We’ve been eating a lot of squash these days, in every shape, form and color. Blue Hubbard, Golden Acorn, dark green Kabocha, and this season’s runaway hit with the farm-to-table crowd, Delicata. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a resounding success with the kids. Kinda gooey, and let’s be honest, sometimes it’s more fun to talk about robots than vegetables.
ME: Guys, I mentioned that there’s something special about this kind of squash.
SAM: It’s a gourd.
ME: No, it’s not a gourd.
SAM: You said that it was a gourd.
ME: It’s not a gourd. And we’re going to have to look up the difference between a squash and a gourd. But, there’s something special about this squash. First of all, do you know the name?
SAM: Mmm mmm…
EMMA: Can you clean the Kleenex box?
ME: Yeah, I’ll wipe it down.
SAM: Micro Pods?
ME: It’s not called Micro Pods.
SAM: Micro Bots!
ME: Nope. It’s called Delicata.
SAM: Delicata? I said that because I saw it in Big Hero.
ME: This kind of squash?
SAM: No. No. Um…there’s this thing called a…
ME: A squash?
SAM: …the… um… Micro Bots.
ME: Yeah.
SAM: They’re like little tiny robots…
ME: That’s really cool.
SAM: And the Big Hero… he’s like “I have found out where your tiny robot wants to go!”
ME: Cool!
EMMA: I HATE THIS SQUASH!
SAM: He wanted to go to a place for bad guys.
ME: Sam, can we talk about the squash for a second?
EMMA: [singing] I love you… you love me…
ME: So, this is called Delicata, and the interesting thing about it is that you can actually eat the skin. Have you ever eaten the skin on a squash before?
EMMA: No, I didn’t!
ME: Here.
EMMA: NO!
ME: Who wants to smell it first?
SAM: I have! I have.
ME: Have you?! What kind of squash was that where you ate the skin?
SAM: Yellow… yellow?
EMMA: [singing] I love you… you love me.
LAUREN: Patty Pan.
ME: You’re right. You’re right. Patty Pan squash. You did eat the skin because that was Summer squash… Nice job guys!
ME: OK, so who’s going to try it first?
EMMA: NOT ME!
LAUREN: Not me.
ME: I bet Sam is going to try it first, because he’s a squash lover.
SAM: I don’t care, I’ll eat it.
(tries it)
SAM: I don’t like it.
ME: But you know what? Thanks for trying. How come you didn’t like it?
SAM: The inside is like kind of gooey.
ME: Yeah?
SAM: Why do they put it in goo stuff?
ME: Yeah, it has kind of a custardy texture.
LAUREN: Sam, people don’t just make the squash. They plant the squash and then it comes out that way.
ME: OK, thanks for that Lauren. So you’re not going to try it?
LAUREN: I’m not.
