Monday, December 31, 2018

Rambutan

Now that I know its name I like it even more. They look like sea urchins, and their name is based on the word for hair.

"Are these things sweet?"

"Yes." The tiny old woman shook her head affirmatively and vigorously.

"Thank you."

Later, this same woman chased me down, easy enough to do, I'm going nowhere fast, "You person. You person. You person. You person."

"Me person?"

"Yes, you person. No this, yes this." She took out a package of grapes and put in another similar package. "This good. This no."



The shell opens like a sea urchin too. The tough gelatinous white interior pops out easily but the seed inside does not. 

I never had burdock before either. I have no idea what it does or why it is popular. I think it's a root but I don't know how it grows so straight. They look more like thin tree trunks.

This combination of things turned out to be an excellent tasting juice. 

I'm getting good at this. I'm a natural.

I'm learning. Keep things on the green side. Or white. So the combined colors are attractive. Actually, I had no idea what color the inside of the rambutan is. It could have been red for all I knew.

I forget but I think they were a little bit expensive, like $5.00+ for a small package, but I didn't care. I saw them and thought, "I must have you." Just to see. 

When you check the nutritional value of things, they often sound like they say the same things. I'm getting to where I don't really care for specifics.

But you know what? 

This happed the day before yesterday. 

I was sitting on the sofa for a long time reading and writing. Then popped up to walk away. Then I realized that motion was painless. 

For the first time in decades.

And no sound. No creaking joints. And suddenly I remembered not feeling anything getting up, how nothing felt like years ago. I recalled the state of absence of pain, and I thought, "wow, so this is how it should be. I forgot all about how that doesn't feel." This whole time it was pain that told me I'm alive. And the absence of pain is more like a dream.

5 comments:

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Rambutans are very good, but try mangosteens if you get the chance. They are brown and round (the brown part is a thick rind) but inside are white segments of awesome. They are hard to find (try big Asian markets). You will also usually get a better price on the rambutans there.

ampersand said...

I have a recipe for Root beer syrup that includes burdock root. It was fairly cheap at the H Mart here but sassafras is fairly expensive so haven't tried it.

I've been taking turmeric for my joint pains, I don't bother with the capsules. I get a nice big bag in the Indian aisle at the grocers for 2 bucks. Read that it is not easily absorbed in the body and was recommended to take pepperine with it however I just take an eighth of a teaspoon of black pepper instead. It has helped my creaky knees a lot.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

I did not realize sassafras is expensive. If you live in the east, it is easy enough to find it growing in the woods and dig up some roots. They say it is a carcinogen, but meh, isn't everything?

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

I did not realize sassafras is expensive. If you live in the east, it is easy enough to find it growing in the woods and dig up some roots. They say it is a carcinogen, but meh, isn't everything?

I mix tumeric and pepper too.

ampersand said...

I saw a map showing where sassafras can be found naturally. It stops growing south of Cook County in Illinois. I understand it grows like crazy out east. The cheapest I saw online was 30 dollar a pound for the root. The FDA banned sassafras from foods in 1962. The excuse was the same, it caused cancer in rats. But the huge amounts needed to trigger made it seem hardly dangerous. Nutmeg is a similar carcinogen, I understand, but not banned. Sassafras oil is used to make Ecstasy, but I don't think it was around when it was banned, however sassafras tonic was supposed to have pleasant effects which would have been enough to get bureaucrats to throw their weight around.