My mom took Julia, age 7, and her friend Sally for the afternoon. They played make-believe, ate tuna salad and celery and Oreos and run around Grammie’s townhouse and did slippery-slides on the wood floors. That night, Sally’s mom called me to say she was sorry. “For what?” Sally’s mom is a pediatrician. “I think Sally gave Julia some incorrect anatomy.”
Sally: So, you have a step-grandpa?
Julia: Yup.
Sally: What’s his name?
Julia: Richard but everyone calls him Dick.
Sally [snickers]: Oh! [leans in, whispers] That’s a not nice name for a breast.
That night, I told Julia about the correction. “Uh, Mom, I already know that. It’s not like I was going to say ‘Hey, Mom, I can see your dick’. It’s just a not nice word for penis.”
Most of the time, we roast broccoli and eat the stems. However, if we have leftover stems, I use them in broccoli soup or in slaw - this is a frugal, healthy salad or side and brightens picnics or bbq dinners.
1-2 cups grated broccoli slaw, made from stems of broccoli
1/2 cup grated carrot
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
lime juice (1/2 a big lime)
1/8 cup brown rice wine vinegar (i find this has a deeper, richer flavor than the regular kind)
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
2 tsp honey or brown rice syrup or agave
1 clove garlic, minced
squirt of Sriracha sauce
big splash sesame oil
sunflower seeds or almonds if desired for crunch
Put the broccoli and carrot in a bowl and squeeze lime on top - mix gently. Mix everything else for the dressing. Once sugar is dissolved, pour on slaw and toss well. Top with seeds.