Pomegranates, Pomellos, & Persnickity Kids

As I was walking through the grocery store the other day I was trying to look at everything around me. Trying to take in all of the things that I had never tried. Why? I really don't know. I'm trying to become more inspired. I'm trying to try new things. I've seen so many amazing cupcake ideas lately, all of which I have in my mind too, but just haven't acted on them as quickly as everyone else. Sometimes I over think things, I know that I should just go with my gut feeling, but it's taking that step and failing that I'm afraid of. I'm trying to get better at it. I take it one day at a time.

So anyways, as I was walking through the produce section, something caught my eye. What is this? a big, round, green, unripened grapefruit? After closer inspection of the sticker I realized it was a Pomello. Hum? I was intrigued. I had no idea what it was. I had no idea what it tasted like. I had no idea how to peel the thing. All I knew was that this beautiful $1.49 fruit was going into a nice little bag and coming home with me.

As I was choosing my pomello, I looked slightly left and noticed a fruit that I had seen quite a few times but had never actually purchased, a pomegranate. I always see these fruits online being dissected and cleaned in bowls of water and I always thought to myself, "well that looks pretty easy, I wonder what they taste like?" So along side my giant green pomello I placed a beautiful red pomegranate.

So after checking out with my two new treasures I couldn't wait any longer, I had to get home and open them up to see just what the insides looked like. (Random fact #11 Secret obsession with dissecting fruits and veggies)

I broke out the cutting board, knife, and a big bowl of water. Now as I've mentioned before, I am a mother of 2. Aiden who is 6 1/2 and Sophie who is 19 months (Random fact #12, my kids share a birthday exactly 5 years apart). Both of them enjoy being in the kitchen with me and I'm trying to work on being more patient with them while I'm diving into these adventures. So as I was cutting into the first fruit, the pomello, both kids were perched on the chair and table (Sophie enjoys climbing on furniture like a chimpanzee) waiting ever so patient to see what was hiding inside. The pomello kind of surprised me. I had looked online as to the best way to cut into it and found that you can cut it pretty much like a grapefruit. The pomello was very spongy, and there wasn't as much flesh on the inside as I had expected. The pomello tasted very similar to a grapefruit.

I finished cutting it and offered it up to the kids. I could tell by the look on Aiden's face, he wasn't enjoying this experiment as much as I was. Sophie on the other hand was bound and determined to eat her way through the entire green "ball".

Now it was pomegranates turn. I took the knife to the pomegranate as I had been instructed to do so online by scoring it into five sections and peeling them apart. I also was warned online about the juice that comes from the pomegranate and how much it could stain. No fear here, onward! I peeled one of the sections from the fruit and placed it in the big bowl of water and started gently plucking the seeds from the inside of the fruit.

This is one thing people often don't realize about the pomegranate. You eat the seeds of the fruit, the outside is just the capsule. I also read somewhere that pomegranates are great for the female reproductive system. That I have no idea if it's true or not, just thought I'd throw that out there. Back to the dark red juice staining my cutting board. I removed all of the seeds from the sections of the pomegranate, tossed the carcase in the trash and offered up the tasty morsels to the kids once again.

This time, exact opposite reaction. Aiden had a huge grin on his face and insisted that I save some of those "seeds" for him to eat after school. Sophie. Well she just shook her head and down off the table she went.

I've learned in the 19 months of being a mother of 2 that this is typical. Everything in their worlds are opposite. Opposite sleeping habits, eating habits, personalities, likes, dislikes. It truly is amazing that two kids who are raised in the same exact house can be so different. I guess that's God's way of keeping it interesting in the Campbell house.

We finished off the pomello but we still have some of the pomegranate seeds left and have been trying to figure out what to do with them. I think I've got it. In fact I know I've got it. You'll have to check back to see what I've done with them!!