Never say never, but it’s highly unlikely that you will ever see me sporting a purple and green sweater. But when it comes to plants, my tastes take a decidedly different turn. If you spend time in Dumbo, you probably walk by these ornamental cabbages/kale on a semi-regular basis. They are on Front Street in wooden planters outside of a bar and restaurant called Superfine. I always forget that they are there, and always always stop and look at them when I pass. I figured yesterday’s blackout warranted some extra color today. By the way, did you know these are edible?

I don’t even really like snoballs. And goodness knows they aren’t exactly part of a healthy diet. But I was somehow saddened to hear that Hostess, the parent company that makes Twinkies, Ding Dongs, HoHos (my personal favorite of the bunch) and yes…the ever nutritious snoballs, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. While the company has enough inventory on hand to keep the product on store shelves for the moment, who’s to say what will happen down the pike. I remember one particular milestone birthday when my friend Carol assembled a care package and had it waiting for me at a hotel in ICELAND! The parcel contained custom party hats, a homemade banner spelling out happy birthday, various small licorice candies, the requisite birthday candles and, you guessed it, a pack of bright pink snoballs.

I’ve been eying up this pasta for as long as I can remember. Every time I go into Dean & DeLuca in Soho I look at it, pick it up, turn it over to see the price and tell myself it’s way too extravagant. This year I finally broke. I do believe it’s what’s for dinner. Happy New Year one and all!

Nature has us all trumped. It’s hard to disagree on this one. Today’s vegetable — the watermelon radish — is brought to you by the good folks over at Willow Wisp Organic Farm in Damascus, PA, right across the Delaware River border from NY. They are amazing and smart and grow vegetables that make you remember how food is supposed to taste.

We went for a little mushroom hunting walk in the woods a couple of weeks ago and this is what we found. The colors and textures amaze me. Unfortunately, none of these are particularly edible. If my father is reading this: Dad, please know that we absolutely draw the line at eating any wild mushroom that has a close cousin that will either make us sick or worse! Anyway, we have a favorite wooded spot along a small creek which often plays host to a bloom of hedgehog mushrooms (Hydnum repandum). Hedgehogs are a distinctively meaty variety that have little spines instead of gills. And they are prized for both their taste and their texture. We didn’t find any that day. Maybe this weekend we’ll get lucky. The last image is from the farmers’ market at the ferry building in San Francisco. Fantasy land.