Perpetual spinach.

So I got a large bagful of this a few days ago.

It's Beta vulgaris var. cicla, the same as mangold. Those leaves have long long stems - said stems have been used like asparagus shoots.

So I separated the leafy bits from the stems (including cutting out the large middle vein), boiled each separately, let them cool off, cut up the leaf, and put both parts into the freezer, cos I'm out of town again for a few days. (I wrote this post the day I got the perpetual spinach leaf ... think of it as a blast from the past, and fear the day when I'll be writing from the future instead.)

Perpetual spinach leaf can be eaten fresh as well, but this large bagful is too much fresh spinach-like taste for me. And it's getting late, and I'm off early tomorrow morning. And so on.

Anyway, it's nice to get new things to try out, just because I'm the lady who knows plants.

The same lady who gave me these large (enormous) (humongous) leaves also gave me a couple African blue basil shoots, which are now going about their business growing roots in a water glass. The African blue basil is more frosthardy than the rest, and it'll grow to be enormous (for a basil), but I'm not sure it'll survive winter on my windowsill. Here's hoping.
It's not really basil-tasting, either, but hey, who cares, eh?