SOLSC Day 7

I'm facing a challenge. It's not the Slice-of-Life thing-- that seems to be going all right, so far-- it's the turnips.

I have a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) subscription, and I LOVE it. I've been receiving weekly deliveries from Farmer Brett for over three years now. His farm, Even'star Farm on Far Cry Road (I am not making that up), is about 70 miles from here, well within the hundred mile locavore limit. For the record, I am not a true locavore, but I am definitely a wannabe. I'm finding my way to buying and eating more food produced in small quanities near my home. The movement makes sense to me, or at least it did until the turnips started.

With a CSA, you take what you get, which is part of the fun for me. It makes me cook out of my comfort zone, and as corny as it sounds, getting what's in season makes me feel more connected to the earth-- the temperature, the weather, the length of day-- when I open my veggie box each week, all these have a little more significance for this city girl. In our climate, winter means a lot of greens, sweet potatoes and turnips.

I like turnips. I'm a grown-up, and that bitter taste only bothers me a little. When I was a child, yellow turnips were a tradition at my family's Thanksgiving table, but we cousins used to dare each other to eat them, or play games where the loser got a gigantic serving of rutabegas. As we got older and the responsibility for the Thanksgiving meal was handed down to our generation, the turnips stayed, and one year I realized that I like 'em, I really like 'em (preferably with lots of butter and salt and some gravy if it's available).

But for some reason, this winter I have too many turnips. Fortunately (?), they are very hardy and they keep well in the refrigerator, but I am not exaggerating when I tell you I have 20 pounds of turnips on ice right now, and I need help!

I cook at home almost every single night, and they go into every soup or stew I make; I have pickled them (2 ways), pureed them, stir-fried them, and added them to mashed AND home-fried potatoes. We eat them raw in salads; I've made pot pies and pancakes, too, but I'm still awash with turnips. What else can I do?