Lettuce

When we were growing up, I'm pretty sure the only kind of lettuce we ever ate was iceberg. Shredded for tacos, leaves for sandwiches, chopped for salads, but all of it was iceberg. To be fair, I don't think there was a lot of variety available, and if my mom had served something else, I might have had the same reaction as the day she bought me straight-leg jeans when EVERYONE wore bell-bottoms. Hello? Did she have no idea of the humiliation she was attempting to heap on me? All of the kids would have seen them and I would not have been able to show my face in school again. Okay, so another kind of lettuce wouldn't have been that bad, but I doubt I would have been very receptive at the time.

Fast forward to the modern era when I discovered that everything is better than iceberg--more nutritious, tastier, and far more attractive on a plate (hey, looks do matter when you prepare a meal)--and I barely notice iceberg lettuce is still sold in the supermarket.

Except the other day the selection of mixed lettuces was pretty poor and they didn't have any red leaf and it was all so expensive anyway, and I broke down and bought iceberg. It turns out it is not completely without merit and it does have a longer shelf than the bagged mixed stuff. So while I really don't see myself serving an iceberg lettuce salad to guests, it does make a nice crisp side to the first quiche of the season.