My mom was from the deep south - an Alabama girl - and although I was raised in Pennsylvania, we frequently saw traditional southern dishes at breakfast and dinner. Grits, okra, and collard greens. As a young girl I thought it was all pretty ghastly and couldn't understand why we couldn't have more cheeseburgers and french fries. My tastes matured through the years, but I still couldn't go near those collard greens. I belong to a farm CSA now and for 3 boxes in a row at the bottom of each box, there lay a bundled bunch of the dreaded collard greens. Each week, by the time I got to cooking them (in theory at least) they were all yellowed. Oh darn, I'd think, I guess I'll just have to throw them away. No guilt involved at all. So this week, when they showed up AGAIN, I thought OK, I need to at least give these little guys a chance. I boiled them for quite awhile in a kind of aciduated water with lemon, garlic, salt and several slices of smoked bacon. And then I tossed them in saute pan in apple cider vinegar and butter and topped them with bacon lardons and my candied garlic slices. The end result was a complete surprise to both my husband and me. We actually liked them. No, we LOVED them, and now I'm actually hoping for more collard greens in my next CSA box. My mom would be so proud.

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