Artichokes for Louise's Picnic Game

Louise at Months of Edible Celebrations is organizing a big virtual picnic among all her blogger contacts. I'm participating in this picnic; my contribution, representing the letter A, will be steamed artichokes with mayonnaise. While I'm at it, I'll also put in some asparagus, and avocados from the fabulous Santa Barbara Farmers' Market.

Last Saturday I wrote about cooking artichokes -- see this post:

Artichokes

I described how I begin by trimming the sharply-pointed leaves, then I steam the artichokes and cool them off. If you picnic with me, don't forget -- whole steamed fresh artichokes must be eaten with care by scraping the soft part from each leaf with one's teeth. Artichokes are the only food I know of where instructions for eating them are as important as instructions for cooking them! If you are fearful, you can buy jars with just the soft interior leaves, marinated and ready to put in a salad, but it's nowhere near as fun as working with the big, tough thistle just off the stalk:

I just love seeing all the different kinds of artichokes in the market, and I'm equally excited about avocados and asparagus. I also steam the asparagus, and serve it chilled with vinaigrette for a picnic (or fresh from the steamer with butter.) Here's what you can see at the market here:

The avocado vendor:

I guess being away from home, where artichokes and avocados don't grow, makes me appreciate this all the more. I eat ripe avocados with lemon juice and salt, but of course they too can be made fancy or added to salads. And of course there's always guacamole, but it doesn't start with my letter A.