Eggplant innoculation

When I was a kid, we had a garden on the side of our house, next to the garage. It wasn't too big, but it was big enough to grow a bunch of different things. A little sun, a little shade -- just right for growing so many things that I would never dream of eating. OK, maybe I'd eat some green beans, but that was it.

My parents, relative newcomers to the whole gardening scene, were nonetheless enthusiastic. So one summer, my dad decided to try his hand at eggplant. Never having seen eggplant in its unpicked state, he thought it prudent to plant a bunch, in case some didn't make it. So he planted 10 or 12 -- that is, 10 or 12 individual plants.

Well. Remember about the "a little sun, a little shade"? Apparently, that's just what eggplant likes. Every plant shot up, strong and fertile. And each blessed one grew probably 10 or 12 eggplants.

Eventually, the neighbors started to pretend they weren't home when they saw us coming, bearing our brown paper bags full of eggplant. We had so much, we literally couldn't give it away. It piled up in the kitchen, was cooked every which way. I'm not sure how we did it, but we all survived that summer.

And since then, no one in my family (except my mother) will eat eggplant.

But we got one in our farm share delivery this week, and Joel wouldn't let me give it away (like I did last week, when he wasn't home). He asked if I'd be willing to give it another try, and I said that if he could find a recipe that disguised it sufficiently, I'd be a big girl and try it again. He found a recipe for Grilled Eggplant and Peppers with Creamy Pesto Sauce, and that's what we had for dinner tonight.

I wish the story had a happy, uplifting ending: "Girl Discovers New Love of Eggplant!" Sorry, not today. The peppers were amazing, and the creamy pesto (basically pesto mixed with plain yogurt) was fantastic. But no dice on the eggplant.

At least I've done my duty. I figure it's like a tetanus shot -- I'm pretty sure that now I don't have to try it again for another ten years.