Oriented to the Orient

I went to 1st Oriental Market, my favorite source for all things Asian,  in search of lemongrass for tonight's dinner and saw these adorable cuties:

There was no label. What are these, please? Disney could have used them in Fantasia instead of those mushrooms! Luckily I spotted a shopper who had a package in her cart and asked. The answer was something like "not too sweet, crunchy, just eat, sweeter if very red". So I invested $4. A good 30 minutes of google yielded the answer: they are called wax apples or Java apples or lian-wu or jambu air or...you get the idea. Exceedingly crunchy and the most refreshing fruit, subtle taste. Here is the salad I made after some surfing (the apples, cucumber, toasted walnuts, radish, orange, rice vinegar dressing)

To round out the oriental flavor, the starch was a very yummy soba noodle bowl

Lemon grass lost out.

This oriental market is an experience. Once I stopped worrying about the fact that most labels are in Asian languages (although I'm seeing a lot more English attempts lately) and that I have no clue what most of the products are for and what they might taste like, it's a lot of fun. And I'm learning every time I go. You never know what you are going to find (like the wax apples)... I've discovered king mushrooms at this store:

I buy these any time I see them. Easy to make just roasted with a bit of olive oil and microplaned garlic. That's tomorrow's dinner.

I finished a quilt!!!!!

It's a gift for an 18-year old on her way to the University of Miami. She used to love red and black when I started the quilt (in early 2012). Hopefully she still likes red and black...They do change their minds. The instructions for this quilt were a proper nightmare and resulted in 3 blocks being discarded (a 22 inch block monster, so lots of fabric down the drain). Someday I'll be able to start and finish a quilt without panic. Just not this time.