Eggplant

Jim, now, are we talking carefully prepared cooked eggplant, or just that lovely color, or are we talking plain old eggplant prepared by anyone who happens to see it and buy it out of curiosity? Anyone who can love eggplant uncritically has to have a big heart. I can deal with the stuff if the person in the kitchen knows what's up, but in general I leave it alone!
BTW, do you remember the post about gnats a while back? I think you were the one who wondered why no one here had a recipe for them. I was tempted to answer that they're kinda like parsely, you just toss them on as a garnish, but I was afraid no one would take me seriously after that! I'm hoping that burying my comment way down here will let me avoid that fate...