Thou Shall Not Covet Thy Neighbor's....

....Persimmons! Ha-ha-ha!


That must be the eleventh commandment. But looking at those yummy fruits, would it be really a sin to disobey such commandment even just on one occasion? Or perhaps, one fruit at a time. Ha-ha-ha!


This autumn, as the temperatures started dropping, my neighbor's persimmon tree, which I could see from my window, started to turn its fruits into orange-colored decorations making it look like a leaf-less Christmas tree (without Christmas presents under and blinking lights around it!).


Originally, I thought my neighbor's tree was an orange tree because of the color of the fruits. But a closer look (and a weird question on why would there be an orange tree in Hannam-dong?) made me realize that it's a persimmon tree, which is in most neighborhoods in Seoul! 


From my window, the fruits do look delicious...because they are!


Succulent and sweet especially when ripe and when refrigerated, these persimmons are on a different league of its own. No wonder the Greeks called it the 'fruit of the gods'.


But thanks to friends Aimee and Cora, who have bounties of their own persimmons, I was able to enjoy the fruit without having to trespass in my neighbor's yard (a crime!) and pick my neighbor's tree (a forgivable crime?), or covet it from my window (an excusable sin!). Aimee shared her fuyu persimmons with me last winter; this time, Cora has shared her hachiya persimmons. Those two kinds of persimmons are available in Korea.


Now, I will be moving away from the window, and instead, move towards the refrigerator to take out the chilled persimmons to enjoy!


Ciao.