It’s not every night you have a date with a Spitzkohl (pointy cabbage).

My first choice was to meet Hubby for dinner in Hamburg, but those plans got derailed when he found out he had to be in Düsseldorf the next morning for work. I was disappointed, as I was looking forward to an evening out and had my toes freshly painted! But, that’s part of his job. So, the pointy cabbage was meant to be.

This past week hasn’t exactly been fantastic. Last Thursday Big T went into the laundry room and discovered it full of water. Thank my lucky stars Hubby was home, as it turns out the pump that went in the sump pump (had to look that word up..I thought it was sub pump!) was kaput.

We had to wait until Monday for someone to come fix it, who turned out to be a rather grumpy plumber that didn’t have a replacement pump (long story) and is now coming back (hopefully!) tomorrow. Although in a way its been nice not having to do the weekly 5+ loads of wash, it’s now becoming rather inconvenient. Then again, good lesson for a teen to learn that not every item he wears needs to be thrown in the laundry basket on the floor in his bedroom every day (except underwear and socks!)

The other inconvenience this week has been listening to the sound of non-stop drilling all day long (starting at 7:30am), as various neighbours are getting fiber optic cables installed for faster internet connection. I’ve also had to park on the street for the last two days. Not the end-of-the-world stuff, just annoying.

Back to my pointy cabbage. The reason I bought it was because of a newsletter from my Bio delivery service luring me with a claim that ‘pointy cabbage is especially fine and tender in the summer, and a real pleasure in salads’. As it is high in vitamins and minerals (beta carotene, potassium and vitamins B1, B2 and C), why not?

Instead of the pleasure of a salad, I baked it in the oven. Here’s the recipe I used that was really simple. I cut it in quarters, salted it, and left it sit for 30 minutes to soften the leaves (made a big difference!). I then oiled a casserole dish (with melted butter), laid in the cabbage and sprinkled pepper, a teaspoon each of cumin and smoked paprika (or according to the recipe, 2 teaspoons of whatever spice you desired).

After 20 minutes of baking (covered) in the oven, I was to add 250g of cream and 2 tablespoons of grated parmesan. While it was baking away, I opened the jar of cream which had a thick layer on the top, so I grabbed a spoon to scoop it out in a bowl. I obviously over-estimated its thickness as cream immediately splattered all over the counter and on the kitchen floor!

It was one of those moments where I could really feel sorry for myself that I’m having a date with a pointy cabbage and not sitting at a nice restaurant with Hubby in Hamburg showing off my flashy pink toes, or smmmmile and chalk it up to just another annoyance of the week (I took the latter).

Luckily, there was enough cream left to scoop over the cabbage (along with the Parma) and return back to the oven for another 20 minutes to bake uncovered. The result? Surprisingly quite yummy! I think it would pair really nicely with a baked fish or basmati rice to keep a vegetarian meal. Even poochie enjoyed it and wanted seconds!

Yes, it’s odd that I like cabbage so much and probably even odder that I’m writing about it. But for me, tonight was more than just about the cabbage. It was about having to deal with things in life that come your way that are inconvenient, annoying or disappointing… and just move on. When life throws you cabbage…make sauerkraut!

After all, it took me less than a minute to wipe up my counter and floor, and I’ll have that date with hubby in Hamburg another day.

And if I’m really luckily, I’ll be doing laundry all week-end.