Sugar Cane!

They say if you don't blog it, you'll forget it. Well, they may not say *that*, but I'm sure they will someday 50 years from now. Or they'll say that that's what *they* used to say, back in the day.

So, this might seem weird to everyone reading this, and that's fine, but hey, I am a bit weird (as if I need to actually say that...). You know what a bucket list is, right? Things you want to do before you kick the bucket... Anyway, when I was a kid, we grew up driving past this small city in Idaho called Nampa (or maybe Caldwell, I can't remember which) which processed sugar beets. Sugar beets, if you didn't know, are great sources of sugar and this place happened to process mountains of them into mountains of sugar. However, one really unfortunate side-effect of processing sugar beets is a HORRIFIC stench. I mean, those babies reek like nobody's business and the stench travels for miles around. Well, every time we'd drive past on the highway, we'd all plug our noses and ask if there was NO other way to get sugar! Mom and Dad would laugh and tell us of this mystical plant called the sugar cane. "It's so sweet", they'd say, "that you can suck on it and it tastes just like sugar!"

Now, as a kid, this sounded pretty cool but being a skeptic, there had to be a downside. How could a weed or shoot be edible, let alone taste anything like sugar? "There is a small problem.", they continued, "If you're not careful, you'll get splinters in your mouth when you chew on it." I knew then that this had to be one of the coolest plants on the planet and if I ever had a chance to chew it, I'd do it.

And so, sucking on or chewing sugar cane got added to my bucket list. You don't want to know what else is on there. Some make more sense than others. This happens to be one of those that I've kept since childhood.

Well, today I had the opportunity of clearing a backyard for a widow in our ward with the Young Men. Brother Patolo, my good Samoan friend and example, came to help out as their Home Teacher. He brought the proper materials for the job. I don't own a machete, but since he has several, we were definitely prepared. It turns out that they had a patch of sugar cane growing in their backyard. I had no idea what it was or that it could even grow here in the SF Bay Area. But there it was - right out of my bucket list and into real life! Since Brother Patolo grew up on the islands, he knew what to do with it and chopped enough lower shoots for all the youth to try some. After whittling down to the meat, you can literally bite a chunk off and chew/suck right on the wood. It's juicy stuff and man does it taste good! Who would have thought - sugar cane in Union City, CA. I have a few tingling places on my tongue from what I imagine are very small splinters, but overall, not a bad experience at all. I'd totally do it again given the chance.

Bucket List: Suck on sugar cane. CHECK!