Almond Fruit

Growing up my family had a yard full of fruit trees, two of them were almond trees.  Every spring we'd go out and pick tons of almond fruit and have bowls and bags of them all around the house.  When my grandpa would come from the middle east he'd have my dad drive us to these back road almond orchards he'd found and we'd hop the fence and pick as much fruit as we could fit in our bags.  To me this was normal, I assumed all families ate this amazingly perfect snack.  It wasn't until I was in high school when my parents landscaped the yard and took out the trees that I realized my favorite snack was not common at all.  For years I searched Mediterranean markets and trees along roads to find these gems but to no avail.  The closest I came was when I was in college and I was explaining to Dan one day about almond fruit and how much I wish I had some and I described it in such detail that he remembered a tree near a bus stop he had been at that had something like what I was talking about and lo and behold there they were!  But sadly it was late in the season and the fruit was tough and bitter.

If you ever manage to get these babies just wash them, dip them in a little salt and enjoy.

 Fast forward to yesterday when my wonderful husband  dragged me around Orange County until we found the Fresh Choice Market in Anaheim with was like Whole Foods had a baby with a middle eastern market.  As soon as we walk I see this display of almonds and I stood there in disbelief and then....I cried.  To have been searching for this little piece of my childhood attached to so many wonderful memories and finding it when I had completely given up hope was the most overwhelming feeling (I really love food).  I stood there picking out the best one's and a Vietnamese family came by and asked me questions on how to eat it and what it tasted like and we laughed and joked and I convinced them to get a few to try and I just felt so happy to be where I was in that very moment.