1-31-11 Coconut!

I love Altan Brown. Clarification: I appreciate the knowledge he shares on his show "Good Eats". Until today, my favorite factoid included his caution that regardless of cooking time or temperature, wine contains trace amounts of alcohol. This impacted our family steak au jous recipe for the better, in regards to Anne. Alcohol, I feel, needs to remain absent from her diet until her brain develops more fully. Interestingly, pomegranate juice works surprisingly well instead of the wine. For that happy discovery I claim the credit.

Today I feel grateful for a new discovery, thanks to Mr. Brown. A little background first: Sometime in my early teenage years my parents brought home a whole, hairy, brown coconut from the grocery store. They devised some method of slicing off bits of the white flesh to eat using a knife. Knife and coconut in hand, while watching t.v., I managed to slice my coconut, along with a small portion of the tip of my left index finger. A tiny crescent scar remains.

So my interest piqued when Mr. Brown, in his customary methodical manner, demonstrated safe removal of the meat of a coconut:

1. Pierce the eyes of the nut with hammer and nail
2. Bake in the oven at some high temperature for a while
3. Remove
4. Allow to cool
5. Whack at it with a hammer
6. Peel the meat away from the shell.

OK, I employed the use of a butter knife on that last step. And it worked, beautifully. Now, sitting on a cookie sheet atop our stove, filling our kitchen with its sweet, warm aroma, tempts my lovely, peeled-and-sliced coconut. Anne and I love it!

Something about possessing the knowledge of how to do things for myself feels exciting. Like a child now able to tie my own shoes, I feel happy to go forth in the world, sharing coconut. This gift of knowledge shares easily with others. That seems like resource accumulation for myself and those around me. Ti's better to give...