Hi, Kevin here. We’re into the second week of the A to Z Challenge, and in case you’re just visiting, I’m a six year old ginger and white guinea pig. This blog was started by Fred and George, Mummy’s very first guinea pigs. She writes books about them too.
Our A to Z Challenge theme is “Our Favourite Things”
K is for Kale
We love kale. It’s one of the plants in the cabbage family, but it’s much nicer than cabbage. We like it better than broccoli and cauliflower, too. And pak choi is okay, but I wouldn’t say we like it. Mummy grows a variety called Cavolo Nero or something like that, in the garden. It grows all through winter so we can have some fresh leaves even then. We don’t get many things from the garden in winter. Kale, celeriac leaves, maybe chard or strawberry leaves, if we’re lucky. Kale’s delicious.
It has to be sown in the spring, so we watch it grow when we’re out in our runs during the summer. The stalks get too hard to eat, so we ignore them. Grass is much nicer – in summer.
Tomorrow it’s letter L.
PS. Mummy has a recipe for linguine with kale pesto (I don’t know what that is). She says she’ll put it in the comments if anybody wants it.
George's Guinea Pig World 
So are you doing two challenges? I’ve just sent a message to two guinea pigs on another site! Fun post. I’ve never tasted Kale. (I live in S.Africa.)
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Mummy interviewed us on her blog today, Ms Shirley. I’m sorry if we confused you 🙂
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Kale isn’t exactly my favorite, though it is a green I can grow all winter. And it helps a little with the toughness (which I’m guessing is more of a problem for us feeble human types) if you “massage” it thoroughly before cooking (just knead it and squish it around).
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Mummy says; wilt the kale in some boiling water, then take it out and drain it and put the linguine in. Put the warm kale in a whizzing machine with some garlic, and whizz it, adding a little olive oil through the top. When it’s a bit chunky still, add pine nuts and salt and pepper, and whizz till fairly smoothish. At that point the linguine should be ready and you can drain that and mix it together to serve.
Please don’t ask me what it means. The only bit of that I can eat is the kale, uncooked.
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Kevin, I’m glad to hear you like kale. Unfortunately, it will never pass my lips again – I hate it! If someone gives me some, I’ll send it to you!
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Thank you, Auntie Noelle!
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I like kale, but my wife refuses to eat it. Why? I don’t know. It’s a mystery. It might be the name. She refuses to try a lot of things though. Like quinoa. If it’s purportedly good for you she’s often not a fan.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
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We don’t know what quinoa is, Uncle Lee. I’ll ask Mummy sometime. I don’t think Mummy liked kale until she tried this special black kale, and also found the pesto recipe above. And also discovered it was easy to grow and gave us fresh leaves all through the winter, even when it snows. We probably won’t have any more till autumn now.
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Somepigs, maybe Saku and Mariusz — I can’t remember — didn’t like kale, so we stopped buying it. Glad you boys are enjoying it.
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