The lunch dilemma

Often I am at a loss as to what to have for lunch. I have never been a sandwich type of girl, taking sympathy with my Latin American students who lament the loss of a hot meal for a leisurely two hours at lunchtime. They peer inside their brown bags from their homestay families with hope, dreaming of roast pork with beans and kale, only to yet again find a sandwich.  We even warn them about this at their orientation speech on their first day, although a lot of the home stay families are from shores further afield such as The Philippines or China and their students often have Tupperware containers full of interesting looking leftovers like chicken with cashew nuts or curry.

Lilac cauliflower baked whole with baby beets

 

Like some strange sea creature anchored to a coral reef, the cauliflower lay upon it's bed of vegetables. Baby beets, zucchini, bell peppers and mushrooms. I've always wanted to try roasting a whole cauliflower, imagining the texture to be meaty, like a pale steak. At the market the vendor from whom I bought the beets suggested I eat the leaves, the tenderness at it's peak while they are still young at this time of year. The cauliflower seemed almost too pretty to eat, I wanted to preserve it on the shelf in the fridge, so that each time I opened the door it would be seen in all it's glory. I could see that the lilac florets were beginning to lag, however and look a little limp, so it's time to meet it's maker had come.