are "available in the market for only a few weeks in springtime, and are fairly expensive." Since the basket of this very seasonal item was only five dollars, I thought to myself "I'm willing to risk the possibility of disappointment for a mere five bucks." They also seemed easy enough to prepare: saute in butter, olive oil and garlic for 3 to 4 minutes. So, home they came with me.



My father's reaction when he saw them was "What are those? Worms?"

"Um, no Dad. They are ferns." (Because eating the worlds most popular plant found in silk variety is way more normal.)

"And you are going to eat those?"

"We, Dad. We are going to eat those."

The verdict was they were good. Not great, but good. I found them to be a bit bland and need quite a bit of salt. But I blame my novice approach to cooking them more than the actually quality of the ferns and I would absolutely try them again. But really, ferns or not, it doesn't take much for me to find an excuse to go to the Ferry Building.