Living Life On A $1.96

Part 2

An Artichoke

One might not realize the importance of everyday objects in ones life. For less than $1.96 I gave myself a night with my family, except it wasn't really a night with my family. It was a night with a memory and a good one at that. A time of reflection. But now it is much more, now it is a thought of the future, a thought of things to come.

I went to wal-mart and bought for the first time

An Artichoke

This I had never done on my own. I bought plastic wrap and searched high and low for a small thing of butter to no avail. I ended up stealing some from a convenient store, you know those little packages of country crock margarine. I couldn't have

An Artichoke

without butter, that's just not right. I cut of the ends and the top and I placed it in a plastic bowl. My mind kept saying, "this is too small, this is not right," but I wanted

An Artichoke

I filled the bowl with water, and placed the plastic wrap on over it, but it would not stick, water would leak out all over the microwave when I steamed it, but I wanted

An Artichoke

It got so hot, but I couldn't wait for it to cool to get it out of the hot water. I tried with a fork and the knife I had to transfer it out of the water bowl to another, it feel on the floor but I just picked it up and ate it anyway. Five second rule applied; I wanted

An Artichoke

I sucked the leaves dry and cut out its heart, I devoured

An Artichoke

This is something my family and I have done together for many years, and to do it alone felt very odd, I've decided this should only be family affair. Something I will do with my children and I hope they will do with their children. It's a way to sit around the table and talk about the day, while getting your quarrles out while you fight over the last piece of heart. But this is the strange part, the fighting stops, each person tends to give up their rightful part of the heart, and the sharing of the heart begins. These are the wonders of

An Artichoke