On Potatoes

Mmmm! I just finished a supper that contained a very special dish; potatoes.

OUR potatoes.

Our family eats a bunch of potatoes. They're cheap, versatile, and delicious.

We planted seed potatoes in our garden last year. Many weeks later, we dug up dozens of green golf balls. Not sure what went wrong.

This year, we tried again. I was hoping we'd actually have potatoes this year, 'cause I've never had home-grown ones.

Yup. That's right; I've been raised in a gardening family, and never had a home-grown potato.

But there's a first for everything.

And tonight was a first.

How can I explain it? First, realize that store-bought potatoes are actually soaked in chemicals to prevent spoilage, and to keep "eyes" from growing. Those chemicals impart their own little tinge of flavor to the potato.

Second, realize that all store-bought potatoes have been on the shelf for who-knows how long.

Tonight, I ate potatoes that had been in the ground 3 hours before. No chemicals whatsoever.

They were a beautifully clean white on the inside. They were absolutely, positively, the BEST-tasting potatoes I've ever eaten.