Commentary

Chayote Squash is in season, but how many have even heard of it, let alone cooked with it? Chayote is a member of the gourd family and botanically a fruit. This pear shaped squash grows on a vine and is called a vegetable pear due to the general shape and pale green pear-like color and because, although it is a fruit, it is most often prepared as a vegetable. It also has the crunchy texture of unripe pear. However, it has a mild, almost cucumber-like flavor. Another plus for anyone interested, the entire plant is edible. Feel free to make a salad out of the vines, leaves and even the flowers. The seed is soft and some people just slice it right along with the flesh and cook the whole thing.

I can remember riding along in the car with Jeremy, me about eight months pregnant, listening to Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits CD, and when the song “Bridge Over Troubled Water” started to play, Jake would kick inside my belly.

Many Americans think of Memorial Day as a day off of work and an excuse to enjoy a long weeken d marking the beginning of summer.