Coconut

During my last post, I went off on a tangent about cleaning when all I really wanted to do was explain why we were eating on the kitchen floor. Did you notice the vacuum in the background? I even had to change the title of the post from "Coconut" to "Cleaning." Hmmm...I didn't realize I had so much to write about that.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago Sabrina was at the mall with me and she noticed a coconut in the window of Bath&Body. She informed Mr.P and I that it was a coconut and then thought better about it and told us that it was not because "coconuts don't have hair on them." I told her that they do and that she was right the first time, it is a coconut. She thought about that for a second, then let me know that coconuts have milk inside of them. On the way home we had to stop at Dillons, so guess what we bought. I wanted the kids to try it. When I was little, I remember my dad would bring home different fruits once in a while and it was always a treat. Coconuts and pomegranates were always my favorites. I remember us kids often trying to trick my mom into drinking the milk by telling her it was water. Now that I'm older it makes me laugh to think about it. The milk actually looks like dirty water and always has floaties in it from the shell, not to mention that it smells like coconut. Who the heck would think that was water? lol THEN, we'd always want him to try his best to crack it open perfectly down the middle so that we could drink out of the two halves like they did on Gilligan's Island. Okay, so anyway it winds up being just Mr. and Sabrina because Vanessa and Camri are spending the night at friend's houses. As soon as we're done with dinner, Sabrina runs for the coconut and asks Daddy to open it. He drills holes through the eyes and pours the milk into a bowl. She looks at it skeptically as I'm urging her to taste it. She was probably expecting cow's milk, as any 4 year old would. She tastes it anyway and is thoroughly disgusted. Mr.P sees this and won't come near the stuff. I don't blame her, I don't like it either. Onto the next quest...cracking the shell! We huddle around Jeremy and Sabrina directs him to open it right down the middle. I noticed when I bought it that they sell them with divets down the middle so that it cracks open easier, I guess. He gets it open and the meat is nice and smooth white inside. I have a butterknife trying to pry the first piece out and finally some comes loose. The kids are not impressed. What? How can this be? I loved this stuff when I was little! Both of them give me an "I don't like it" face when they taste it and Payton actually spit his half-chewed piece in the trash. What they do like, however, is watching me struggle to get each piece out. I pry the knife under a tiny edge of the meat and a piece will go flying across the room when it comes loose. They scream and laugh and run to get it. It gets plopped in the bowl and they're ready for more. I don't remember my dad making this kind of mess when I was little. Hmmm... Finally every piece is out and the shells are empty. I still have this need in me to put liquid in them and use them for drinking, so I filled them with milk. I gave the one with the holes to Sabrina and showed her how to plug them with her little fingers while she drank. I wound up eating most of the coconut which didn't taste as sweet as I think it should have. Maybe I'll buy another one midsummer and see if it's better. As for the shells, they've become bath toys.