Loquat Wha?

One of the special things about living in NoCal is the ability to grow exotic fruit trees in your back yard. Now, this isn't OUR back yard as we are renting. But our landlord kindly planted (many years ago) some interesting specimens. Like our loquat tree. I never even knew what a loquat was before living here. We enjoyed the pretty clusters of white flowers and watched the tiny green pea-sized fruit develop..... slowly...... VERY slowly. And finally, we began to see some color. I figured that the loquats were ripe when I saw the birds pecking away at the fruit. While we were waiting for the great day, Mark and I did some research online to learn about loquats.  And because the tree was so large and it looked like we would have LOTS of loquats, we began researching recipes. I found an interesting one for Pork Loin with Loquat and Strawberry Sauce. And another for Loquat Cobbler..... sounded yummy. So I took my bucket and headed out back. The only problem was that all the really ripe fruit was at the TOP of the VERY tall tree where only the birds could go. I decided to give it a try. Now, I have to back up a bit and tell you about the condition of this tree. A few weeks ago, we had "bad weather" - it rained heavily and was very windy. In the storm, a HUGE branch from the tree split off - well, it really cracked down the center of a divide in the trunk. And when we cut up the "branch" to put it out for pick up, the smaller branches were VERY HEAVY mainly due to the fruit. So as I looked up.... and up.... toward all that ripe fruit near the top of the tree, I began to wonder if those thin overweighted branches could even hold a little bit more weight. We don't have a step ladder here. So I went in the house and dragged out a chair....... not very tall. Then I looked in the garage and found an extension ladder...... hmmmm........ So I dragged it out, propped it against the THICK portion of the main trunk and climbed up. Now, for those of you who don't know me well, I have a balance problem. So climbing UP on things is not always easy or wise. But wisdom has never gotten in my way. As I teetered on the top step and stretched up toward the little golden globes, the wind picked up and the tree started to sway..... and I started to sway...... and the bucket started to sway...... So I decided that I had enough loquats for my recipe. As I was preparing for dinner, a friend called and asked if she could spend the night on her way to the coast. I said sure and warned her that she would be a guinea pig for the loquat test AND for the new loft bed test. She is a spunky person and was happy to be the victim. We sat down to dinner and began to sample..... Now, when you are in NoCal, you HAVE to have wine with this kind of dinner. So Mark chose the perfect wine to drink with loquats. He has begun blogging at CACorkDork.blogspot.com (yes, my geek is now a dork). Click here to read his blog and learn all about what wine YOU should drink when YOU fix a loquat recipe. I have decided not to add loquats to my list of favorite fruits. The taste in not memorable and picking them is a challenge. Now the OTHER tree in our yard IS worth it. Our fig tree has a fine crop of figs on it. And every day I go out and gently squeeze the little figlets to see if they are ripe yet..... a bit like the old witch in Hansel and Gretel who wanted to feel Hansel's finger to see if he was fat enough to eat. My fig tree is teaching me patience as the fruit is not ready yet. But soon.... and this time I'll be ready. I bought a fruit picker at Home Depot with a VERY long reach so I won't fall out of any trees.