questions! answered!

In addition to not knowing how to use the publish/save function on Blogger, I've also been absolutely horrid about replying to comments. Today I went back to the beginning of the month and replied to all of them. I know most of you don't go back into the comeents to read those, and why bother...the posts are plenty 'nuff!! But if you had asked me a question in the comments and have been wondering if I am ignoring you or that I'm such a "beeyatch" for not answering? That might just be where you'd find the answer.

Going back through the comments though, I thought I'd stick a few of them up here directly in this a post.

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Jenna and Jodie asked about persimmons.
There are basically two kinds.


What is on our tree is the "haychia" (pictured, left). Hachiyas are acorn shaped, and when they are ripe and ready to eat, they are so squishy they are almost gelatinous. It should be so squishy that you could poke a hole in it and pretty much slurp out the insides. If you bite into one of these babies when they are hard, you will suffer a most unpleasant experience. It will feel like someone coated your mouth with wallpaper paste or something. When it is truly ripe and the center is almost jelly-like, it is wonderful. It's perfect for baking something like a persimmon bread (like how you'd use ripe smooshed bananas in a banana bread). I also love putting it just as is over ice cream. It would also be great over a pound cake or in a trifle or something like that. I'm sure there are other uses, but that's about as far as I get with it as I'm not much the baker.

The other kind, which is actually my favorite species, is the "fuyu" persimmon (on the right). These are shaped more like a tomato. These you want to eat hard. I've been that told you can eat them when they are squishy, but I've never found that to be an enjoyable experience. MyFavoriteKid and I love these so much that sometimes we just bite right into them like an apple. We usually take a minute to cut them into thin slices though. They would layer nicely in a tart or something I'm sure (again, I'm not the baker), but they are just awesome raw in a salad with some spiced nuts or something (say, as a substitue for salads that have sliced pears).

Hope that helps. I would love to hear from other folks about how they use them!
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Reaching back into October's comments, Bev asked about "the incentive dress".

No. I never got into it. I lost about 15 lbs, and then just got stuck. I kept at what I was doing food-wise, but my weight just sort of plateaued. I knew that I needed to increase my physical activity if I wanted to see more change. I'm still trying to figure out what to do about that. It's sort of complicated. Well, at least I make it so. It's mostly all in my head, where that complication happens. But I am working on it. Meanwhile, I should probably reset the goal for fitting into the dress for the spring!
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Jodi wondered if I really needed a big fat scarf here in California.

YAH!!!! Cold here in Northern California!! Not as cold as where you are from, I am sure. We don't get snow here. But in the mornings when I run MyFk to the bus stop, it's in the low to mid-30's (farenheit) right now and....brrrr!! I'm just loooooving having big fat scarf around my neck to take the chill off!
(oh, and hey Jodi...was that an invitation to visit?!)

Jodi also commented about the greenery here, and how it isn't yellow. Well, some the seasonal trees in the neighborhood (and in my yard) are yellow. And the vineyards are totally golden right now. But the hills, are a beautiful green right now, and so are all the crawling plants. Here with the hills things look mostly green, but it's in the late spring as the hills begin to dry that they go yellow/brown (maybe you should come visit and see it).
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That's all for tonight ;-)