Cranberry Blues

(With the free online translator still ticking away at the word 'cranberry', I lack the courage to write the chinese version of this long-winded fruity piece.)

I bought this packet of cranberries from Tesco er... some weeks ago. It was half-price, and with my rather good experience at buying the pomegranate, I thought - why not? Risk seems to pay off afterall...

Well, what a headache it has turned out to be. They were far too sour to be eaten raw and alone. Yet, recipes with cranberries in it are just too fanciful - using ingredients I would seldom use. There were many websites packed full with information about cranberries.

The only recipe I tried was pork chop with cranberry sauce, and a reduced version of it too. But it was too sour for Jianming. Probably because I was not very strict in keeping to the recipe, not even bothering about the proportions of oranges and cranberries and ignoring the spicy / not available ingredients. After two meals of the same, Jianming finally protested. So, the cranberries sat in the fridge for hmm ... awhile.

Yesterday, I got my inspiration from Tesco supermarket. It was a pretty obvious way to be rid of the cranberries but I really liked the 'recipe' I found.

So, today the cranberries were finally 'disposed off' - in the form of a smoothie, and a rather yummy one too. Again, the proportion of each ingredient was based on expediency rather than the original formula - 1 apple, 1 orange, 1 banana and the rest of the cranberries. Still, they did turn out nice. I suppose it's hard to go wrong with so many types of popular fruits to go with the cranberries.

All those splattering by the fruits as the blender whisked along (it was another item Jianming got from Edinburgh Free Cycle, and there was no suitable container that keep the pieces from flying about while you blend) was worth it as Ethan finished his third (or more than a third) of the smoothie with a smile while my portion went down favourably as well. Jianming will have his when he gets back.

Whew, no more cranberries.

Hmm, probably will do that again, now that there is this 'acceptable' (and healthy too) way to use up cranberries! Or shall I try blackberries smoothie next time? The blackberries were 1 pound off, only problem is that with 1 pound off, a small pack still costs 2 pounds...