Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Name that Veggie

The boys and I went out for a little adventure today. I'll write about the first part later.....but I'm really curious to see if some of you can help me out here.

We drove around until we found a farmer's market right off base that we'd heard of.

I learned a new word - nashi = pear....and the conversation to glean this info was hilarious. They are yellow and ROUND...I thought they were pears and not apples but wanted to check. I asked if they were apples...no, no, no. I held up green - "normal" looking pears and the yellow globes and said, "Pears? same?" and was told no....but then they came back with a little electric dictionary and told me "nashi - pears".

WHAT are these and how would you cook them?
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I'm guessing the the long, geen things are a squash of some sort...but how would you cook it?
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A full market basket...and we were happy!
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It's funny to note that most everything I bought was marked down, with a big red slash through it and wasn't the "freshest". They explained this to me...but most was 1/2 the normal price and looked just as good as the "fresh" produce at HEB....this basket full cost me Y2800....but I think I'll begin to set aside a weekly yen allowance for produce at the markets. The produce (even at the grocery stores) is MUCH fresher than the commissary.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sis:

Enjoyed our little chat.... what in the world happened to cut it off? Couldn't get a call back to work. OH WELL>>>NEXT TIME!! :):)

The first foto of vegie's is one that (in the PI's) is a bit bitter (if I remember right). I like a lot of vegie's raw cuz they taste so yucky cooked and mushy. Try one of the first one's. Taste it raw and you will know where you want to use it.

Cook the squash just like you would any other kind..... raw, brown sugar, butter etc.

Wow, I'd like to be able to buy fresh stuff again. The stuff we get in the stores is OK but it is not as fresh as an open type market.

Love, love, prayers, prayers, Mom T.

Unknown said...

I forget the name of the Japanese pear... stink. I just was talking about it about a month ago. It's kind of a cross between apple & pear. YUMMY~!!

Anonymous said...

It looks like those might be "sea" cucumbers.

Paula said...

The vegetables on the top are goya, bitter melon in English, and yes, they are bitter. In Okinawa people stir-fry them with spam :-)

Paula said...

Oh, and nashi are pears, not crossed with apples, you can sometimes find them sold as Asian Pears in the States. They're really, really good--and usually quite expensive!

Jamin said...

It kinda looks like "prickley corn" :)

Pam said...

The bottom one looks like Opo or long melon, my book also says it goes by the names pul qua and bottle gourd. It says to choose smaller ones that are firm and without blemishes, they get bitter as they get bigger. it says to slice it in half length-wise, remove seeds with a spoon and peel. It can be stuffed with seafood, cooked in stews or stir-fried. HTH, the one on top isn't in my book :-(

Kim said...

There are two kinds of pears here. Asian and "western". The Asian ones are the round hard and very juicy and hopefully sweet ones called "nashi." The western ones are called "yo-nashi". Yo means western for clothiing, food, potties, etc.

The first green cucumber sized thing is, as others noted, "goya". We have been given them a lot lately. Tonight I will try to make something of one. My friend has a food blog and just posted a recipe for goya. http://www.mamatouille.com/2009/09/goya-chanpuru.html She also has a recipe for goya juice. Sounds terrible...but might be quite good!

Perhaps the reason the veggies are cheaper is the holiday we are having? Maybe. My veggie shop is closed till tomorrow.

I've never used the long green thing. Wait till you start experimenting with the leaf veggies. Lots of different ones. Most are stir-fried or Chinese sauced, i think, so you can try a bit and see which you like!

Nate Townsend said...

:) I was wonderin what those cucumbers things are too. We have them here, also. Great question! now I know. they look a bit "ill".

Darshia said...

Is Alexander giving the peace sign or long horns?:)

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

Thanks all - goya....hmmm fresh out of spam, but I'll have to give it a whirl.

Pam - what book is this that you are using. Maybe Indo and Japan have a lot of the same veggies and such. It sounds useful.

KIM - thanks....so Nashi are these round, yellow pears. They ARE good and we were wondering if I'm supposed to let them soften....but they are good the way they are...sort of a cross of an apple and pear..... and YO nashi would be the green, American looking pears.....got it.

Darshia - I think it's the peace sign...the little stinker. LOL

Kim - goya must be the zuchinni of Asia. ::snort:: I've been eying the greens and figure they would all work to throw into a salad as I'm having trouble finding romaine or leaf lettuce on a consistent basis. Do you think that would work? Lots of leafy looking things...and spinach I can find a lot. I really need to buy a salad spinner. Thanks for the link, I'll check it out...I can't wait to have blog READING time again.