cactus pear

so it's creepy fruit time.


it's been a while.

this time when i went to the fruit exchange i got quite the score:

cactus pear. 
ugli fruit.
(yeah, it's called ugli. amazing.)
lotus root. 
and,
passion fruit.



rockstar.

the cactus pear,
or prickly pear cactus.

this sucker has a lot of seeds.

and isn't too sweet.
but it is an amazing color.



so i decided to mash it up and freeze it.
make a sorbet,
if you will.

but with only two
(they were 2 for 99 cents, 
how could i pass that up?)
it didn't make a lot.
obviously.



but now my curiosity about prickly pears,
the one that started with baloo in the jungle book,
has been answered.

and frankly i'm not too sure why baloo was so into those suckers.


but apparently it is supposed to be popular in mexico,
so maybe i will know more after my vacation this summer.

lilacs

lime sorbet

• 2 limes worth of zest
• 2 cups water
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup lime juice

zest limes.

put lime zest, half of the water, and the sugar in a pot.

stir until sugar dissolves.

remove the zest. 

cool. 

mix syrup, lime juice and other half of the water.

chill. 

ice cream maker it.

freeze. 

eat. 

i love frozen limeade.

scratch that,
i love limeade. 

frozen, is a plus.












i have not made this yet this year, 
in fact i am in a bit of an ice cream slump. 
(but this sucker is supposed to be about ice cream, 
so i figured i should throw in some ice cream recipes.
i guess.)




but,
work has been crazy busy,
and i am not inspired. 








just wait for fresh berries. 
then me and my ice cream machine will be buds again.




and i will be happy. 




cause berries are my most favorite. 
ever.






ps. i also have a couple of czech happinesses to share,
if jb would ever upload the rest of the pictures.
(jerk)

so get pumped about that. 

die walküre

back story:

1.

jb loves wagner. 

he took a whole class on him. 

and the ring cycle.

2.

i was walking by lincoln center last august

and saw a sign for the Met's 2010-2011 opera season, 

guess what was playing?

wagner's ring

(only the first two parts, but still)

so obviously i bought tickets.

i tried to get tickets to both parts, 

but $600 for an opera is a little out of my price range.

so i got tickets to die walküre.

(part 2)

all 5 hours of it. 

crazy pants. 

i got to go to the met. 

on a school night.

and drink champagne.

rockstar.

and they have some crazy amazing chandeliers. 

i want 'em in my house, 

real bad.

i could lie and say every time i took a picture in the lobby

i wasn't trying to get the chandeliers in the shot

but that just wouldn't be true. 

i mean they are too flippin' cool.

also, james levine was the conductor.

and apparently he is supposed to be kind of a big deal.

so that was cool.

luckily for me, 

they had a plot synopsis

so i could brush up before the opera started. 

the Met's synopsis of the plot

 

and if i'm being totally honest,
this thing was great because
now i would know what was going on when i woke up.



yeah, i'm that loser who goes to the opera and falls asleep.

but it was five hours. 

 

 

and i wasn't as much of a loser as the creep i was sitting next to. 

sweatpants with hugely stuffed pockets.

not cool.

add to that creepy throat clearing.

death. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

bottom line ---

it was totally cool. 

plus, i feel like such a rebel going out on a school night.

nerd.

pavlinka krobotova turns 60!

 so the whole point of going to the czech republic 

was to celebrate babi's birthday.

and celebrate we did. 

enter, one man polka band.

enter, slivovice.

 (babi is a little bit of a drug pusher)

add to that, 

jb learning to polka dance,

zk polka dancing like a rockstar, 

and a circle of middle aged to older aged czechs dancing in a circle.

amazing.