Chinese Plums and My Freakish Memory

Okay, this is going to seem contradictory to my title, since I am going to talk about my freakish memory. But I had to make a list of things I've been wanting to blog. So I wouldn't forget :). Haha.

So let's start with the memory thing. Okay, so I think I've mentioned in the past that my family visited the States every 2 years up until 1998 when we moved here. This was because we lived in Panama. Well, in 1993, my grandfather passed away, so we spent the entire 6 weeks of vacation in Dothan with my grandmother. Brad, Christina, and I were hideously bored. Hideously. I think those were the longest 6 weeks of my life up to that point. Anyway, so we watched a lot of TV. Well, there was this show that came on called The Searcher, which we thought was hilarious. We were sad that we weren't going to get to see it anymore when it came time to return to Panama. And so the following "States vacation" (which was 1995), we were excited about the prospect of watching this show again. Well, to our utter dismay, the network had cancelled it. And we never heard of it ever again. Gone, but not forgotten.

Interjection: Okay, so another show also played with The Searcher, but I don't remember it's title. It was kind of making fun of like Hawaii 5-0. All I remember about that now is this: There were 3 cop/detective guys. One was older, one was a big Tongan-like guy named Hamoki, and the 3rd was not memorable, but I know he was there. Because in one episode, Hamoki rope-swung over the older guy and the 3rd guy said, "How are you feeling" to the older guy and the older guy said, "Not so good. I just saw Hamoki's butt." Okay, we laughed about that for a long time (let's face it, I'm still laughing about it, and I called Brad to remind him about it yesterday afternoon, but he didn't answer, so I had to leave it in a message...). Anyway, we had a cat named Smokey at the time and we were good at making up "nicknames" for our cats (which usually came about as we changed letters in their names). Well, Hamoki sounds a lot like Smokey, so we started calling Smokey Hamoki. Which later someone (probably me in all my genius stupidity) altered it a bit more to Hamhock. We were demented children. But we have lots about which to laugh now!

Okay, so back to the other part of this: Well, I was sure about this whole show thing, but no one else had ever heard of it when I told them about it. And these are people who'd always lived in the States, so when nobody had ever heard of it, I started to think maybe I had made things up. But I seriously even remembered an episode or 2 of The Searcher (not all of them, but glimpses of details). One took place in a sewer and I know there were pins involved, because I remember The Searcher getting pricked and being a total wimp. The other one takes place on like a ranch or something. Well, as the Internet has blossomed, if you know enough about something, you can usually track it down. And so a couple years ago, The Searcher was finally found. I knew I hadn't been making it up. Oh, and it starred the guy from The Drew Carey Show who played Oswald. So, the other night I was reminding Christina about it (she doesn't really remember it, but she was the youngest of us - age 8 - so she might not remember it...). Anyway, I was telling her that it really did exist and it was only on for one season. Then I started describing that sewer episode to her. Well, so yesterday I thought about trying to find it again. And here's what I came up with: The Searcher That episode is actually the exact one I was remembering!!! So I told Christina about that (and sent her the link) and she said, "Hila, you truly do have a freakish memory." Anyway, I know this is a very long story about nothing important. But I thought it was so cool.

Okay, so now that I have numbed your minds with useless information (ie that The Searcher did actually exist), let me tell you more about Chinese Plums. Okay, these things are ugly looking. They do not look like something one would want to put in one's mouth. They are small, maybe dime-sized. They are dried plums of some sort, so they are shriveled. And they are grayish looking. And you don't eat the whole thing. You put the whole thing in your mouth and just suck on it to get the meat off the large pit. And when you suck on it, it turns reddish-brown. And they are an acquired taste. (As I begin to describe them, my mouth is here reacting to the memory). They are sweet, sour, tart, tangy, and salty all at the same time. Anyway, we grew up on these things in Panama. We went to these markets there which we called the Chinese Gardens (I included a picture). We could buy fresh fruit, fishbowl fish (not to eat, but for the fishbowl ;)), and various other things, including Chinese plums. Down there they came in a small light turquoisish box and inside the box was a plastic bag with these plums inside. Well, so I was talking to Christina the other night and she tells me that this friend of hers from work up in WA said to her, "Christina, I just had the nastiest thing." And then he proceeded to describe it to her. Well, she immediately knew what it was and in a flury exclaimed, "Where did you get that?????!!!!" Well, another friend of theirs at work had bought them at an Oriental store up there. So she went to the second friend and practically promised him her first-born for one of them (haha... I'm totally kidding about this part... She didn't have to plead). Anyway, he gave her one and she was right! They were the Chinese plums of which we were so fond! So that friend bought her a bunch of them for Christmas and she shared them with Brad and my mom. Now, this is going to tell you how dumb I can be... I want you to know it has never ocurred to me, in the 10 years since we left Panama, that these things can probably be purchased in most Oriental stores, even here in the States. So I never sought them out. I mean, these things weren't a Panama thing... They were an Oriental thing. We bought them from the "Chinese Gardens." How did this never cross my mind before??? I have been wasting precious Chinese plum sucking moments!!! Well, I know that there are a couple of Oriental stores here, so I went to both of them yesterday. The first one said they were sold out :(. The second one didn't even have them at all. So I tried this chain called Manna Grocery & Deli. Nope. I was crushed. But, my friend Le was at work today and I asked her if that first store is where she goes to (she's from Vietnam). She said it was. So I asked her if they often carry these things. She knew exactly what I was talking about and in shock said, "You like those!?!" I assured her that I did... That I practically grew up on them! She said, "I might have some at home if my daughter didn't take them all!" So once again, hope springs :). And she said they do usually have them at that store, so hopefully in the future I can stock up on them, because I have 10 lost years for which to make up! So don't be surprised if you see me in a constant pucker :). (No kisses, please :)). Okay, so if Le does have some, I will totally blog about the experience and I will include pictures, so you know :).

Okay, and so last night I talked to April for a long time. That was a fun conversation. I think we are completely dreading one of the classes we have together. Last semester the professor told the class, when asked about how long she wanted a paper, that "36 pages should be sufficient." I think that, if I hadn't been in Manna Grocery at the time (since it would have drawn attention and possibly a call to 911 Emergency), I might have fainted when I heard that. Yuck.