exploding coconuts

Ross says he needs a machete. I think we did OK with the hatchet. True, we did practice on the coconut that I bought back before Xmas. it was kinda moldy on the outside where it had been husked (do coconuts have husks? I don't think they have peels, so, yes husk it is!).

We removed the plastic, poked at the kinda rotten part and I directed Ross's initial hatchet strikes.

"Try to cut off the peak. That's how Lee did it. She cut off the peak with just a few strikes and then we drank the juice. But you have to make the hole big enough for us to get spoons in there too!"

He whacked. I watched. Then I demanded the hatchet.

"Fuck it," I said, as I delivered a direct, down the center from the top where we had removed the damn peak only to find a think hard shell underneath.

"EEEK," then I said as a geyser of slightly past its prime coconut juice sprayed me in the face, arms and chest.

We did better on the second, more recently purchased coconut.

The juice really does taste like it's doing something good for your body as soon as it hits your lips. Also, dessert in liquid form is a good thing!

The meat is delish as well. We're calling it good cholesterol for Ross and I know it's all good for me and the lima bean.

When Nicole was preparing for labor her midwives (and her months of research) had her husband Sander out at Asian markets in Fruitvale (way across Oakland, but worth it 'cause the Berkeley Bowl closes early and we all know that Whole Foods is known as "Whole Paycheck) buying up grande cans of coconut juice. Better than my mom's Gatorade or my drinking buddies' Emergen-C, this stuff is natural, fresh and damn near the best liquid for ya — especially if "ya" is in labor, just finished with labor or transitioning into the milk factory stage.

Yay for the yum factor and for the practice factor.

We might want to get that machete, though.

Tomorrow: My first meeting/interview with the midwives!