Sunday, July 5, 2009

Fruit - Round 1


We deserve a break after pulling so hard for our favorites in the last category, don't we? Well I think Fruit will provide a friendly and funny time as opposed to the grand silliness and shouting that went on with Home Cooked Dishes. I'm gonna be honest with you, this was a very hard bracket to make. It's 32 different types of fruit on this list. You try to name 15 types of fruit without looking at the bracket. It's hard!
That said I think the number #1s are safe and will all easily move on (Although a number one has lost in the first round of both of the prior tournaments, so anything is possible.). You all are very familiar with Apples, Oranges, Bananas and Grapes so let's look at their competition in the first round.
Cranberries. You ever tried to just eat a cranberry? That is some old tart and bitter shit right there. You'd have to wonder how we as a species didn't give up on that and just leave it alone. But as a credit to it's usefulness we figured out that it has some wonderful medicinal qualities and it's juice, when mixed with enough sugar, becomes one of the mixers of choice for vodka.
Clementines. I didn't even know a clementine was a fucking fruit! At best I thought it was a flower. Truthfully, all I really know is that it was the name of somebody's darling in the song Huckleberry Hound used to sing.
Kumquats. This is an interesting little fruit. It looks like a cross between an orange and a football that got zapped with a shrink-ray. It's like the cherry tomato of the citrus world. You just pop the whole thing in your mouth and go at it, peel and all. My grandparents had one of these on the side of their house so my childhood summers are filled with the memories of playing and eating these things. Funny name though. Sounds like a really good insult. Come'ere you little kumquat! Well Kumquats you have my vote.
Let's be honest. Limes are good for about 3 things. They go well in alcoholic beverages, key-lime baked goods, and cherry-lime rickeys. While the others have quite the fan following, about 13 people have drank a cherry-lime rickey since 1959.
The #2s vs #7s should go down pretty easy in favor of the #2s. But let me say something about a couple of the matches Watermelon vs Plantains. One of my closest friends, Kevin, is Jamaican. That means growing up I ate a lot of his mom's cooking. She made awesome jerk chicken amongst other great dishes. But man, there was nothing like having a plate of fried plantains! I don't know if I was supposed to eat it like this but I would seem to lose all my couth over fried plantains and pick them up with my fingers, throw them in my mouth and gobble them down. Plantains you get my vote. And Pears vs Guava. I've never eaten a guava. I've never even seen a guava. If it wasn't for the fact that I sometime drink Jumex guava nectars I would swear it didn't exist. So sorry Guavas, my vote goes to Pears.
For the #3 vs #6 match-ups, my vote goes with all of the #3s even though I love pomegranets, I'm from Michigan where we know a thing or two about growing some of the best cherries in the nation. Sorry Pomegranets the home state favorite gets my vote.
And finally the #4 vs #5 match-ups. I am going to give my votes to all of the #4s.
All in all some pretty conservative voting from me. I only get behind a couple of underdogs. Let's see what you pick.

Later.
RR

8 comments:

  1. I have to tell you all something. I flip-flopped on a couple of my choices. I thought I was going to vote for Coconuts but to be honest after I thought about it, I am more likely to eat Honeydew. And I never buy Raspberries to eat, but I will buy Cantaloupes.

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  2. It is still early in the voting with a whole day left but right now Kumquats are staying close to Bananas. If Kumquats win it will make my my week. I can't eat bananas. They give me really bad stomach cramps. The weird thing is that it is all mental. I used to eat bananas just fine until my sister told me a story of how when she was little she ate a whole banana pudding for breakfast one day and it made her sick. Since then she couldn't eat banana pudding. Well after hearing the story I couldn't eat anything banana. Not even banana flavored candy. Weird huh?

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  3. Pomegranates V. Cherries: Although I have awesome respect for the natural flavor and beauty of a sun ripened well picked cherry, I believe that the pomegranate is one of the best fruits ever (especially if you get the kind they sell at Smileys in the mexican food mart).

    Bananas V. Kumquats: One of my favorite matchups on CCE so far. Bananas may be the best remedy for a charlie-horse, but honestly kumquats ARE more fun to eat and come on, it's probably the best name of a fruit ever.

    Roger may have a jamaican-inspired love for plantains but my affinity for this fruit comes from my best friends abuelita who used to mash plaintains and roll them into balls, put some sort of soft white cheese in the middle of it, roll it in breading and fry it in peanut oil until golden brown and ohmygod delicious. Plantains it is.

    My vote for final two? Cherries V. Strawberries.

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  4. Most of my picks were rote as well, which is quite a welcome after the grilled cheese rage rampage I went on this weekend. Ahhh, to finally have easy choices and when you vote, see that other people see your side of things! I too picked plantains over watermelon, not because I don't like watermelon, but because I would be more likely to grab a friend plantain than a slice of watermelon - unless I was drunk, but that's obvious. You know who makes a great dish with plaintain crisps? Tic Toc Room. Get the plantains with crab appetizer. So delicious, if they don't leave the chip sitting out to get cold and humidity soggy.

    It doesn't quite seem fair that strawberries is going up against fig. I've just developed a taste for the suckers, but I LOVE STRAWBERRIES!

    A few picks that I choose that no one else did - Tangerines over pineapples because pineapples burn my tongue. Plum over mango - I like mango but they never seem to be ripe here, so I find myself enjoying a plum more than a mango.


    Kimalee, I agree, it should be cherries v. strawberries. I look forward to both every year, strawberries in May, cherries in july/august. I always eat obscene amounts of both fruit. I will pay whatever price to get as many as I want... but we shall see what will happen when it comes to the finals.

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  5. Yeah Angel. I felt bad after I finished the bracket and saw that figs were up against Strawberries in the first round. I love figs, but come on. If there are a plate of figs in the room and a plate of strawberries sitting next to the figs, those figs will never get touched by me. But it's not like figs would have had much better luck against peaches, pears or watermelon.

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  6. I was really getting worried there for a bit. Lemons initially jumped out front with a huge lead over Blueberries. I was starting to think what could you people possibly be doing with a buncha Lemons? Is there that much home made lemonade and lemon cake getting made?

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  7. Mangoes vs Plums is the match to watch today. They have been trading the lead all day long.

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  8. Look at all the voters! Holy cow!

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