the musical fruit: movement #22.
song: "eggplant," train
fruit: eggplant
remember that song "meet virginia" by that crappy band train? it came out in 98 & went to #2 & was all poptastic. in it, lead singer patrick monahan helps us meet virginia with cute lil lines like "daddy wrestles alligators. mama works on carburetors. her brother is a fine mediator for the president." if you check out the video, you'll notice that virginia is actually rebecca gayhart. it was the first major hit off of their self- titled debut album & is important enough that amazon prices it higher than any other song on the album. by their second album, peeps were taking home "best rock song" grammys. tee hee. the recording industry thinks train is "rock."
the debut album also contained a song called "eggplant." it's a little ditty in the middle of the album & believe me, it's equally as awful as any of their stuff. check out these lyrics--"hold up my wings cause you are the sky. paint me by numbers & don't ask me why. i am in bloom and you are perfume and you are perfume and you are." just try listening to the song without throwing up in your mouth a little. i dare you. the lyrics do mention eggplant & caviar & apple pie, which is pretty cool. coincidentally, they just released their fifth album, save me san francisco today. i checked out the first single, "hey, soul sister" & i can assure you that with this song, the lame train is still on the tracks & chuggin' on into a new decade.
so, um, it turns out that the eggplant is a fruit, a berry even. who knew? sometimes you think you're getting a woman & you end up getting a man. life's full of wacky surprises like that. so i have this one pound eggplant. awesome. there it is. right up there in the photo. says so on the side. what the hell am i going to do with it? bake it? stuff it? bread it & fry it like mom used to do? i can't remember the last time i made an eggplant. it's a gem of an eggplant too. i purplized it a bit in photoshop for dramatic effect, but my produce mart lady assured me that "this is a good one. you can tell by the skin." then she smiled at me. she was watching the mayoral debates at the time & asked my opinion. i told her i thought bloomberg should not get a third term. then she frowned at me.
back to the eggplant though...here's what i decided on. i've cut half of it into slices & they've been soaking for about an hour now in a balsamic vinaigrette. as soon as this oven heats its lazy electric ass up, i'm going to bake the hell out of those slices. when they're done, i'm going to toss them in with some gnocchi & a little florentine spinach & cheese sauce & fuggetaboutit! i have a feeling that the other half of the eggplant is destined for something involving couscous, but we won't know for sure until tomorrow when i see how beaten down i feel after work & can properly judge my evening food prep ambitiousness. here's to a future of wednesday night non-sluggishness!