Thanks, Mom, for making new foods an adventure.

OK, I admit it. I like to eat. Almost everyone does, of course. But I like to try new foods, I think, more than many other people do. And I have Mom to thank for that.

When we were kids, it was Mom who was always ready to try something new, and to our young palates, exotic. Kropsua is one that comes to mind. I don't know if it is a Finnish or a Swedish oven-baked pancake, but we kids loved it and felt very international when Mom made it for us on a holiday morning.

And I remember taking rides to Black River Harbor on Lake Superior and stopping at a little family-owned butcher shop on the way back for a stick of the butcher's homemade bologna. Mom would take a knife, and before we were 100 feet up the road, heading for home again, be slicing off pieces and passing them to us clamoring beasts in the back seat.

Not that everything we tried was accepted. My Dad was the only one in the family who would eat filia, also known as viili, that a neighbor gave us. It was a Finnish type of yogurt, but seemed slimy and stringy to me. I didn't even want to watch him eat the disgusting stuff. And then there was the time we bought a bag of dried Chinese plums in Duluth, thinking that they'd be sweet and fruity. They weren't and went quickly out the windows of the car before Dad was up to cruising speed.

Now, all these years later, it still excites me to try whatever it is that I haven't tried before. This trip to NZ, has been a goldmine for me and most of the nuggets I've found have been delicious. Some have been just palatable, and a few have been awful. Maybe you'd like to know about a few of them.

Now and again in this spot then, you'll find some of my treasures and some of my trash.

First, let's talk luscious.

My friend Andy, who had a fig tree in his yard, but who has now sold tree, yard, and house, bought a motor home, and gone to explore the northern bits of NZ, gave me, as his going away gift, a bowl of figs.

I boiled them in a secret syrup of my own creation. Golden NZ syrup, cloves, cardamon, candied ginger and a few other things went in to it. Even some white wine since I was feeling adventurous.

Let them cool and rest. And sampled a few.

I cut each in half and arranged them 'artfully' around an Indian gooseberry or amla (Phyllanthus emblica) that I found at the Arkh, an Indian and Island market.  The amla was also boiled, but in a plain syrup. They are Extremely tart.

I should have included a scoop of Hokey-Pokey ice cream in my dessert offering. Jeanne and Allie pronounced it good, but the boys would have nothing to do with it.

"And now," as Monty Python used to say, "For something completely different."


This is a bitter melon.

                     
                         This is the inside (surprise!) of a bitter melon.
                                                                             

                 

This is the chopped, lightly boiled, then sauteed in olive oil with sea salt, garlic and pepper flakes, bitter melon. It's quite nice to look at but is inedible. My advice is, if you see something called bitter melon in an Asian market, Believe that it is what it says it is and give it a pass.

So, there you have the 'best of times and the worst of times' for this first 'food' edition. 

I suppose in closing that I should show you something that ranks in my estimation between the best and the worst. Today's offering is the Taro Fish Ball.

Most fish balls are made with potato starch, and fish of course. I'd call their boiled texture 'springy' and the flavor mildly fishy.  These taro balls, which I tried for the first time recently, uses taro rather than potato as you might guess. I thought that they were similar in taste, but the boys distrusted these from the beginning, because of the purple color, I'm sure. They love the regular potato based balls (nice and white) when we cook them with ramen noodles. We also use them whenever we make up our version of a Korean 'hotpot.' 

My suggestion is to find an Asian market if you can, and try some fish balls. Just start off with the plain white ones...                                                                                                       - djf