Saturday, March 14, 2015

A is for Artichoke

Sally Rightor Parks’s A is for Artichoke (Pasadena: Water Works, 2014) is a book of fifty-two paintings, two for each letter of the alphabet, one painting showing the letter in its upper- and lower-case forms, the other depicting a flower or fruit or vegetable whose name begins with that letter. A border of leaves or flowers (good for counting!) runs around each page. (One exception: for the mushroom, it’s caps and slices.) The paintings are rustic watercolors: delicately curled beet leaves, a luminous eggplant with its floppy hat, a forest of fennel, a brightly spotted zucchini. A quiet, witty touch: the red, white, and green of the pages for the jalapeño.

A is for Artichoke is a large and sturdy, 10″ x 12½″, perfect for use with a child or grandchild in one’s lap. The book is available from Vroman’s Bookstore in sunny Pasadena. And boy, is that bookstore fast.

Q: Can you guess what edible goes with the letter h ?

comments: 8

The Crow said...

haricot-verts? horseradish? honey? no, not a fruit or vegetable. Oh...a honeydew melon? Hawthorn apples? Huckleberries?

That's all I can come up with.

Michael Leddy said...

You got it on the first try! I know about haricots verts, but I never would’ve guessed it.

Slywy said...

I knew it wouldn't be horehound, but I really just want to say . . . horehound.

Michael Leddy said...

A sure way to make a group of young adults feel awkward: offer horehound candy. I’ve done it in classes during cold-and-flu season, and I don’t do it anymore.

Anonymous said...

The correct answer for this blog is -- Hardines.

Michael Leddy said...

Ha! A favorite of Al Jardine.

Elaine said...

I wanted it to be Hashish.
My dad loved Horehound, and it really is good during cold and flu season. Def tastes better than ZiCam, which is what I am taking right now....

Michael Leddy said...

Hashish!

Even better than horehound, I’d say: Bragg’s cider vinegar.