Monday, June 14, 2010

new kid on the block


when i was a poor student my dad kindly found me a job on a kiwifruit orchard picking you guessed it, kiwifruit.
as my first day on the job neared i was getting more and more excited, i mean, i would be earning good cash and at the same time could work on my summer tan. who knows, i might even get some nice biceps in the process!
my mind was buzzing with images of sexy tanned guys in shorts, tank tops and wearing straw hats. after a season of picking i was gonna graduate looking just like one of these dudes.
well so i thought! boy was a wrong!
kiwifruit pickers need to wake up super early in the morning so everyone looked half asleep. oooh, and guess what, there were zero sexy guys/girls for that matter.
most were middle-aged standard run-of-the-mill kind. dad had obviously picked the wrong blimmin orchard!

once i got into the hang of picking the kiwifruit i plugged in my ipod walkman (remember i was a student, this is going back a bit) and tried to stay in the sun. i was determined to be as golden as the kiwifruit i was picking.
but whacha know, it wasn't long before my eyes started itching and my nose started running... yup, i was having a bout of hey-fever.
the boss of the joint was a real man's-man and didn't show the slightest bit of pity towards this city-slicker me.
luckily his wife took me under her wing and suggested i work in the packing shed.
so my summer break was spent it a sweltering shed with all the grannies while the "men" worked outside.
goodbye summer tan!

my job was to separate the beautiful kiwifruit from the slightly deformed. the deformed ones were destined for the local new zealand market while the beautiful perfectly rounded ones were to be shipped off to japan.
this is how i came to hate kiwifruit...
everyday i fondled this furry fruit and the smell of over-ripe kiwis put me off for life.

that is until the so called golden kiwifruit was introduced; you know, the less hairy yellow variety (now that's more my thing!)
although slightly more expensive than it's original green variety the tropical flavor does it for me.
and what's the purpose of this rant?
well, i just saw that a new red kiwifruit, yup, red, is being released later this week (in new zealand that is, don't know about the rest of the world)

ok, it's not really red though is it, it's just got a red sunburst center.
anyways it's said to have an "exotic flavor and a creamy texture".
mmm, sounds good to me.
anyone tried this yet?




14 comments:

pascale said...

Oh wow, red! never heard of it.
What a coincidence! I just saw a documentary on kiwi-picking in NZ last night! so I can sort of imagine where you worked.

Yea, yellow ones are soooo much nicer than the green ones. My mouth (inside) gets all painful after eating the green one but I can manage one yellow kiwi without feeling any pain :D

gingerbee said...

This is mind boggling. Hahaha. Since kiwi is a much exotic fruit here, I only know of the green kind. However, that picture looks yummy...and not to mention perfect! (like it was photoshopped, tsk tsk!)

world of sekimachihato said...

* pascale
i'm sure the picking shed they showed you on tv was a lot better than the one i was in.

just read that your reaction to the green kiwifruit is quite common. do you also get it when you eat papaya or pineapples? (they have the same enzyme)

think you will be ok with this new red variety.

world of sekimachihato said...

* gingerbee
kiwifuit is considered exotic in your part of the world?
wow, i would have thought it to be kinda common-ish. and what, you only have the green kind? if you ever see the golden ones (yellow) make sure you try them; much better than the green ones!

Kenny Mah said...

You call it a rant, but I actually find it really interesting... It's nice peeking into someone's else memories for past adventures...

I do like kiwifruits but this red variety is certainly new to me. Now, where do I get myself some... :)

pascale said...

Yes, I get the same reaction with raw pineapples. I love the taste but the sore is very irritating.

I loooove papaya with some lemon juice... yum, funnny I am fine with papayas. :)

But I get weird throat feeling with any kinds of green melons. I know.. so picky...

Make it Easy said...

thank you for your warm comment on me and matt!
honeymoon stage....hahaha youre too funny
but yesss i will enjoy ;-P

Luuworld said...

golden kiwi? red kiwi? never heard of either of them! sounds kind of nice though! but they are not for sale in norway. do they taste very different from the green one?

anyway, your story made me laugh! oh those student days! what we didn`t do for money! lol

world of sekimachihato said...

* Life for Beginners
glad you found my student story/rant interesting! i have a few more up my sleeve *wink wink*

oh, if you wanna try a red-kiwi, maybe your only choice is to jet-set off to new zealand.
out of interest, do you get the golden variety over your way?

world of sekimachihato said...

* pascale
mmm, so you are fine with papaya; weird.
actually i get a bit of lip irritation with melons too. and lychee come to think of it.

world of sekimachihato said...

* Make it Easy
hehehehe, the honeymoon stage is often the time when you can make all those fond memories. i'm sure you are enjoying it!
you really do make a sweet couple!!

world of sekimachihato said...

* Luuworld
what?????!!!!
what's up with norway!?
you don't have kfc, and now you don't have golden kiwis?!
sounds like the land of opportunity. (opportunity to start some kinda business that is!)
and golden kiwis are sooo much better than the green ones.
maybe i will post a photo for you. try to entice you over to hong kong :P

Anonymous said...

"the less hairy yellow variety" haha!!!

kiwifruits are fine, but melons make my throat tingly. i'd love to try this new red kiwifruit.

world of sekimachihato said...

* aixxx

gotta say i like my "less hairy yellow variety". for fruit also *wink wink*

i'm sure it won't be long until you start seeing this red variety on your shores.
i once took a flight to japan and all the japanese on the flight were requesting kiwifruit juice. when i asked why i was told that aruaru daijiten tv program did a special on how good kiwifruit is for you. sasuga...

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