Consider the romanesco, for a moment, as I am in this snapshot. Neither a broccoli or a cauliflower. It sort of walks the line between repulsive and sexy. The Serge Gainsborg of coniferous vegetables, if you will.

We, or I actually - cooked it up and pureed in with cream and parmesean last night a la Martha's advice. It twas...merely OK. I'm thinking about moving upstate to open a restaurant lately...fantasizing is more like it...and this winter I will be honing my cooking skilllz in order to prepare.

Answers to questions:
1. The chutney recipe is straight out of Joy of Cooking.
2. The oak leaves are not treated, I just got very, very lucky...these are lasting well over 4 days. This was the arrangement they went into: