One of the grocery stores in my neighborhood has been selling packages of these sweet red peppers labeled as “snack peppers”, and I think they’re onto something! I’ve always been a fan of snacking on bell peppers, but these guys have a couple of advantages. First of all, they are much cheaper per kilo than bell peppers.

The other advantage is how easy they are to prepare and eat. They have very few seeds, all located near the top, so it’s quite simple to chop off the stem, pluck out the seeds, and voilà! Healthy delicious snack.

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Snack peppers

Steve’s version of the raw diet for this trial is very paired-down and heavily fruit-based. He’s not using herbs, spices, salt, garlic, or onions. You can see more of his self-imposed rules .

While I’ve never really given much thought to an all-raw diet, his experiment does remind me of a time in college when I tried to eat nothing but fruit. I had been having a lot of mysterious food allergies, and my neighbor tried to convince me that a fruit-only fast would help cleanse my system and might even help determine what foods I was allergic to (with the idea that I’d be adding back other foods one at a time and watching for reactions).

Skeptical, I decided to give it a try for a day. I approached it as a sort of adventure rather than really expecting any benefits from it. Two of my roommates decided to join me, and we headed off to the market to stock up on massive amounts of delicious, fresh fruit.

That day we ate, and ate, and ate… more fruit than we thought was possible to eat in one day. We just couldn’t get full. I came home from an evening class to an empty house and decided I just couldn’t take the hunger anymore – I boiled some pasta and ate it with some garlic and olive oil. It was the most delicious thing I had ever eaten.

My roommates came home, and I felt overwhelmed by guilt – here they were doing this fruit-only fast to support me, and I had given up before the end of the day. As it turned out, my guilt was short-lived: as soon as I had left the house for my evening class, they had cooked up some pasta of their own. (This was in Italy – as students there we basically lived off of pasta, veggies, and cheese. It never got old.)

At any rate, I’m interested to see how Steve’s 30-day trial turns out. Maybe I could be persuaded to give it a try for myself.

Have you ever tried an all-raw diet?

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Is an all-raw diet for you?

Here’s what my jicama looked like on the veggie tray for our New Year’s Eve party, after I peeled it and sliced it into strips:

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Crunchy Jicama

New York (home of the infamous Sushi Memo) is the place to be for sushi. I can’t believe I only managed to eat it once this time around. I need to go back! At least the one place I went was plenty delicious. Mishima had many veggie choices on the menu, making it hard for me to choose. I finally decided on an avocado roll, a spinach roll, and a gobo (burdock) roll.

I chose the burdock because I couldn’t remember what it was, even though I had the feeling I had had it before. It turned out to be a rather mild root vegetable that resembled little carrots, but it was wrapped in shiso, a kind of Japanese mint that I encountered many times during my trip to Japan. The first bite reminded me that I don’t like shiso, so I shared these rolls with my dining companions.

At least my other rolls and the miso soup were delicious. I’d definitely go to Mishima again. It was great food in a nice environment at a good price.

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NYC: sushi heaven

Mmmm… clementines are in season. These small citrus fruit resemble mandarin oranges and are as much fun to peel as they are to eat. Experts among us can get the entire peel off in one piece (a skill I perfected during my junior year abroad in Italy – hey, at least I learned something).

Clementines are appearing in vast quantities around here these days, imported from Sicily and Spain. Good thing, too, since it’s super-easy to eat 3 or 4 (or more) in a sitting. Yum!

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Clementines, my darling

Cucumbers are available year-round in most places, but there really is a difference if you get them fresh and local. They come in may different varieties, some of which are only available for a short time. Cucumbers lose water quickly, which is why they are often sold with a thick coating of wax (not the most pleasant thing in the world).

Cucumbers are lovely in salads, but they’re also good for a lot of other things. If you’re into pickling (or excited to try it for the first time), now’s the time to do it. I watched a demo recently, and was surprised at how easy it was. But my personal favorite thing to do with cukes is make tzatziki. This garlicy, cucumbery yoghurt makes a delicious addition to a summer meal, and is quite easy to make. I usually don’t follow a recipe, but there are plenty of them (such as this one ) on the web if you’ve never made it before. I’ve never tried it with soy yogurt, but I bet it would still taste heavenly.

Hat tip to Jack at Laughing Lemon for teaching me lots of fun facts about cucumbers.

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Cucumbers take over the world

Actually these are neither. According to the sign at the grocery store, they are called nectavigne and come from France (which still counts as eating ‘local’ for me). It is a cross between a certain breed of peach and a nectarine. I was drawn in by the apple-like appearance of their skin. They were quite ripe and juicy, and tasted much like nectarines. The nectavigne didn’t blow me away, but it’s always fun to try new things.

What fruits are in season in your part of the world?

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Tis the season for nectarines and plums

When I picked up these Stachelbeeren in the market the other day, I had no idea what they were called in English. I also had no idea how to eat them, so I asked the woman behind the counter. She kind of laughed at me for asking the question, and explained that they could be eaten whole.

The gooseberries were very reminiscent of grapes in color, shape, and texture. There are a few edible seeds inside (that are much more pleasant than grape seeds), and it is indeed easy to just eat them whole. They can also be made into desserts such as gooseberry fool, if you’re ambitious that way. You must admit the name sounds intriguing, doesn’t it?

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Gooseberry season

Whenever I heard “passion fruit” I used to think of tropical islands or processed fruit cocktail blends. I always thought it was more popular for what it could add to a name than for its flavor. “Strawberry passion” sounds much more exciting than “strawberry orange”, doesn’t it?

But then I finally tried a fresh passion fruit for the first time (this was a couple years ago). The outsides are hideously ugly – small wrinkly brown balls. The insides (or “guts” if you will) are a wee bit better: lots of large, blackish seeds surrounded by orange goo. The seeds are a very satisfying, crunchy texture. The orange goo is, well, gooey. But not entirely unpleasant. Tasty, even.

My favorite thing to do with passion fruit is to add it to cocktails. My favorite combination involves vodka, blood orange juice, and the innards of a passion fruit over crushed ice. Serve it with a straw big enough to suck up the seeds through. I haven’t actually named this invention, but obviously it’s going to have to be called something cheesy like “bloody passion” or “passion blood”. I love this drink because it’s fruity but not too sweet. And crunchy! How many cocktails can you say that about?

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Passion fruit, blood and guts

I also picked up this really, really ripe cantaloupe at the farmers’ market the other day. It was so fragrant that it stunk up my whole kitchen (in a good way). We ate half of it right away, and then I chopped up the other half and stuck it in the freezer. I’ll put it in a smoothie on one of these hot, summer days we’re having.

Not only is cantaloupe delicious, but it’s also a good source of potassium and vitamin C.

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Melon season, too