Zucchini or Courgettes, 2011

Being from Cabot Street in St. John's I never had a vegetable garden or much of a back garden.  Today, I live in a dairy community with plenty of room to plant a few tomato plants and more if I want.  My grandmother would be in her glee, she was a farm girl from Torbay.  I can still smell her delicious homemade bread.  That is a wonderful memory...

This past week I visited with a friend of mine, A.*, who has a marvelous garden.  She and her husband spent a lot of time mulching between the rows, and watering...everything looks great.  In previous years they have been my tomato (tomatoe) connection.  We had a great chat and made plans to pick blueberries in a couple of days.  The weather was just a little too hot.

Just as I was going to reach for my purse...I heard those words, "Would you like a zucchini to take home with you?"  I had a flashback to my friend, L., who lives up by Lake Ontario.  She had the best looking zucchini and you could not get out of the house without taking one with you.  She did include a wonderful recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Cake that was very delicious. 

(Which, by the way, was very moist and fudgy and well worth the effort of shredding and heating up the kitchen in the midst of summer.)  But chances were I would spend the next day trying to re-home that lovely thing...with very little success.  Once the zucchinis are ripe everyone is trying to give them away.

Now, that might not seem like a problem to those of you who live in a city.  They are just another cucumber-looking green thing in the produce section.  My dears, a zucchini is a member of the squash family.  One plant can provide way too many for an average family...lol!  Never mind putting in more than one plant...all your friends will avoid your house until the harvest has passed.

Now, I never had zucchini squash growing up in Newfoundland so I cannot say that I am a true connoisseur.  When I moved to the States in 1975 I had my first run in with squash.  (Then there was sauerkraut...another story for another day.)  Growing up with carrots, beets, turnip, cabbage, and potatos (potatoes) that were grown on the island limited my exposure to the exotic vegetables and fruits.  Now, mind you, I did  have lettuce and tomatos (tomatoes), and of course corn on the cob.  The tomatos were shipped to us before they were ripe and they were hard as rocks.  That made slicing them a breeze.  What a nice cold plate we would have on Sunday with our potato salad, cold cuts, cold green peas, and slices of tomato.  The corn on the cob came four ears to a can and they were some good!  For the nonbelievers...here is proof:

When I moved to the States there was some question as to whether I had any kind of upbringing (home training) because of my reaction to some things up away...such as they are.  I found that the lovely, fresh from the garden, tomatos were mushy.  Yes, bye, I found them mushy.  Heathen that I was...my ex-mother-in-law, E., God rest her soul, she was ready to ship me back from whence I came.  But, Thank God,  my saving grace was the way I lit up the first time I had fresh, from the garden, corn on the cob.  They saw this as my redemption...or she would have had me on the next plane back. 

So, where was I, anyway these zucchini squash are called courgettes in England.  I have an English friend, F.,  here who loves to teach everyone things.  This thing about the courgettes was a bit of a surprise though so I must give her credit.  I am  not an easy student though as I was raised in Eastern Canada where British things are to be found in our grocery stores.  She was some ticked off when I knew that Earl Grey tea was good stuff...when my daughter-in-law, An'joe, gave me four boxes of Twinings' teas, she thought I must have come into some money. 

"That tea is expensive", she said, and when I brought her back digestive biscuits she would not even share them with me and the girls.  Bugger off, she said!  (I knew she was pleased with the gift...lol!) 

She knew she might not get another package of these goodies for a while.  I love the milk chocolate with the cookie.  But did you know, I found a similar biscuit here in the States:

And if you don't believe me that they are as good...have a closer look:



The only thing that does make a difference is that that chocolate is dark...but with a cold glass of milk...you are all set.  Anyway, I have to pick up a pack of these for my English friend.  You know what though, they have something like this in Australia.  They are called Tim-Tams

I kind of think they remind me of the graham sandwich bars we used to get at home.  What do you think?

Now...back to the zucchini, my dear friend A. was looking at me with hopeful eyes.  I set my feet firmly on the floor and reached for my purse.  "No," I said, "that would mean I would have to cook."  I was eyeing the door planning my exit stage left when she mentioned that she had enough to make a nice batch of zucchini relish.  "Now," I said, "I would love to have some zucchini relish."  That is the best I have ever tasted...and she puts it in her ham salad.  Right friggin' excellent...

So I made it out the door with the promise of a lovely jar of sweet zucchini relish in the future.  I hove (heaved?) a sigh of relief as I walked away...without the zucchini...that was a close call.  Believe me.

Sign me, Living Simply in Small Town America, M

* The names have been changed to protect the innocent.