Who loves a little boiled cruciferous vegetable for lunch? I do! Cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts are all prime contenders for a wholesome bowl of midday sustenance.

Here, cauliflower from Volante Farm is topped with British cheddar, recently made herb butter (using aromatics from the garden), and threaded with kale that a friend grew and gave me earlier in the week. Plus salt. Of course, salt.

It is so simple — what my mother would’ve called “peasant fare” — and yet beyond satisfying.

It stinks up the house for a minute, but who cares? It is totally worth it.

In other news, our turkey family is missing its fifth member. Is it the mother? I can’t tell because the chicks are full grown now.

I’m busy convincing myself it’s the mother, so that I can tell myself that her absence is purposeful and natural. To imagine otherwise? Not today.