Happy Fourth... I think I'm becoming a Fruitarian

Don't get me wrong, I'm still pretty sure I love meat and I would order everything meat-related off of the Portillo's menu- but lately I've found myself really enjoying the fruits.

I gotta say that a lot of the reason this is the case has to be because Tajikistan literally has some of the best fruits. I don't think I've ever had honeydew like what I've had here (and had here, every night, for the past two weeks). It's juicy. It's sweet. It's tender. I have been eating just enough at dinner so that I start on the desert course; honeydew. 

Beyond the honeydew, which seriously I want to bring some of this home so I can share how amazing it is with you all, the watermelon is pretty fantastic too. You know how usually with watermelon, the only good parts are the super red parts? Once it starts becoming whiter it usually loses all its flavor. Well not Tajik watermelon! It's just as sweet all the way up until the purely white layer. 

The cherries. Wowwwwww. They have two different kinds (sweet and sour) and they are both incredible. The sweet ones are juicier than any cherries I've ever had in the US. But the sour ones have quickly become one of my favorite mid-day snacks. Just outside of our house we have a sour cherry bush, and every day I grab a handful. They are legit the sourest natural thing I've ever consumed. 

In our courtyard we have an apple tree, which has regularly rained apples down upon us for the last few weeks (I regularly refer to the tree as the 'darachte-seeb-az-mord' or the 'apple tree of death'). These apples are quite good when they're not smacking you in the back of the head. They're tart, and we usually use them as the basis for our compot (homemade fruit juice). 

On the note of apples, here are two of the best its-raining-apples stories. We eat outside in our courtyard. One day an apple fell directly into my tea cup and splashed tea all over the rest of the table. Awesome. Another night when we were eating, an apple fell directly on the edge of a glass bowl (it was holding the sugar for our tea) and was cut in half by the glass edge. Bibijan (grandma) then proceeded to grab a half of the freshly cut apple and eat it. Why not?!

I'm pretty excited because my host family has been talking up the melon that's suppose to be in season soon (unsure if its cantaloupe, but that's what I'm hoping for). Apparently grapes will also be in season soon, and we also have a few grape vines hanging above our courtyard so I'm pumped for that too.

Becoming a fruitarian isn't probably a long term commitment for me, but for now I'm definitely enjoying it.