An Addict Will Get His Fix

Ordinarily, my desire for a garden spurred on by catalogs is a fleeting infatuation. I have no permanent residence to keep plants, no yard of my own to garden. Alas, the itinerant lifestyle I crave is also a burden. Nothing kills the excitement of a dream faster than a pinch from reality. However, because I am a gardening addict and suffer from a still unnamed disease that makes people desire to garden, I have found a way to satisfy my cravings. As any addict would. I invented a need for special vegetables that I must have that cannot be purchased at a grocery store. 

Every summer I cater a dinner party for my mother and 14 of her friends. She gives me free reign to make whatever I want. The first year I did a playful take on food from the fair; last year I designed an elaborate dinner brunch. I didn't think I would be home this summer to cater a dinner party, but that proved to be false. To celebrate, I am planing the most extravagant dinner party yet. I am planning an extravagant dinner in honor of "the chef of kings and the king of chefs" Marie Antonin Careme.

Careme was a child of the French revolution and elevated himself to cook for the likes of France's top diplomat to kings and Napoleon, the prince regent of England, Czar Alexander 1 of Russia and James Mayer Rothchild. An impressive resume, clearly someone who deserves to be honored with the freshest ingredients possible AND the most flavorful. Which ingredients are those: the ones Careme likely used himself.

For the dinner, I will be growing all french heirloom vegetables that date back to the 1800's and before. I thought that finding such vegetable seeds might prove to be an impossible feat. However, with the help of a local seed bank, Baker Creek, it was very easy to source everything I needed. (I found a few other [necessities] at a few other websites.)

On the menu will be:
Crapaudine Beet, it is believed to be the oldest cultivated beet
Jaune Obtuse du Doubs Carrot, a large yellow carrot
Parisienne Carrot, 1" orb carrot
Lunar White Carrot, a large white carrot with green shoulders
Geante Dore Ameliore Celery, a large stalked celery with few strings
Jaune Dickfleischige Cucumber, a yellow skinned variety when mature, but is eaten young.
Fin de Meaux Cucumber, a small cucumber used for cornichon pickles
Carentan Leek, an old European favorite leek
Merveille des Quatre Saisons Lettuce, very old french heirloom with speckled red leaves
Brune D'hiver Lettuce, butterhead type lettuce
Charentais Melon, very old orange fleshed French favorite melon
Jaune Paille de Vertus Onion, European standard onion for hundreds of years
French Breakfast Radish, mild, very old French heirloom
Jaune D'or Ovale Radish, sicy, old French heirloom
White Wonder Watermelon, white watermelons were more available then than they are now
Harlequin French Marigold, yellow and red stripped heirloom marigold
Nicaise Pumpkin, small, flat ribbed red-orange skinned
Jaune et Vert patty-pan squash
Fin de Bagnol, heirloom haricot vert

I know it is a lot of vegetables, but these along with several heirloom tomatoes and a few hot peppers will be spilt between garden beds at my mom's house and a large garden plot at my dad's house. (Go big or go home)