Frozen Hot Chocolate

My sweet and useful sister brought me one of these yesterday. We (my sister and I) get pretty excited when Frozen Hot Chocolate season is in. It took a couple of years of passing the winter signage advertising these little beauties at Dairy Queen before I was willing to try one. I used to get mad when I saw the promotion. Frozen Hot Chocolate? It doesn't make sense. It cannot be. It's a contradiction and I hate contradictions. I also have latent bad feelings toward Dairy Queen itself. Not really sure why...something having to do with Halloween, white gravy, and a guy who never called back, but whatever. Dairy Queen is over priced and always has crappy service, too, so my anger towards their erroneously named frozen confection kept my curiosity at bay for a time. Then they went on sale. 99 cents on sale to be exact. I can't complain about that. So I tried one. Bliss. And you know what? They taste like frozen hot chocolate!! Yesterday I saw they were back and have been salivating and waiting for the perfect opportunity to get away for a treat. I was afraid they would not be as good as I remembered from last year, but they were actually way yummier than I remembered. And they are currently still only 99 cents! Why not try one? Let me know what you think.

Persimmons: Fruit of the Gods

If you know me well, you know I have a thing about persimmons. And you also know I have a thing about sharing my thing about persimmons. Persimmon parties, persimmon recipes, Persimmon Walk-a-thon, persimmon poetry, The Persimmon Lounge, Persimmon-wear...sound familiar? You might have suspected that I've gotten over it since you didn't get your invitation to my annual Persimmon Fest, but no. You didn't get your invitation because I am hibernating this year. But persimmons are still just as wonderful and it is the season so go buy some. I recommend purchasing the Fuyu persimmon. It is the variety that you eat while it is still hard and crunchy. With Fuyu's you don't run the risk of  turning your "mouth awry with much torment", as was the experience of Captain John Smith in the 1600's (fruit must have been way more aggressive back then). Fuyu's are not bitter like other varieties.  You eat the whole thing, including skin, but don't eat the green part. I have been asked many times what they taste like. The best I can come to describing the flavor is like eating really sweet raw pumpkin, but with a much smoother texture. I think they are best eaten raw, but there are millions of recipes to try with them. Or if you don't want to eat them, they make a lovely decorative accessory.