THAT TURNIP: That giant turnip we had told you about – which met
a fateful end in the newsroom – was grown by Roy Lawrence. We got a
note to that effect last week. You may recall that Roy, after
digging it out of his back yard in January, brought the turnip in
to show us. To make a long story short, the turnip ended up in the
trash – with its owner’s name still attached on a piece of paper.
We’re glad to solve this mystery and offer our apologies to him for
his turnip’s untimely demise.

LOCAL ANGLE: It was nice to see a familiar name at the top of
the masthead of Early American Life, a magazine devoted to antiques
and artifacts from that period of time.

Bradford native Jeanmarie Andrews is its executive editor. We’re
told she lives in Cleveland, Ohio, where the magazine is
published.

The former Jeanmarie Gocella, she is married to Mark Andrews –
both former writers for The Era. Jeanmarie has been our school
reporter and Mark worked in sports.

AND ALSO: While looking through the April edition of Early
American Life, we had to pause to read, “Time for a Rampage,” an
article about ramps – leeks, as we know them.

In fact, the article says adventurous chefs have discovered
ramps as “the final frontier.”

It goes on to report that chef and restaurateur Mario Batali
uses ramps in his cookbook and at his New York restaurant, Babbo,
pairing the odiferous plant with spaghetti, “adding red pepper to
the saute to balance the ramps’ native pungency.”

“Batali ranks as ramps’ greatest advocate among the culinary
elite,” the story adds.

It wasn’t too long ago that Gourmet magazine carried a story on
the collection of leeks in the rural parts of the Northeast, and
their subsequent transport to New York City for use in some pretty
high-class restaurants.

Gourmet had carried a couple recipes but, alas, would not permit
us to publish them.

We found it interesting in the Early American Life article that
culinary demand has actually reduced the abundance of ramps in some
areas.

“In two states, Maine and Tennessee, botanists have ‘special
concern’ for the species, particularly in the latter, where the
wild plant has been overexploited commercially. In 2002, the Smoky
Mountain National Park banned the harvesting of ramps,” the article
says.