Hi, Froghouse

MORE GOOD NEWS:

"...Women who ate five or more servings of chocolate each week in their third trimester of pregnancy were 40 percent less likely to develop preeclampsia than those who ate chocolate less than once a week."

If I could grow my own chocolate in the garden, you know I'd be all over that action. 

Instead, I am going to grow something called Chocolate Morning Glory . I am going to grow it on my arbor, which is currently naked. This is what the Chocolate Morning Glory is supposed to look like. 

"Is there something yummy going on? It must be me."

Some people hate Morning Glories because they can be a bit invasive. I love them, because my mother always grew them in our backyard on Third Avenue in Koreatown. I also love them because they grow quickly to create a near-instant screen of loveliness, and they always reach for the sun. Aw. Morning Glory blossoms only live for a day, but they put on quite a show. Many times, the sight of a brand-new, just-opened Morning Glory in my garden has yanked me out of the dark blues and into the bright sunlight. 

Morning Glories have an important lesson to teach. And like the best teachers, they teach by example.

So, my big Artistic Plan is to grow them on the arbor with something called 'Ruby Moon' Hyacinth Bean, which apparently makes purple bean pods and lavender-ish flowers that look like sweet peas. 

"We represent the purple pod guild."

Brown, purple and lavender: a color combo made in flower-chocolate heaven.

"He's the bean pod, I'm the flower."

 

Over the weekend, I played the vintage 1970s Family Feud board game with some friends, which I can't recommend enough.

 

It's truly a great game. But one of the questions was a bit fucked-up for me. 

"Name five fruits or vegetables that grow on a stalk." 

Feeling horticulturally savvy, I blurted out "Brussels Sprouts!" 

Oops.

You see, the key to this game is not being correct, but being able to think like someone in the 1970s. Maybe someone who's not necessarily the smartest blouse on the rack.

Apparently people in the 1970s didn't know very much about plants, because the answers were all things like beans, which obviously grow on vines, and celery, which is a stalk, but doesn't grow on a stalk. 

My answer was a big zero. I felt like such a mom. I mean, a Family Feud Mom. You know what I mean.

xo

Kate

PS: Go eat some chocolate.