Trying New Things
I have been cooking when I have time. The rest of the time we either eat left overs, do take out or hubby cooks. When I say hubby cooks, I use that term "cooks" loosely. He grills. I have no problem with that because it's less I have to do in the kitchen and it doesn't mess up the kitchen either. So we are eating.

After a trip grocery shopping hubby surprised me with some white asparagus. He is getting more and more adventurous when he has that grocery list in his hot little hand along with the checkbook. I think it's great that he likes to try new things and doesn't mind playing culinary guinea pig. Hence the photo below...

I love green asparagus but have never tried the white ones. After eating them, I see why now. They were crisp and perfectly formed, but lacked flavor. We grilled them the same way we do the green version and it did nothing for them. I was a bit sad since some asparagus lovers make such a fuss over the white ones. I will continue to buy the green and be perfectly happy with those. Along with the white asparagus experiment, we have been eating a new fruit that we found in the local store where a I work part-time. I see new things, I have to try them. Now let me say that I am not a huge plum or apricot fan. I had this thing about fruit with hair on it when I was a kid. So I have avoided peaches and apricots for years and years. I would eat canned peaches, but never fresh ones. Of course any peach could be consumed as long as it was in pie or cobbler form, but not fresh.

I don't know when I changed my mind. I guess it's been since becoming a chef, that I decided that I should not make judgements without trying something first. So I started slowly with those packaged dried apricots. They were rather chewy but it thought they were okay. So I started cooking with them and just eating from the pouch as a snack when chocolate was scarce.

Then we got something called a Dinosaur egg at work and I had to try it. I think in some parts of the country they are called Pluots.(click on the link and read more about how they came to be. It's pretty interesting) They are a cross between a plum and an apricot. So it's a hair-less plum with some character. Here is an up close photo of what the skin looks like. It's speckled a bit. Some don't have as much speckling but the inside is just as wonderful.

Here is what the inside of this one looks like...it's a redish pink color and sweet as the day is long. The skin was a bit tough on the outside but the sweetness on the inside made up for the extra chewing to get there. I have eaten the Pluots at two different places and one batch was sweet and red, the other was not as red in the middle and not as sweet. So I guess the redness is a sign of ripeness. I really love these. They are just what I was looking for. I sweet fruit with no hair.

I know we all have our little weird things about food and now you know one of mine!