Seeing Red

One of the fun things about visiting the farmer's market is that I sometimes find things I have never seen before - but they don't usually make me mad.

Enter the red lettuce.

I have certainly seen red-edged lettuce before, and even eaten my fair share of it over the years but I was stopped in my tracks by this head of gorgeous, dark maroon lettuce.

The man who sold it to me did so with seeming reluctance, carefully selecting the two heads I requested from among (to me) identical and perfect brethren that were standing in a tub of water to keep them fresh. I was reminded of the greengrocers in Parisian markets who choose the produce for you - no touching allowed! He demanded grumpily if I wanted a bag and, when I said yes, gave me a terse little lecture on how I was to take the lettuce home immediately (no stopping on the way), rinse it in cool water, wrap it in a wet towel and under no circumstances to simply jam it into the crisper in the plastic bag. I assured him earnestly that I would take good care of his babies and he let me go with a skeptical grunt that seemed to say, "Yeah, well, see that you do!"

I tucked them tenderly into my bag, stung by his manner and the implied accusation that I am an despoiler of innocent lettuces. He really had me seeing red!