Tu B'Shevat

Today is Tu B'shevat, the Jewish new year for trees. One of the ways to celebrate is to eat a lot of things that come from trees - like fruits and nuts.

In honor of the holiday we went to the store and bought a lot of things we had not tried before - or at least they were foods we didn't recognize. Among these items we bought what turned out to be a green papaya - this means its not ripe. Today, upon further investigation, we have learned that green papayas were picked too early and will never ripen... oops. However they can be used as a winter squash (i.e. a pumpkin). Interesting...

We also still have some of the hawthorn berry sauce that Jenny and Anthony made for Thanksgiving when they realized that cranberries are not available. Its still quite yummy and Cara uses it as the jelly in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches occasionally.

So here's what's happened.
Cara found a recipe for Cranberry Pumpkin Muffins and substituted the Hawthorn berry sauce and some raisins for the frozen cranberries and the green papaya for the pumpkin. This is a pretty big step because Cara usually follows recipes exactly as opposed to Michael who sees them sort of a starting point that can be ignored after they are briefly read. It should also be mentioned that Michael in very proud of the effect he is having on Cara's cooking.

And the even better news? They turned out great! Yay random cooking! (Pictures will be forthcoming.)