Green thoughts

I inadvertently caused a friend of mine to feel a twinge of disgust as he was eating lunch today.

We were discussing a post I wrote the other day where I mentioned in passing that I was carrying two bags of frozen Brussels sprouts down a supermarket aisle. I was saying that the reaction some readers had to this revelation of my eating habits mystified me.

Either my friend or another at table made a comment questioning the delectability of such a frozen vegetable. That got my dander up a bit.

I exclaimed in the petulant voice that I take when I am wounded and defensive, "They're not regular frozen vegetables; they're steamed. They steam in the bag — you just put it in the microwave, and there's no water to drain. And they're delicious. They don't need salt or anything. I just eat them like candy."

For some reason, the word "candy" gave my friend a start as he was about to bite into his mortadella sandwich. But it only lasted a sec and then he was OK.