Good Times

I have a lot of memories associated around food. Whether it's Holiday traditions or meals with friends, some of my fondest memories have a connection with food. One specific example that sticks out is when I went to St. Vincent Island on a mission trip. The first night we were there one of my team members offered me an ackee fruit. What is an ackee fruit? Well to be honest, I am not quite sure. It looks like a pecan that still has its green covering. To eat it you have to bite the green coating and pull the "filing" out.  The filling is hard to describe but it has a tart flavor and a leathery texture. You then suck on it till you reach the seed. The memory that comes to mind when I think of this fruit is sitting on the roof of the villa in Kingstown overlooking the ocean. Hannah, Zach, and I would sit on the roof during the evening while eating ackee and watch the sunset. There was something so calm about those nights that make you wonder why you don't stop more often. Another fun part about ackee, other than eating it, was seeing who could throw it the farthest. There were mango trees across the street and we would try, unsuccessfully, to hit the magos with the seeds. Even though we had very little luck with that, we still got a good laugh watching one another. All I can do is smile when I think about ackee fruit and the memories of St. Vincent that comes with them. I was very sad when I realized that do to the strict customs rules, I could bring back any ackee fruit. Since this fruit is uncommon and different from the Jamaican ackee, I decided to add a picture.

What am I eating?

This past Monday night I had a brave spell and decided to make homemade ravioli. When I say homemade, I mean homemade! I made the pasta and the spinach filling. When I think about all the raw ingredients I realize that even something homemade can contain a lot of "processed" things. Eggs, pepper, and spinach are the only ingredients that I would consider to be raw in the ravioli. All of the rest are not in their natural "state". Where did all of them come from? I would like to think they were grown by a cute old farmer somewhere, but I do not think that this is a correct image. All I know the food could come from China or Mexico, isn't that where everything in America comes from? Most of my family members have their own gardens and I think there is a huge difference from home-grown to mass produced. The biggest difference in the food is not necessarily where it's produced as much as it how. All most Americans care about is how fast it takes to cook, not what is in it or where it comes from.