Marinated Mushrooms and Roasted Rutabaga
It was midday and she was buying groceries, carrying a designer handbag with a little dog inside. She chatted lamb with the butcher. Talked pasta with the guy in the center aisle. Discussed French radishes with the produce dude. The girls at the front counter packed six double bags for her, going over the weather, the news, and some stray bits of neighborhood gossip. “Have you ever cooked rutabaga?” she asked the cashier with the hummingbird lashes, holding up a gnarled root. “I don’ t
know what to do with this thing.” The cashier said no, but the Belvedere woman in front of me in line smiled, and when she was at the next register she said, “My mother made marinated mushrooms and roasted rutabaga with paprika sauce all the time,” she explained. “Nothing’ s quite like it.” The lady with the dog thanked her graciously for the recipe. “Can I leave the bags while walking Kinsey around the block? I’ll only be minute.” Then she turned and left.
Mira Martin Parker earned a BA at The New School for Social Research, and an MA in philosophy and an MFA in creative writing at San Francisco State University. Her work has appeared in various publications, including the Istanbul Literary Review, North Dakota Quarterly, great weather for MEDIA, and Zyzzyva.
Pegasus 