ENTER THE DRAGON (fruit)

Now, it’s true that I have traveled some and I do have an appetite for foods I have never seen before, but there is still a lot out there that is new to me at every turn.  This would be why I tend to frequent Farmers’ Markets and Mercados and the odd roadside stand.

Tuther day we were in Watsonville on a day trip for good grub (quick side jaunt to the Corralitos Market for a variety pack-o-sausages…) and so we stopped at our favorite produce stand out on the way to the fairgrounds. They had a mountain of Halloween related vegetables with pumpkins of every color and giant squashes & gourds that had a decidedly pumpkin cast to their physiognomy…some with proper names like Turk’s Head Squash and others labeled simply Big Warty Bumpy Things.

We bypassed all this to get to what we wanted… grapefruit-10 for a buck, fresh berries, avocados-4 for a buck, raspberry newtons and fresh veggies.

Shopping bags groaning, we headed for the register where, in a manner most eye-catching, sat a flat of Vietnamese Dragon Fruit. I had never seen one or even heard mention of them and I was intrigued. 

Imagine, if you will, something the general size and shape of a big sweet potato only hot, fluorescent pink with large, random, bright green artichoke leaf looking bits poking out here and there. 

From there the conversation went sorta like this:

“What the hell is that?”

“Dragon fruit…. they’re from Vietnam.”

“Are they good?”

“Some people like ‘em. They’re an acquired taste I guess.”

“What do you do with them?”

“Slice ‘em open and scoop out the insides and eat it.”

“Well I gotta have one.”

So I took it home, laid it on the cutting board and sliced it right down the middle.

Not that I had expected anything in particular when I opened it… but it was not what I expected. The inside looks like French Vanilla Bean Ice Cream… creamy white with hundreds of little black flecks throughout.  Somewhere between a kiwi and a poppy seed muffin only in black & white.

Now, as a rule, the more arcane a fruit or vegetable looks the more likely it will be like a Chinese puzzle box or a bank vault when it comes to removing the small edible bit somewhere in the middle.  Not so the Dragon Fruit. It opens up like a lonely, liquored up librarian at a conference far from home and you don’t have to toss anything out with the husk.  You just scoop it out like you would an over-ripe avocado, dice it up and you are ready to chew. (they do say to make sure that all the pink bits from the inside of the husk are cut away because they taste nasty…)

The acquired taste bit must be the fact that it is not overly sweet like many giant fruits, so we mixed it in a bowl with fresh raspberries, blackberries and bananas. Damn good eatin’.

EIGHTY IN DOG YEARS...

Sad to say, my dog, Pepe, has gone off to play fetch with Jesus. Luckily his passing was quick and relatively pain free. He died in his own bed, in his favorite place - hunkered down in front of a good, warm fire - with the help of a great friend and good drugs.


Those of you who erroneously imagined that it was you who had the best dog in the world may now fight amongst yourselves for the title of Also Ran.

He is now off on an adventure where the birds have no wings, the squirrels all have one bum leg and Auntie Michelle never puts the lid back on the treat jar… 

I like to think of him eating table scraps off God’s own dinner fork.

Thank you to Talia who had the presence of mind to pick him out of the pile of shelter pups in the first place, everyone who dog sat him over the years, Michelle for giving him a country estate in his dotage and especially Lovely who saw him through his moving on. 

He and I are both forever in your debt.