I forgot how much I love fuyu persimmons! I can't get enough. I want to eat three a day. How long have they been in season and how long will they stay in season? I am gripped with fear that I slept on buying them through most of their season. I want to bake with some hachiyas but I am having a hard time waiting for them to ripen. EC gave me an old recipe for cookies with a wine glaze so hopefully I can make those soon.
So I bought this magnet at The Thrift Store for like 75 cents. I bought two just because they were so cheap and so cute. But before I unpacked my bag, Babs got to the other one and chewed off the nose. I let her play with it for awhile and she became obsessed with it. Now if it's on the fridge she will get on the counters while we're gone and try to knock it down. When bunchy came to visit, he too, was obsessed with this magnet.
Long story short, here's what the other one looks like.
I put it on the head of a mummy postcard I got in Guanajuato-perfect! Perhaps no one else will find this as funny as me.
Letting her sit in the dryer is a bad idea, right? I have heard horror stories of cats killed that way. But look how cute.
Time for some brew awareness. Smiller is on his way to a brew dinner in SF at the Monk's Kettle so I don't think he will help me out here so everything I say about the brew will be vague.
The Davis Co-Op has this Bruery Autumn beer right now. It's brewed with yams and spices, and with Brett, as are all their beers. The yamminess is restrained, but the pumpkin pie spice came on stronger, in a good way. It's 10%, so pretty strong, but the alcohol is balanced and it's great to split without tiring out your palate. I thought it was a little flat, but smiller said it had the perfect mouthfeel that he wants for a beer of that strength. It actually went really well with the persimmons, surprisingly, and that's a mild morbier cheese so it went OK with that, too.
This is a T'smisje beer I got at City Beer in SF. It was brewed in Calvados barrels and I am a sucker for a gimmick like that. It was musty, spicy, and sweet. Um, maybe I shouldn't even have mentioned this one because I don't remember it that well. I have a soft spot for T'smisje beers because they often have a cute cartoon dog on the label and because we got a lot of crazy ones in Belgium. I really like their Guido beer and the Vuuve (which I think means "tits", right?). Rambling. Ok, wait, online it says "vuuve" is Flemish for "five", but a lot of beer names are dirty jokes and puns that we don't get so I still maintain it has something to do with tits. Oh hi, are you still reading this?
Beer Geek Breakfast beer brewed by Mikkeler, a brewery in Denmark. This brew is also available at the Davis Co-op. It's a pretty brilliant gimmick. Brewed with coffee. We had it with breakfast and it was delicious. Hopefully some breakfast spots around town will start selling this beer.
And last but certainly not least is this classic trappist beer, Saison Dupont. The Shack (onFolsom, formerly known as The Sub Shack) is selling little bottles with pretty glassware. They also have big bottles of the Dupont Foret. And they just got in a shipment of Cantillon Lou Pepe! I think he's gonna charge in the neighborhood of 30 bucks for a bottle, which is pricey of course, but you can't get Cantillon anywhere else except the Bay Area and it's a very special beer.
I actually cried a little bit the other day as I shared a perfectly ripe Fuyu persimmon with my son. As I get older I find myself with poetic feelings about things like excellent fruit eaten in the perfect moment. It makes books like Rememberance of Things Past seem less like bullshit to me.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I've been buying them for about 2 months now, but they are getting riper and riper which means those little flecks of brown are more present and the cinammon flavor is more pronounced and the fruit itself is a little more custardy.
Does the skin thicken as they ripen? Connie Champagne told me that she peels them, which surprised me because I was eating them like apples. But I've noticed thicker skins as of late.
-m
I also have to give a shout-out to Hoshigaki persimmons. They are available at Oto's for about $1/piece and they make a nice gift (just take off the price sticker and tie a ribbon around it) for people who like amazingly wonderful dried fruit. They are grown and dried locally (in Granite Bay -- Huell Howser recently did an episode at the farm).
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me that they haven't been coated in powdered sugar but rather they've been massaged as they dry, which causes the sugar from the inside of the fruit to transfer to the outside. So elegant!!
-m
I talked to this farmer at the farmer's market who had persimmons (from Newcastle) and he makes dried persimmons, too. He seemed a little bitter about(yet admiring) of the hype that the Granite Bay operation has gotten. He also seemed bitter that he had jumped in "pineapple guavas" thinking they were the next new fruit. If you see those at the farmer's market (I think this will be the last week) try them out! Get them from the bitter farmer. Although his were 50 cents more a pound than the other guy that had them. Snap!
ReplyDeleteThose pineapple guavas are rad! I have a tree outside my house, but have only ever gotten two tiny ones. They're terrific sliced in salads.
ReplyDeleteThe Granite Bay farm is totally worth the hype - Hoswer Hype at that! A group of us went there last fall, and the large racks of drying persimmons in the afternoon autumn sunlight was like something out of a dream.
DKK
I'm not sure that all the Bruery beers contain Brett. I didn't see that mentioned on the Autumn Maple bottle. I wasn't sure I'd like that beer but I thought it was great! It was definitely perfect with those persimmons.
ReplyDelete-miller
What?! I thought all their beers had it. Oops you are right. Makes sense that I didn't taste the it.
ReplyDeleteThis is weird. After reading this post I promptly typed "persimmon medieval" into Google, and then it gave me this post as the 4th entry. Even though the word medieval is not in it.
ReplyDeleteeerie!
ReplyDeleteHeckasac is hecka medieval!
ReplyDeleteWhat Babs did to that other cat is pretty damn medieval too! Looks fab by the way, I think Karlos would really enjoy that picture.
ReplyDeleteI liked the magnet art until DP said that Karlos would like it.
ReplyDeleteblegighn: ancient celtic term for hangover puking
My favorite dog Beau died under a persimmon tree and we didnt find him for 2 days or so. I can't eat them without thinking of stinky dead doggie.
ReplyDeleteWe were thinking that MOM might like that magnet. Maybe we could have Bunchy and Babs ravage a whole slew of them and sell them as merch at MOM shows.
ReplyDeleteWe stopped in Castroville on the way home from our Thanksgiving in Monterey and picked up some damned fine persimmons..and some artichokes. My MIL makes persimmon pudding..but I like em raw!
ReplyDeleteOkay..that cat story is hilarious, and your kitty is very cute. Love the photos. I should post some of the crap my cats chew up..and then throw up.
I recently had an IPA from BevMo in a 22 that had some natural caffeine (from yerba mate I think). Beer was ok.
ReplyDeleteHuh, I guess I never new persimmons had so many names. We always just said the crunchy apple ones, and the squishy ones. I have been waiting ten days for my squishy ones to get squishy. The apple ones have been crunchy but not very sweet. I think we must have a ways to go into the season, no?
ReplyDeletebecky, I thought you might like this blog http://feelslikewhitelightning.blogspot.com/
Hoshigaki is now sugar plums to me as real sugar plums didn't live up to what I imagined them to be. Does Oto's get them from Otow Orchard in Granite Bay? Last year they got them at another farm.
ReplyDelete-Anna
If you ever find yourself in Reno you must go to the Chapel Tavern. Their beer selection is impeccable. They had a mind-blowing single hop Mikkeller and Dogfish Head 60-minute IPA on draft!
ReplyDeleteWow, the Chapel Tavern list is crazy good! I've never heard of that place. I love Reno, so I will probably be finding myself there very soon. Thanks for the rec.
ReplyDeleteThat white lightning blog is fun, although I will never think chunky white platform shoes are OK. Not even at the Thanksgiving bike ride.
ReplyDeleteThe Chapel is so terrific! If you like Greyhounds, they make one that's crazy-delicious and made-to-order, with fresh pink grapefruit. When I was thrifting up there last winter, The Chapel was a perfect spot to take a break.
ReplyDeleteDKK
god dam that tore up magnet made me laugh
ReplyDeleteThis time of year in Japan is when people love to hang Kaki(persimmon) out to dry.The fruit is skinned and hung out on the sunny side of street. When they turn black it`s time to eat.A foreigner came to the in laws shop and wanted to buy raw Kaki.My mother in law couldn`t believe that people eat the fruit that way. My first job as a translator was an argument about how to eat kaki.Also, I have an orchard of organic Satsumas(mikans)that I hope to sell for big money to Tokyo Folks as they spend big money on fruit. At the moment, I trade Mikans for beer and sake. Anybody up for a trade?
ReplyDeleteJ
cat zombie. it works. works well.
ReplyDelete