Fruity Friday: The Hawaiian Inspired Edition

You probably eat it all the time, but did you ever wonder what it tastes like straight from the nut? Well I am here to tell you how it is!

Meet Coco, The Coconut!

But before I go into depth on the fruit of the week I have tell you what inspired me to buy Coco in it's full form.

J. Alabama (the bf) and I decided to branch out of our normal routine and try this Hawaiian Restaurant called Ono Hawaiian Cafe.

We decided to start our dinner off with an appetizer. When I looked at the menu I saw that they referred to it as PUPUS. Teeheehee...this made me laugh.



Our Pupu of choice was the coconut shrimp. (This may have been the start to coconut adventure.)


After we indulged in the delicious coconut shrimp it was time for my main entree. I settled on the Moanalua.


(the flower was my favorite part, oh yeah besides all the yummy stuff!)

Moanalua: Chicken Katsu Curry marinated chicken breaded in panko fried til crisp served with coconut curry sauce. I can't forget to mention the side of coconut infused rice!

Okay, so it probably doesn't sound all that healthy but the meal was amazing. I am a huge fan of curry too, so this was a perfect combo for my taste buds. It was also alot of food. It took at least two meals for me to finish it off.

So needless to say, after this coconutty experience I decided that I had to have one all of my own. And I was really interested in experience the task of opening one.

So folks, I welcome you to the Coconut Experience.

To open Coco you need tools. Seriously? It's a fruit right? Or is a nut? Heck I don't know and quite frankly I don't really care. I just want to get this thing open!

Get your pliers, hammers, nails, drills... whatever you think you will need ready. It's gonna be a chore!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention they now sell the "easy to open" coconuts!


First step: You must really nicely convince your boyfriend that he has now been dubbed 'opener of thy nut' as you act as the assistant taking lots of pictures and maybe handing him a tool or two if he needs them.


The goal is to puncture Coco in three spots. We used a hammer and nail. It's very important that you see Coco's face. (Do you see it? Eyes, nose, mouth?)


By hammering in nail holes you are relieving some of the pressure. After that J. Alabama actually had to take the thing outside. Because pounding really hard on my counters with a hammer and coconut probably sounded really horrible to my neighbors. Once outside he cracked that baby open. I was squealing with delight.. ooohh coconut milk. Yeah! Like real coconut milk from a real coconut!

This is what he brought in with him.



An empty nut. :(



I got ripped off. My coconut was milk less. There was not a drop in there.

After I pouted for about 30 seconds I grabbed a knife and helped deshell Coco. We were now down to the fresh coconut meat.


I put a small piece into my mouth to savor the experience. What I tasted was coconut.

I mean what did you expect me say? It wasn't juicy, it wasn't sweet.

It was just coconut.

But it was kind of disappointing. Maybe because my coconut was milk less it was dryer than usual? But I didn't even think Coco tasted as good as it does out of the bag from the store. (that is the saddest part I think).

Well I was definitely determined to put Coco to good use. So I had a plan.

Coco meet cheese grater. Cheese grater meet Coco.


I will just make my own coconut flakes. Because quite honestly I did not know what else I was going to do with a bunch of dry pieces of coconut. You will have stayed tuned to see how I creatively use my very own coconut. YAY!

In case you really wondered, this source refers to Coco as a fruit. But there are many debates on whether it actually is a fruit, nut, or seed. Interesting huh?

And don't forget to stop by Aneta's Blog to check our her take on the Coconut!

Pa-PIE-ahhh

Does anyone else ever get their second wind at oh, say 11:00 pm? Well, well, well, I sure did last night. I think it was the papaya post that was looming over me, I couldn't sleep. Aneta and I picked this glorious fruit to report on this week and I just wasn't sure about it at first.

I mean, look at this thing!


I know I have had papaya before, but I couldn't remember if I liked it or not. So this was a good excuse to buy one and give it a review. I also thought papayas were smaller like mangos. But no, this baby weighed something over 3 pounds. I tried to find the smallest one because I wasn't sure if I was going to like it and well it was like $1.00 something per pound!


I am trying to figure out what to with all this fruit... did someone say pa-pie-ahh? Yep, I'm turning this baby into a pie, because seriously there is just too much papaya for one person.

So let's cut this beast open already!


Once you cut it in half, you must scoop out the seeds. Haven't you always wondered what the inside of a papaya looked like?


Since I am using the fruit in my pie, I chose to cut off the outer skin. Which was super to ease to remove with a knife.


Then you slice into pieces or cubes (for the pie) and enjoy!


So the aftermath...tasted similarly to a melon to me. And I hate to say it but I am soooo not a fan of melon. It's not as pungent but there is a little melony taste lingering. I did enjoy the soft texture of the fruit though.

The pa-pie-ahh recipe has a better chance I think.

What you need to make Pa-Pie-Ahh:
- half of papaya cubed
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 3/4 cup oatmeal
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp salt
1 pie crust

Basically just mix all the ingredients except the papaya in a bowl. Once mixed thoroughly put 1/3 of mixture in the bottom of pie crust.


I mixed 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract into the papaya cubes before pouring them into the pie crust. Then top the papaya with the remaining mixture from bowl and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.



Holy Yum! Okay so the end result is that the papaya taste is very very mellow in the pa-pie-ahh. But fresh out of the oven and mixed with the yummy mixture it tastes like a cobbler. Mmmm Mmmm... And it was SOOOOO easy to make.

Any suggestions on what to do with the other half of the papaya? I just don't think I can stomach eating it alone. But I didn't mind it mixed up in the cobbler pie! Also don't forget to head over to Aneta's for her take on this freakishly huge fruit.

Fruity Friday!

So Aneta & I are back with a brand new to us exotic fruit to taste and tempt your taste buds!

I love this project because so many times I have eyed some of these weird fruits and wondered what fruity powers they held. Now I have an excuse to buy them guilt free and taste away!


Today we present you with the Pummelo.


I have never even heard of this fruit and actually almost walked right by it thinking it was a cantalope or something. But oh no, this thing is far from a cantalope or even a melon. It is a part of the grapefruit family.


It clocks in at 1.5 pounds! I just read somewhere that it's the world's largest citrus fruit! The picture above is my rendition of a Pummelo medicine ball. Seriously, I could do some sweet ab workouts with this thing!

So to prepare this fruit for eating is similar to that of an orange. A very LARGE orange. I found a great You Tube video on how to peel a Pummelo. They advised piercing the skin of the fruit and making a circular slice around the fruit from top to bottom. Then peeling the outer skin in the same pattern.


Once you have taken off the outer skin you need to pull off the white inner skin. Just like an orange! Except, there is a lot more to it!



So what I liked about this fruit was that is slightly tangy like a grapefruit but without so much *PuCkeR* sour. It was as if a grapefruit & an orange had a giant baby! lol. Seriously though.

It was delicious and I will be eating if for DAYS because this colossal beast is just that big!

The downside is that there is a lot of preparation to eating this thing. The white skin protecting the yummy fruit is a pain to cut off and took a lot of time.

I give the Pummelo two thumbs up! And don't forget to stop by Aneta's blog to hear opinion of this freakishly huge fruit.

And please join in the fruity friday fun and let me know if you have ever tasted this fruit and what you thought about it.



Oh and can I just say that I watched the movie Julie & Julia last night, you know the one about Julia Childs? I had NO idea that Julie was a blogger and I was cracking up the whole time! I have only been blogging about 2 months and I could definitely identify with Julie. Doing these fun blog projects just makes me think of Julie's 365 days and 500-something recipes she had to cook. Awesome!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Pear Compear

Today I was rocking the side 80's pony tail. As a girl born in the 80's it's sort of a right of passage and today felt like the day to show it off to the world.

I started my day with another awesome session of Cardio Kickboxing. This class was a little rough today due to the fact that I rocked it last night. I had the day off today and wanted to take advantage of attending it as my schedule usually only allows me to go once a week. So back to back kickboxing made me a bit sore but it was such a great feeling.



Today was also a day in which I wanted to indulge in the PEAR COMPEAR challenge. Aneta at Confessions of a Rambunctious Runner and I have talked about reviewing fun & exotic fruits. Our lovely pick for this week was the Prickly Pear.

Now how to eat such silly looking fruit? It is actually fruit of a cactus which I did not know before this project. With the name like pear I had my suspicions on how I thought it would be.



First you cut each end off and then make a slice down the middle only piercing the skin of the fruit.


Then the skin peels off easily, like so.


A.Bomb (the brother) seems to be undecided. He was weirded out by the seeds. He said it had the consistency of a pear but seeds like a pomegranate. He said he would probably buy it again.


Dad on the other hand wasn't impressed with this particular prickly pear. He has had it on a different occasion and explained that it didn't seem ripe enough.


Hard to gage after his explanation. I found it to taste of watermelon, very watery. But not a whole lot of spunk. I thought the juicyness would hold a new and exciting taste but it was calm and unexciting. I did however like it better than the persimmon.

I was even more surprised to read Aneta's comparison which was very similar! Let me know if you have had the Prickly Pear experience and feel free to compear the pear with us!

Pinkies Up

This lovely red pear was the fruit of the day!

I have been trying to buy new fruits & veggies when I go grocery shopping as a way to incorporate them into my diet. I can remember back to a few months ago when I would go days without eating fruits and/or veggies and not even think twice about it.

But what I have come to discover is the amazing powers they hold. Oh yes, super fruit & veggies powers! I feel naturally energized, my mood is happier, not to mention the many health benefits.

I have to say it all started with the Green Monster. A great morning breakfast infused with spinach & banana goodness. Sounds disgusting but it has changed my life. Since drinking those & incorporating the fruits & vegs into my daily routine I get the urge to run all the time!

The Will Run For Wine group had it's first meet-up since last weds. Far too long I say! We picked a new route last night and decided to give it a try. We were lucky that Nicole has her head lamp because we followed the green belt deep into the darkness. It had an a eerie feeling & was hard to navigate with just one head lamp. I do not recommend this type of adventure. Good thing there were 6 of us and I know some sweet kickboxing moves - noone was going to mess with the Wine Runners. We managed to bust out 4 miles along our adventure. We will save this route for a weekend or summer time, since it is beautiful during the day, but night time it's far too secluded and dark.

After the run J. Alabama & I decided on having Sushi night. It has been way too long since our last sushi session and let me tell you it hit the spot.

In the nature of trying new things we ordered Sake. (Well there was that one time I engaged in the Saki-Bomb-a-thon, but I was also doing an extensive wine tasting & don't quite remember if I liked it or not).


I think I heart the little cups. Oh and I couldn't fight the feeling of not doing the pinkie up. I know, I know... I had to!


My sushi was good.


But J. Alabama's was WAY better! Look at all the goodies on top.


Good thing he likes to share with me. He is so nice!! :)

My next post will be starring a new special character - one that you will see popping up over here a lot more often. Stay tuned! And I am excited for those of you who are signed up for the HBBC!