For your own good, really

The results of two unplanned happenings last week:

1) Brussel sprouts (called Rosenkohl, or rose cabbage, in German) can actually be yummy! This contrasts to my prior experience with Beans where they tasted like biting into an aspirin. This time, thanks to Bon Appetit, I'm a believer. The prep time is a pain, given that you have to peel the sprouts apart, and so I suggest the following modifications:

- Start with one pound of sprouts, cut off the bottoms, peel of any marked leaves, and then cut out their little sprouty hearts with a paring knife. Rinse them. Then peel the green leaves away until you get down to a marble-sized core, and discard the core. If at any point it's difficult to get the leaves off with your fingers, widen out the piece that you've cored. You should have 8 or so cups of loose sprout leaves in half the time if you had done the recipe from the magazine.

- You can use roasted and salted pistachios in the shell, if you have to. Shell them, dust off the skins, and voila.

- Saute your shallots and your pistaschios for a minute, then add your sprouts. Cook them for around 5 minutes, or until they're well-wilted and brown in little spots. Taste one for doneness, because they're sneaky little suckers. Remove from heat, add lemon, stir stir stir, add salt and pepper if you like, and pat yourself on the back for eating seasonal vegetables, thereby reducing your carbon footprint, and for all of those added vitamins.

2) I will never tell a kid who has just skinned his or her knees to shake it off. Like, ever. As I was walking home from the market last Tuesday, I stepped off of the curb and right into, I later discovered, a foot-and-a-half wide metal ring. It was like losing the ability to walk, but also losing the ability to stop walking. I went down like a sailor, skidding to a halt on one knee and the heels of both hands. Plus groceries and my blue puffer coat, just so you can really picture it. After recovering from the shock and realizing I was okay, and then realizing that no one around me had noticed, I limped home. It hurt for, like, hours!

Point being, it's really startling to trip and fall when you're an adult. Boo on the locals, too, for not asking if I was hurt. And the next time one of my kidlets falls, I will scoop them up and put them into a featherbed with little gentle ice packs for their skinned hands and knees, and I will give them a popsicle. Or cocoa, whichever is seasonally appropriate.

So, my pearls of wisdom for January 19 are: eat your sprouts, and don't fall down.