Rainbow Circle

If a persimmon was a movie star, then Penelope Cruz, right?

Autumn in Northern California is a roar of color and, most spectacularly, persimmons play a starring role. Persimmon trees lose all of their leaves in the fall, surprising us with bare branches loaded with fruit, looking like a Tim Burton needle-less Christmas tree with flaming orange ornaments. (In Tim's case, probably literally on fire ...)

There are many different kinds of persimmons, but the ones we've tried are Fuyu (photo). Persimmons can be tricky because if you eat some varieties too soon, they can alum-pucker your tongue in no time and lead you to believe you hate persimmons. But you'd be mistaken. When ripe, Fuyus have a melon-like aromatic sweetness that's a lovely unexpected flavor in all kinds of dishes. At Thanksgiving, we sliced 'em up and threw them in a Waldorf Salad and everyone "gobbled" 'em up (yeh, I went there). If you're at all interested in finding out Persimmon varieties and how to pick good ripe ones, go to: http://www.seedtosupper.com/persimmons.html#Firm-ripe

And speaking of Fall color ... well so far this Winter is vying for Best In Show. You know last year we moved on a street called Rainbow Circle? Well that street name has become very literal this week. Hard rain and hail have slammed us like a series of sucker-punches, and in between blows, the sun will poke through splashing full arcs of the color spectrum from one side of the hills to another. Here's the view from our back yard ... talk about luscious ... don't you just want to run outside with a straw and slurp them up!? Hmmmmmmm, wonder what a rainbow tastes like ....