The Juiceman Cometh

My brother is big into juicing -- has been for some time. So much so that, come to find out, he owns MORE THAN ONE juicer. This is how serious he is. When I mentioned I might like to dip my toe into the elite fountain of juicing exaltation, my big brother stepped up and promptly *Fed Exed* me his Juiceman Jr. How awesome is that?! Also, his special gal pal (who, btw, might be eligible for saintdom for this and other reasons) wouldn't let him send it until she had totally cleaned it so it was all sparkly and new. Sweet!

It came yesterday, so after a long day followed by a long meeting, followed by a good 1/2 hour of lying on my couch staring into space while my cat napped on my head, I had to give the Juiceman Jr. (I call him Jr. for short) a trial run. A little pre-bed pick-me-up, if you will.

I dutifully thumbed through the instruction book, noting that it included a stern admonishment against juicing fruits and vegetables together. WTH? Well, I was in no mood to toy with the juice gods, so I opted for a an organic pink lady apple and 2 clementines (peeled of course).


Sweet nectar of the gods! Yum-oh! With a little more practice, I could be on to something here. I say practice because, in my excitement, I almost forgot to put something under the spout (the bossy instruction book didn't mention anything about that tiny detail), and I was so intent on watching the juice come out, I didn't notice that the glop receptacle had shifted, so the glop was spewing all over my counter and on all nearby counter-clutter items. D'oh! But it was damn good juice! And, as Odie promised, all the parts rinsed off quickly and easily.

I overslept a little this a.m., so I didn't have time to reassemble and juice – opting instead for my usual gritty but fast smoothie. Maybe I'll smoothie in the a.m. and juice in the evening (which leaves to door open for adding vodka, haha, just kidding...sort of). I may also throw caution to the wind and MIX my fruits and vegetables (beets!!). I need to Google the legality of that.

I'm told you can use the leftover glop in muffins and what not, but I'm not sure I'm buyin' it. For now, it'll be worm food in the compost bin.

In other produce news, imagine my delight when I ventured out into my slowly whithering garden and discovered THIS!



I thought my crop of spaghetti squash-that-was-supposed-to-be-melons was through, but I was granted not one but THREE more squashes. And, as if that were not reason enough to Snoopy dance, I noticed my barren eggplant plants had also proven me wrong. Two cute, shiny little gorgeous eggplants.



AND two more monstrous tomatoes on the way as well. I don't have the heart to tell them they all may be destined to meet Jr. in the near future.