Jicama

I have had 3 dreams now that I remember as being particularly vivid. The third one was last night.

One thing I miss a LOT from the U.S. is a Mexican root vegetable call jicama. Isn't that a weird thing to miss?

This is what it looks like:

It is generally very large - approx. the size of 2-3 LARGE potatoes put together - and is very heavy/dense. They can easily weigh a pound or more. The inside is white, crisp, more fibrous than the inside of a raw potato, juicy and ever so mildly sweet and a bit starchy. I've read that they can be cooked but I only ever ate them raw "as is" or in salads. The peel is extremely tough and fibrous i.e. not edible. Eaten cold from the fridge as a snack is the ultimate in refreshing in the summer.

I have looked high and low for it here and asked around if anyone has seen it. Once I even went so far as to contact a seed bank in Florida and inquire as to whether they would send me jicama seeds to try growing them on my balcony in a dirt-filled plastic bucket (even though the plant itself becomes this massive, climbing thing so don't ask me how I would have managed with THAT on my balcony). They agreed and I started growing a jicama plant which looks like this:

See those huge pods on the plant? Apparently they're poisonous! I want to know who the brave bloke was who decided to taste the root of this thing.

My little jicama plant was joyously growing in its bucket and then we went away for a weekend or something - don't remember exactly - and I took it to a friend who promised to water it while we were away and of course she didn't so it was all dried up and brown when we came back. I was very sad about that. Always wondered if I would have managed to get anything edible from it.

So last night I had a dream about jicama. Don't remember much about the first part of the dream but I was coming back by bus from somewhere. I got off in Ramle (a city about 15 minutes down the road from where we live) and was walking to another location and my route took me by the shuk (outdoor market) and lo and behold I saw a veggie vendor selling jicama, among other things. I couldn't believe my eyes. I was nearly crying I was so happy. I went to talk to the man selling them and I told him how happy I was. They were huge! I bought just one. I just recall the happiness and relief. Then I woke up to my jicama-less life.........sigh.

On another note....
T had an early morning head CT appointment scheduled at Assuta Hospital in Rishon because she suffers quite frequently from migranes and the neurologist wants to rule out anything unpleasant. We were supposed to be there at 8 am which meant that last night I had to go pick her up at school so we could get an early start today. On the way back home from her school last night I was in a teeny tiny car accident. I was in my lane coming up to a light and a guy on my right want to cut across my lane and didn't wait till I was 100% past him and just nicked my back left corner, leaving a very small dent. The light wasn't even broken. The other driver did stop and we exchanged details. I've had a few calls to our insurance today about it but for the most part DH is dealing with it.

So this morning T and I got to the hospital, found parking a reasonable distance away and went into the reception area only to be told that the CT machine isn't working, it can't be done today, it can't be done anywhere else either and they only found out 15 minutes ago or OF COURSE they would have called and told me not to come. ARRRGGGGHHHH. I was so annoyed I wanted to shoot someone. So T missed some school and I missed some work for no reason. Lucky the appointment was first thing and not midday when we would have missed more.

I've ordered vegetarian sushi for lunch today. That's a first. I mean I've had sushi before just not while at work. I'm not too excited about the idea. I'm just sick of all the other options in the restaurants around here.