August Bounty and Spicy Street Cantaloupe

The other night, my friend Steve texted asking if I wanted to dumpster. He's generally a n00b, but really wants to learn the tricks of the trade. He's gone out with me once before, so the more experience he can get, the better!

Steve, my friend Keith, and I ventured out later that week to make our dumpster rounds.

We started at the Trader Joe's I normally go to. The dumpster was OVERFLOWING (like, I haven't seen it that full since Thanksgiving). It was a goldmine! We started rifling through when, to our dismay, a lady I hadn't seen before came out. She looked weathered, the years of produce-wrangling finally taking their toll.

"You can't do that."
This was contrary to what every other Trader Joe's employee at this particular branch had told me. I informed her that others had told me it was alright before and that we would not leave any sort of mess.
"No, I don't want y'all in the dumpster."
We politely packed up the precious little we had and left the TONS of discarded food behind us. I made a mental note not to dumpster as early in the evening next time (we had gone around 10:30pm, which was earlier than I normally arrive to pillage). I really hope this isn't an evening that causes them to start locking their dumpsters.

The hearts in the car were heavy as we proceeded to the next, less-bountiful Food Lion dumpster The store technically wasn't even closed yet (which some might deem reckless), but their dumpster is far enough back in the parking lot that no one notices you. The only downside of going before closing is that there isn't the usual haul of trash. The dumpster still came up with bread (an item we hadn't gotten to at Trader Joe's) and various other produce.

Hungry for more bread, we ran over to Panera, but their dumpster sadly mixed loaves in the same bag as leftover coffee, making all the good stuff spongy and gross. This isn't always the case at this dumpster, so I guess it's really a crapshoot.

Anyway, we all returned home and divided the till. In victory, we butchered the one cantaloupe we found and Keith introduced us to a recipe he'd often get from street vendors when he lived in San Fransisco:

SPICY STREET CANTALOUPE


Ingredients:
- 1 cantaloupe, cut up (small)
- Juice from 2 limes
- A blanket of cayenne pepper & salt

Mix them up. Serve. This recipe can also be used with mangoes or similarly sweet tropical fruits. Apparently, in San Fransisco, the Hispanic vendors would ask "con limon y con pimente y con sal?" Then add all the ingredients in a ziploc bag, shake up the contents, and sell it in the very bag it was prepared in. Pretty cool, huh? We enjoyed the cantaloupe on my porch, and I saved a bit for work the next day!

Items not dumpstered or donated: Cayenne pepper, salt

Also, my share of the dumpster bounty:

- 1 cantaloupe (duh)
- 1 small bag of assorted potatoes
- 3 beets
- 3 sweet potatoes
- 2 papayas
- 2 mangoes
- 1 bag baby arugula blend
- 1 bag celery
- 2 pkgs cherry heirloom tomatoes
- 9 roma tomatoes (tomatoes dived for a special project!)
- 1 pkg mushrooms
- 1 pkg strawberries
- 1 lemon
- 1 kiwi
- 4 limes
- 1 squash
- 3 zucchini
- 1 eggplant
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 4 bananas (frozen immediately)
- 1 loaf honey wheat bread (frozen immediately)
- 1 pkg roasted and cut turkey breast (frozen)
- 6 pkgs cherries (one given away to my Stepmom)