"Loving a Woman is like an Artichoke....

...  You have a bit of work before you to get to her heart".- a quote from Steve Martin is his movie The Pink Panther.  There is something alluring about artichokes.  It's one of my favorite vegetables.  

I almost never go to a grocery store without a list based on a weekly menu and I try to avoid impulse items not on the list But now and then I see something I can't resist.  

Last week I went into Vons (the only supermarket in Mammoth) with my list.  I parked in my favorite area near the movie theater, found a cart and proceeded to the opposite end (the produce section).  There I was immediately drawn to a beautiful display of artichokes.  Who doesn't love artichokes?  These beauties were slightly smaller than most but they were gorgeous in PURPLE.  They were aptly named Sangria Artichokes.  I couldn't resist their sexy come on.  

Each artichoke had its own tag. It was developed by Frieda

who has a website friedas.com/artichokes.  Frieda tells you how to steam and eat it and notes some of the color can be lost in the process. The thought of losing the color set off a red flag to me but happily it retained most of the beautiful color.  Purple or green, large or small- artichokes are showboats on the dinner table as well as in the grocery store.  

Frieda claims her artichoke leaves are meatier than other artichokes.  I did not find this to be true.  It was the only negative.  The color was so unique, it was irresistible anyway.