A few weeks ago, John "Perry" Jones called from Courtland. "If you want to take a picture of some pretty persimmons, better come now." His trees, he said, were bearing the best crop he'd seen since they were planted four years back.

Had persimmons or kiwis still been in high season, I would never have eaten snails from a can I bought at a discount store. In fact, right up until deadline, I searched for a substitute “adventure” that would help me avoid snails from a can from a discount store.

Once I said to my grandmother that I planned to lose 10 pounds. She laughed and said, "I've been trying to lose 10 pounds for 70 years!" Today, my grandma is 101, and she is still concerned about her weight. But really, this time of year, who isn't?

Perhaps you, too, have pondered those orange-topped jars on grocery store shelves, the ones filled with pale, oversized meatball-looking things swimming in a murky broth.

People, if you've conquered calamari, it's time to move on. Not so long ago, calamari, or squid, was considered exotic eating in South Hampton Roads. Today, fried or sauteed squid is almost as common on local restaurant menus as French fries. Calamari's cousin, octopus? Not so much.

What do you feel like?

When waiters pose that question, they’re wondering what you’d like to eat. When Christina Li  asks , she’s coming from another continent altogether.

Here's a culinary adventure that I could have done without. But with the stock market in a seemingly endless swoon, I couldn't help but wonder: Would Americans eventually have to turn to Spam? Could we? Should we?

Here's a tough one. It's lunch. You're hungry. Money is tight. Would you rather shoot through the drive-thru, or, for the same price or less, pop on over to Latin America? What about Jamaica, mon? Pupusas, anyone? How about a jerk chicken patty? Or, for the more adventuresome lunchtime palate, curried goat or cow's feet?

Stealth seemed in order for this adventure. As I stood behind my kitchen counter preparing dinner, my fifth-grader and I debated the answer to a math problem and which part of a particular sentence was the predicate. I avoided all talk of dinner.

Recently, I was a guest at one of those relaxingly long dinner parties. It started with cocktails before sundown, ended well into the night. Just as the evening reached its ebb, I pounced and announced that nightcaps were mandatory. Absinthe nightcaps.

After all, I had a deadline.