The Last Onion

To think that there might actually be a last onion- in the whole world I mean, would bring tears to my eyes and not just as I chopped it. I LOVE onions, who could cook with out them? I know some people are allergic to members of the onion family, a very sad state of affairs indeed. I'm glad I'm not one of them.

So many to choose from, such variations in flavor! The bite of raw white onions is perfection minced into salsa fresca, yellow's simmered in oil till sweet and brown are the base for almost every sauce or soup we make, purple sliced to brighten salads, scallions in eggs with cilantro for breakfast tacos, leeks in soups and pastas. Sweet vidalias crown a perfect burger. I just couldn't live without these foundations of culinary delight. And therefore- I planted another 200 this February and here they are, growing strong and green out next to the peas.

I'm pretty tickled that those we grew last year fed us from July through March. You can see them hung in giant braids in my posts from July 08'. We've now got leeks and scallions to tide us over till the next batch matures. Life is good.

Pablo Neruda in his Ode to the Onion said:

Throughout my days,

I've celebrated the onion.

In my eyes

you are more lovely

than a bird with blinding feathers.

In my eyes

you are a celestial globe, a platinum cup,

the quiescent dance

of an anemone in the snow

I couldn't agree more