Monday Evening Hodge-Podge

I’m determined to get this post published by midnight, because I planned on posting something today, and today has turned out to be mighty loooong.  I didn’t get home from work until about 10pm, and, as a result, bailed on my plan to hit the gym after leaving the office.  I’m not fretting about missing my workout, though, because yesterday I did 45 minutes on the bike (about 10.7 miles), and tomorrow I’m planning my next practice jog, and with a very special guest, who I’m very excited to see, even though you might not be aware of this person… yet.  So be sure to come back and check it out!

When I got home a little while ago, the first thing I did was attack one of my cactus pears.  You remember these guys, right?  I bought them yesterday at Super King for 17 cents:

You may know them as prickly pears, or, if you’re like me before yesterday, you may not really know them at all.  Let me first say that I learned tonight they’re called prickly pears for a reason – they hurt!  There are prickers embedded in those brown spots, and they’re tiny.  When one gets embedded in, say, I don’t know, the side of your middle finger and you feel it every time it rubs up against your ring finger, and you can’t see it, but it’s aggravating, painful, and makes typing your blog post a little more difficult nonetheless.  (I’m too tired to go back and fix that run-on sentence.)

So.  After deciding to handle the cactus pear more delicately, I got to the task of taking one apart.  First, I sliced off both ends, and made a couple long cuts down the length of the pear, so I could remove a piece of the skin.  This made removing the rest of the skin easier, as I could basically peel it, like a banana.  A dangerous banana.

I didn’t use the knife to peel it, I used my hands – I just stuck the knife there for the photo, so you could see how I was separating the flesh from the skin.   When I was done, I was left with a pricker-free oval of cactus pear flesh:

Which I cut up, and put in a bowl:

Which I ate.  Haley, a fellow blogger from Hawaii, noted in her blog that cactus pear tastes like a combination of watermelon and kiwi.  I’d say it tastes more like watermelon, but blander.  Like watermelon, it’s crisp yet watery, and like some watermelon (seedless varieties excluded), it’s full of seeds.  And those seeds are hard.  If you bite down on one, your first thought becomes, ‘oh crap, did I just chip a tooth?’   Just another reason consuming cactus pear is a risky endeavor.  Cactus pear is the fugu of the fruit world.  But when it comes down to it, despite the inherent risks for injury, I would recommend the cactus pear.  It never hurts to expand your culinary horizons, especially when you can get 2 for 17 cents!

Since I’m on the subject of new foods, remember these?

The Japanese fish balls I picked up in Little Toyko last weekend!  The Age Balls (package on the right) were long gone, but I didn’t touch the Minch Balls (package on the left) until yesterday.  And they were tasty.  I was going to take a photo of one cut open, but I forgot.  Oops.  They were a little more savory than the Age Balls (which had almost a maple-y glaze), had herbs sprinkled throughout them, and were still very tasty.  I’ll vouch for both processed fish balls – if you see them in your local Japanese supermarket, try a package.  They’re low in calories and fat (each minch ball is only 25 calories and 1 fat gram), and I’d definitely buy them again.  I’d also try one of the other 4 or 5 types of fish balls at the Japanese supermarket where I found these… a whole new world of processed fish products is unfolding before my eyes like an origami pterodactyl!

Woo-hoo!  Publishing this post at 11:01pm!  59 minutes to spare….

Keep it up, David!

Various Monday Food Notes

A few disjointed thoughts – although all of them are about food.  Well, not the first one.  But all the rest.  (I couldn’t think of a snappy title… after reading, if you have a good title idea for future posts that feature a variety of topics, let me know in the comments section!)

1)  When I left work tonight, it was raining.  It made my evening.  Rain in Los Angeles is rare.  Any type of weather in Los Angeles makes for a nice change.  I hope it rains more, but I never pay attention to weather reports, so when it does, it’s always a nice surprise.

2) I’ve tried the pineapple guava that I bought at the farmer’s market on Saturday.  Here’s what they look like on the inside:

Once I quartered them and separated the flesh from the skin, there wasn’t much edible fruit that remained, but since I paid a quarter a piece for them, I’m not complaining about it.  I liked how they tasted – a little sour and tart, a nice crisp bite.  As for the flavor, well, the best I can describe it was that it tasted tropical to me.  Like a tropical Lifesaver or Starburst – but a little more sour.  Not the best description, huh?

3) I’ve lived in Los Angeles for 8 years.  So when was the first time I hung out in the Little Tokyo neighborhood downtown?  Yesterday.   Sad, but true.  My friend Jonathan, who’s visiting from New York, and I went to the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (which is housed in a really cool space that was converted from a former police car warehouse into a museum), and then we walked around Japanese Village Plaza, a shopping area full of gift shops and restaurants:

There was a Japanese grocery store, where I picked these up:

Fried Fish Balls!  In two different flavors – Age Ball and Minch Ball!  They caught my eye because they looked tasty, and seemed to be made of magical ingredients.  Each fish ball is only 25 calories, and the Minch Balls (on the left) have 1 gram of fat per ball, while the Age Balls (on the right) are fat free.  How do the Japanese fry something and keep it fat-free?   They really have thought of everything.  And only $1.99 per package!

I took 6 of the Age Balls as part of my lunch today, and they were fantastic.  You would never guess they’re fish – they’re highly processed, like imitation crab, but with no fishy smell.  These had a sweet glaze on them that was almost maple-syrup-like.  I’ll try the Minch Balls later this week – will keep you posted.

4) I had three oranges left from the bag of oranges I purchased during my 99 Cent Store Produce Challenge.  This morning, when I went to grab one from the fridge so I could juice it, I noticed that two of the three were moldy and puffy.  I threw all three out.  I bought them 1 week ago today.  I’d like to say I’ll never but produce again from the 99 Cent Store, but in all likelihood, I probably just won’t buy oranges.  For now.  The peaches, pears, and mini bell peppers that I bought during the challenge have all worked out just fine, and a 3 out of 4 success rate is pretty good in my book.

5) My new roommate, the brussel sprout stalk, is now wandering around my condo half naked.

The bottom half went into part of tomorrow’s lunch (or dinner, I haven’t decided yet).  I sauteed them in a little PAM, then browned chicken breast pieces in a marinade of nonfat italian dressing, garlic, and lots of various herbs (Oh, and if you read this post out loud to someone, please pronounce that word Mar-In-Odd, like Martha Stewart, and not Mare-In-Aid).  I threw in some heirloom cherry tomatoes with the chicken, and threw in some leftover couscous that I made on Sunday.  The end result, along with the rest of tomorrow’s lunch and dinner:

The chicken/brussel sprouts/tomato/couscous dish is top left.  At the bottom is a salad with mixed baby lettuces, yellow bell pepper, sunflower greens, scallion, onion sprouts, capers, sprouted wheatberries, sprouted fenugreek, sprouted sunflower seeds (I should probably discuss all these sprouted things in a future blog, huh?), and a couple teaspoons of light honey mustard dressing.  Everything in the salad, except the dressing and the capers, came from the farmer’s market.  There’s a pint of strawberries and a box of raisins, for a snack.

Keep it up, David!