Persimmons & Haiku

I was going to post about fennel today, but I decided to do persimmons instead. One hour to spare to get my Vegan MoFo post in for the day at that! Never let it be said that I'm not dedicated! I just got home from the killer Juliette and the Licks show and even though I still can't hear exactly right just yet, I'm still blogging. Because really, all I need to hear is inside my own head for this.

The other day I was going to talk about persimmons, but I got stuck trying to think of something witty for the title. I was out of funny that day, I guess. So I randomly started petitioning my friends to say something funny about persimmons. One of them told me that I should do a persimmon haiku. Well, I didn't write them, but two of my friends did.

Scott's Haiku:
persimmion unripe
grows wild in japan
tastes bitter

Roman's Haiku x2: (He thought I said permission at first... lol Like the evil friend that I am, I made him do another one with the correct word)
roman likes red cats
permission was not given
to wear them as hats

roman did not use the rules
persimmon he did not use
roman is a dope

So now that we've gotten that out of the way...

I was going to make the persimmon bread over at the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, but they were almost two dollars each and I couldn't remember how many I would need for the bread. Probably more than I wanted to buy, I'm sure. They were organic and already ripe, though, so that's a bonus.

A lot of people were saying to just eat the fruit like it is or to put it in a salad. I chose to put it in a salad with raspberries, cherry tomatoes and baby romaine lettuce. I drizzled some hazelnut oil, balsamic vinegar and lime juice on top. It was so yummy. I definitely want to eat persimmons again. The flavor was light, but full. Not too sweet, but definitely not an absence of sweetness. Sort of the fruit version of a cupcake without the icing, I guess.

The salad was great, and something I'm going to have again very soon. I just started this cleanse - one of those ones with a ton of pills and liquid herbs to take, but it also restricts my diet a little bit for the two weeks that I'm on it. I can pretty much eat all of the fruits and vegetables that I want (with some restrictions - like no tropical fruits - too much sugar, no mushrooms - they can harbor yeast, and other stuff like that). I'm only allowed to have 20% of my diet be from legumes or other protein sources, even some grains are included in that group. I can eat all of the brown rice, buckwheat and almonds that I want, regardless.

To be extra healthy and cleansy, I also wanted to try and eat raw for at least two of my meals while I'm doing this. I've never really tried to make raw food before (salads don't count), so this is a bit of an experiment. I bought a raw cookbook, which I will review in another post and I'm searching the internet for some easy raw things I can make without a dehydrator or blender. All of my kitchen appliances are in storage at the moment except for my immersion blender and a cheap electric mixer that I picked up. That limits me a bit, unfortunately. Not to mention that some things I can't make because they call for foods that are on my do not cook list.

This weekend is going to be a little difficult. I always bake at least one thing, though usually 2 or 3 on the weekends, especially when it's cold outside like this. I bought a bunch of winter veggies to do something interesting with, so I'm hoping that will help me quell the urge to make cupcakes or bread since I can't eat anything with flour or sugar either. It's not so bad. It's only 5 days in and already I'm starting to feel better.