"Never, ever wear green chiffon," Mr. Kwan has one character warn, "unless you want to look like bok choy" that's been violently abused.
Many of the city's C.S.A. clubs invite cooks in during the weekly vegetable pickup to give advice to people who might be mystified or intimidated by that bristly bunch of bok choy that was just dropped into their bag.
Though not indigenous to Long Island, the mesclun mix and bok choy that come out of the greenhouses at Sang Lee Farms in Peconic, for instance, are locally grown ingredients that can enrich a Thanksgiving table.
His book discusses the transmission through direct blood-to-blood or bodily fluid-to-blood contact, the essential liver function tests, treatments and the role of nutrition and foods like broccoli, kale, radishes and bok choy that provide nutrients and help detoxify the liver.
"I'm not going to serve asparagus, but what do I say: 'Instead, have this bok choy that's been fermenting for six months?' " Mr. Sawyer's favorite way of extending the life of local food is a vast vinegar experiment, using wine dregs from the restaurant, beer brands abandoned by local distributors and whatever else he decides to pour in, like garlic, soy sauce or apple cider.
The bok suggested that bored people choose three subjects they know nothing about and study them.
Sissela Bok suggests that governments should avoid commenting on controversial matters to prevent the necessity, or impulse toward, convenient untruths.
It's true, Bok acknowledges, that rich Americans tend, on average, to be happier than poor ones.
Mr. Bok said that the prospects of deal activity appeared to be improving both in Europe, where economic turmoil has impinged upon merger work, and in the United States.
Bok recommends that unemployment insurance be extended to the fifty per cent (or more) of American workers who are not now covered, and that aid be offered to those who lose their jobs and want to go back to school.
Still another special, tilefish, was agreeable, and so was a regular entree: seared ahi tuna steak with shoestring potatoes and a sprawl of deep-green baby bok choy that tasted of new onions and spring.
