Gateway vegetables

It's been hideously hot here for much of the last week, with the heat index topping out above 100^oF. Cooking without heat is decidedly an oxymoron — but I've been trying to keep the number of BTUs generated in the kitchen down. My solution has been sandwiches, which not only are cool to make, but quick and relatively easy to vary.

Or at least I thought I was changing things up enough. Math Man, however, pleaded on Saturday for anything but sandwiches for dinner. As Barnacle Boy and I were headed out on a couple of errands, he wondered what was for dinner. “Anything but sandwiches! Dad's had enough of those. I was thinking of salad, with chicken or salmon.” There was a long pause.

"You know I only like the unhealthy kind of lettuce." Barnacle Boy is more than a bit of a foodie, and I think is chagrined that he doesn't find a spring mix of greens enticing.

"Iceberg? I know. It's OK, it's how I started. When I was your age I loved cold iceberg lettuce with way too much French dressing on it. And now I eat all kinds of stuff in a salad." I reassured him.

"So iceberg lettuce is a gateway vegetable." He's got it.

At dinner (where there was one bowl of iceberg lettuce for the teen set and another with more interesting stuff in it for those of us who appreciate the bitter with the sweet), Crash Kid and his girlfriend, Cupcake Artist, wondered just what iceberg lettuce might be a gateway too.

"Brussel sprouts," I shot back. Only for the hard core.

---

For the record, I adore brussel sprouts, but I know I am nearly alone in this. My family thinks I'm nuts.

I've been musing on my other blog about how keeping cool works — or doesn't, if you need a bit of a science fix.