Kumquats and Other Good Things
February 12, 2008 at 3:17 am 11 comments
This weekend I met a good friend of mine in St. Cloud and after she left, I went to check out the Good Earth Coop. I can’t ever pass up a chance to check out a new coop! And I wasn’t disappointed. As soon as I stepped in the door, I saw them. Like beautiful little jewels amidst the other produce…the bright orange kumquats called to me. I tried to hide my excitement as I quickly grabbed a bag and filled it with a bunch of these little goodies. If you’ve never experienced a kumquat, it’s quite unusual. You eat the entire thing…rind and all. The rind is sweet and the inside flesh is sour. A sweet and sour little candy…made in nature! I had these for the first time about 5 years ago in Lincoln, Nebraska…and have only had them maybe once a year since then.
The kumquats weren’t the only excitement for the day. Oh no. 🙂 They had lacinado kale, which I had been unable to find while we’ve been staying here. They had satsuma tangerines…which were completely amazing and juicy. They had Pink Lady and Spartan apple varieties…which made me giddy with excitement. But the BEST FIND of all…even better than the kumquats…were the little bags of dayri dates (a new variety for me) and medjool dates I found. Seriously. I’m smiling just sitting here writing about them. They were like no other date I’ve ever had before. They were sooooo soft and creamy…they were moist. Like eating fresh fruit. I was in date heaven. They are by far my most favorite fruit at the moment 🙂
So it was a good day. I ate dates all the way home…intermingled with bites of my delicious crunchy apples…in a deliriously happy state 🙂 Fruit rocks my world.
Entry filed under: Fruits and Veggies.
Happy Foody 
1.
Aimee | February 12, 2008 at 3:28 am
You are so funny!! I am sitting here laughing as I picture you in all your date glory!! i am ALMOST inspired enough to go hunt them down :)!
2.
Nicole | February 12, 2008 at 3:32 am
Mmmm. I’m with you on the dates. You’re making me want to make a trip to Whole Foods. You’re also making me miss MN (I’m from the Twin Cities) – which you always manage to do every time you’re there.
3.
livelightly | February 12, 2008 at 3:51 am
Aimee…you won’t be sorry. Hunt away!
Nicole…sorry! I know…we love the cities too!
4.
Karen | February 12, 2008 at 4:52 am
After you apple and date post, I was intrigued and picked up some dates, love them! Really, I couldn’t get over the soft, gooey texture, kinda like eating a candy bar with caramel. So, thanks for the tip.
5.
Dawn | February 12, 2008 at 6:06 am
Now you’ve got me curious about dates. I’ve never tasted them before. I don’t like raisins and I’ve always imagined that they would taste similar- but I might be brave and try one.
6.
christie | February 12, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Have you read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver? It’s all about eating locally and so cutting down the carbon footprint of our food. I agree your choices are fun and nutritious but they’re far from local!
7.
Amy | February 12, 2008 at 4:02 pm
I’ve always liked dates, my midwife advised me to eat them during my pregnancy as a natural way to get much needed iron. I have a three month old kiddo and I was interested in your recent post about how you started your little bella on avacado’s rather than the traditional rice cereal? Can you tell me more about that and any resources you recommend as we think about starting food in a few months? I’m loving your blogs, I’m new to the blogging world, but it’s so much fun to find “kindred spirits” out in the world!
8.
livelightly | February 12, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Dawn…I’m so glad you love the dates 🙂
Christie…never read it, but have heard it’s great! The choices I make reflect the foods that I believe are best for my body and for my family (mostly raw fruits and greens)…and most of the time it’s not local. I will always search for local, but if my choice is between an avocado and a local potato, I will choose the avocado every time. Now, if I lived in Costa Rica or Brazil, I’d be set! Tropical fruit all day! 😉 I guess we all make choices. The other choices I’ve made in my life to live smaller, reduce our possessions, run our vehicles on veggie oil…all of that is making a much greater impact than me not buying 5 kumquats. Everyone does their part 🙂
Amy…basically, we just fed Bella soft fruits (mostly banana, avocado, shredded/mashed apples…) and then slowly moved her into eating whatever we were eating. We obviously don’t eat meat, so it’s a lot easier to feed a baby a mash of brown rice and lentils than a steak and potatoes. She was exclusively breastfed until she was 1 year old…and still nurses now. It makes it easier when the nutrients from breastmilk are figured into the equation. It’s really quite simple when you think about it…what did native peoples feed their children? I’m sure they didn’t do anything to radically different than their own diets. There are several foods to avoid until at least 2 years of age…but other than that, it’s a free for all! 🙂
9.
Kristin Mayo | February 12, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Are you sure you were okay driving? 😉
10.
Aimee | February 13, 2008 at 12:27 am
Okay friend, I just headed up to 14 Carrot to find some dates…I just came home with medjool dates…I sliced a few up, cut up a Fuji apple and jumped in…. DELICIOUS!!! Honestly I can’t believe that I liked them…the only problem is that they are EXPENSIVE!!!! I had all three of my sons try them and they all loved and begged for more “creamy raisins”…oh no we’ve started a date monster!!! 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration to try new things. I would have never tried them otherwise. Also I was going to buy some kale for these green smoothies I am making and I saw that they had the lacinado kale you talked about….so I bought that for our smoothies tomorrow. What is the difference in lacinado and the regular kale? It sure is prettier and “thinner”.
11.
sarah | February 18, 2008 at 4:10 am
hocus pocus. here i am sitting totally inspired. i recently read in defense of food and that pushed me again to reevaluate what we are putting in our bodies, i made several instant changes. my dd’s are 9,7 +3 and they are perfectly fine with the slight changes i felt we needed to make. i will continue to make more little by little. when my first two were around 1 and 3 i was competely raw and felt so so so good. you have reminded me and challenged me to get closer to that again. i did read that you are not having too much fats [ie. nuts] but for a treat or something to offer raw at a party….blend some dates and strawberries, slice up some strawberries into that, put it in a bowl. then in a processor whirl together almonds and dates….press that into a pie tin, pour in the strawberry date mixture, chill in the fridge and viola….strawberry pie. it’s delicious…..be ready for something sweet with this one, it’s *very* sweet, but oh so good.
reading st. cloud or minnesota also gets me feeling nostolgic 🙂 i grew up in brooten [i’ll be shocked if you heard of it] and lived in st.cloud for a spell as well with my dh. we’re out in california now, surrounded by an abundance of wonderful produce year round. i’ll have to check out your tour schedule for the west coast….our area is fairly green and you would surely inspire many people!
okay. long enough comment, this should have just been an email.
peace!
[oh. and thank you!]