In the winter at the Calgary Farmer's Market the pickings get slim. We still go to buy the bulk of our groceries, have brunch and coffee, and let the Monster jump her little heart out in the bouncy castle. Bypassing the crafts which we don't need but look nice we skip through the stalls to our regular spots. Recently, however, a new vendor has been tempting me with the exact opposite of locovore eating.

More Than Mangos has taken up a weekend stall for the winter. The colourful fruits and exotic smells are intoxicating in the grey and tired days of mid winter. We've been buying avocados, mangos, and baby bananas imported from Central and South America. I decided to branch out recently and picked up some passion fruit. The scent of these orange passion fruit - versus the purple and plain ones Andres has - was more than I could resist.

And I would be the only one.

The Monster was more than excited to open the passion fruit in the recommended way - by smashing it. The natural curiosity of a toddler led her to ask a few questions about what this new thing was. Smashing it was great fun. And as soon as she saw what it looked like inside she walked away and refused to have anything more to do with it. She wouldn't even come close it after that.

When Hubby came home I tempted him with this new treat. I'd devoured that juicy pulp from the one the Monster broke, straight up. We cracked another one and Hubby bravely took a slurp. Quite promptly he responded that it was "nasty". It reminded him of guava, which he hates.

Oh well, more for me. It kiboshed my plans to make a passion fruit pavlova for dessert. And so it sat. The Monster ate a Cara Cara orange instead. And I finally finished the passion fruit as a topping on some yoghurt. A tropical, but somewhat disappointing end to that slurpy, sweet pulp.

I haven't given up. I'll get them to eat it yet... Smoothies, vinagrettes, maybe even a cocktail or some ice cream.