Eating the pink part of the watermelon, scraping the rinds, chopping the ginger, and then watching the rind turn translucent as it boiled in the pot – the whole process was like a fun science project (minus the stressful part where you have to make flawless posterboards describing your steps).

Two days later, after letting the flavors mellow and the pickle pickle, I discovered that pickling also requires determination. The flavor was not what I hoped for. My perfect pickle has a slightly vinegary, refreshing, even maybe complex flavor (as in, you can taste the spices and not just the vinegar) and this wasn’t it. Overall, I can’t really say it tasted like anything more than just vinegar and sugar…a lot of sugar. Back to the drawing board.

All was not lost though. I did get to taste something completely new, and I did earn my seven days. With these seven days, I am committed to figuring out how to create the perfect pickle.

Along the way, I also managed to pick up some interesting watermelon facts worth sharing. First, Balkan folklore includes stories of melons that, when kept for more than 10 days, become vampire melons and roll around on the ground trying to trip up the living. Second, it’s recently been discovered that watermelon rind has a chemical that mimics the effects of Viagra. (That should fit in nicely with my plan to be a gray old lady with a couple cats and the perfect recipe for pickled watermelon.)

For anyone interested, I used a variation on this Pickled Watermelon Rind Chutney from Epicurious for my pickle.

Well, I still don’t know, but I finally said, screw it. I want to post again. I miss 1 Bite 7 Days terribly, so I’m coming back.

So what’s happening?

• I brought my computer to Tekserve today! She’ll be all fixed and improved soon, and I’ll be back to editing.

• Erin King, the project’s Co-Producer and Chef moved back to Boston. She helped open a new restaurant and currently works there. I hear it’s amazing and am really looking forward to going. If you’re in the Boston area, visit Ten Tables in Cambridge. That’s the place!

• Some of the folks who helped on 1 Bite 7 Days have their own projects cooking. Steve Maing who shot at the fair, and who I’ve worked with on quite a few other projects, is in the midst of producing a documentary feature. He’s been invited to pitch it at Tribeca All Access. (Good luck Steve!) Trina Rodriguez and Sara Frank who also both shot at the fair also both recently completed the graduate documentary program at The New School. On Valentine’s Day I got to see the short docs they made at the MOMA – they were wonderful!

• I’ve been thinking a lot about this thing I’m tentatively calling Taste & Tell. Since I haven’t had the computer to look at footage, I’ve been thinking about ways the project can exist outside of video. Anyone, anywhere can really have a 1 Bite 7 Days  – where you taste something new and ponder what you might do with 7 extra days of life – moment. And since we all photograph, email, tweet, and update our status about what we’re eating anyway, I figure I, and maybe you if you’re willing, can do some long-distance 1 Bite 7 Days-ing. Or, Taste & Tell. I already brought this up when I posted about that longan I ate on the train, but in the coming weeks I’m gonna show you how serious I am about getting folks out there to Taste & Tell. I mean it.

For now, one from me:

Where: my apartment, Brooklyn, NY

When: Tuesday, March 10, 2009; 9:30 pm (or so)

1 Bite: Edamame Hummus, which I’ve since learned is actually inaccurately named since hummus means chickpea and this “hummus” had none. I was on an absurdly long line at Trader Joe’s and saw the man in front of me grab it; and figured that given his decision to buy Aloe Vera Juice, the Edamame Hummus might not be tasty, but it would at least be good for me. Well it was tasty! If you work with me you’d know, because I’ve been blabbing about how tasty it was all week.

7 Days: Since it’s this very pretty bright green and tastes healthy I’ve decided to spend these 7 days in a lush green place far from computers, phones and cars. Something I should already be doing more of anyway.

I had been saving the private video booth footage for after I logged all the tasting booth tapes. The private video booth was shot with an unmanned camera, so I had no idea what I would discover. I was kind of treating it as the surprise at the bottom of the cereal box. I was wildly curious, but also a little anxious. Did people feel comfortable in the space? Did tasting an unusual dish inspire them? Would they really share their wishes? Was the experience as fun as I hoped it would be…as fun as I imagined it would be during the months of planning?

Francine’s request forced me to push play and find out. The question was “What will you do with the extra seven days you earned from tasting something new?” and the responses ran the gamut from silence to dancing. Some people said nothing and some had lots to say; some kissed, danced, and some made plans for orgiastic eating. People bravely stepped into the booth, unsure of what was going to happen next, sometimes unsure if the camera was even rolling, and they seemed to be having a pretty great time.

I can’t possibly do the responses justice with words but I think I can say there are fun, smart, sweet, uncomfortable, silly, meaningful, and of course, meaningless, exposed bits of people in all the moments shared.

So what about Francine? Well, she visited the booth on Sunday with her friend Andy. She tasted the pomegranate soup and then confessed something about Andy. Here they are and here’s what Francine had to say.

I guess she used those seven days as planned, because Francine and Andy are a couple now. (Francine if you two get married can we come and set up a 1 Bite booth at the wedding?)

We’ll soon be posting more footage – a few more video booth moments and the whole Renegade Craft Fair sequence. Stay tuned.

I think my train ride on Friday night was an omen. 1 Bite is completely mobile. You can be out to dinner, at a barbecue, a party, at work – hell, you can be on the train – and taste something you never tried before. You can take a quick snapshot of the new food with your cell phone and text both the photo and a few words on what you’ll do with your extra 7 days to us (you can also shoot your tasting as a slideshow, record audio or video, or just email a few words) and we’ll collect and share for everyone to see, experience, and be inspired by.

Of course, not all 1 Bite 7 Days events need to be that spontaneous. When they are, like my tasting on the train, it will be great for everyone to experience that immediacy – for the taster to be swept up in the moment and record their thoughts right away and for readers to see how the taste and spontaneity informs the experience. But, the main idea is to create a collection of all kinds of people, tasting all kinds of food, and wishing for all sorts of things to do with their extra time.

So here I go – the first entry in what I hope will eventually be a library of tasting experiences and shared wishlists.

Where: 6 Train, New York City, NY
When: Friday, June 27, 2008; 8:30 pm (or so)
1 Bite: The longan or lamyai, a small, sweet and juicy transparent fruit, that grows in grape-like clusters, and has a hard, round, pale-brown skin like a shell. They had a definite eye-ball texture but were subtle and sweet and very fun to eat!
7 Days: Because a woman I didn’t know and who spoke little English, offered me a taste when I asked her what she was eating, I’m going to use my 7 days to remember that people are good and I should talk to strangers more.

[I didn't snap a photo in time, mostly because I'm terrible at using my cell phone camera, but here's one courtesy SimplyThai.com.]

Okay, who’s next? Email us at 1bite7days@gmail.com and we’ll post them asap!

Chef and producer Erin King received complement after complement on her dishes, which is a pretty great feat considering she wasn’t serving up easy-to-please favorites like mac n’ cheese. The Renegade Menu included: Iraqi Pomegranate Soup, a spring dish often used to break a fast; Vinegar Pie, an old frontier dish that was later adopted by many thrifty cultures; and Pickled Fiddlehead Ferns, the fiddleheads a nod to Native American foraging culture, and the pickling an easier way to prepare and serve.

So many guests asked for the recipes that we’re posting them here. Enjoy!

Pomegranate Soup – Shorbat Rumman
1 pound dried yellow split peas
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
1 large bunch spinach, finely chopped
2 bunches parsley, finely chopped
2 bunches cilantro, finely chopped
1 bunch mint, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
3T pomegranate syrup
Salt and Pepper

Rinse and drain peas, removing any stones. Using a large pot, cook over medium heat in 6 cups of water until soft, about 45 minutes. Add water as needed.

Once soft, season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the scallions, spinach, parsley, cilantro and mint. Return to a simmer and cook 5 minutes. Off heat stir in pomegranate molasses and lime juice. Adjust seasoning.

Makes 8 cups.

Vinegar Pie
1 pre-cooked 9 inch pie crust
2 cups water
½ cup all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
6 T apple cider vinegar

In a heavy saucepan, bring water to a boil. In a small bawl whisk together flour and sugar. Add flour-sugar mixture to boiling water, whisking often. Cook until thickened, about 6 min.

Remove from heat and temper eggs with mixture, whisking constantly. Return mixture to saucepan and cook over medium low heat, while whisking, for about 3 minutes more.

Off heat, add vinegar and whisk until fully incorporated. Pour into pre-baked pie shell and refrigerate until set. Serve with whipped cream.

It should be noted that both these recipes are classics and so Erin’s renditions are culled from many online resources as well as cookbooks.

The Pickled Fiddlehead Ferns were made by Mike’s Maine Pickles available from Maine Goodies.

These photos taken by filmmaker and journalist Sarah Frank who manned the video booth for 1 Bite 7 Days. Thanks Sarah!

Thank you!

By the way – we served over 1000 people! Wow!

Each time the booth appears at a new fair or festival, the menu will reflect a new theme – Seasonal & Local, Street Food, and Homespun are some themes we’re considering. For the Renegade Craft Fair, the theme is a little harder to sum up in one or two words, but one I’m very excited about – uncharted cuisines from cultures with American ties.

So, we’ll be serving up a Native American dish, a frontier dish, and an Iraqi dish. They’re all relatively unexplored, wonderfully unusual, and deliciously surprising dishes. I’m so excited to share them and see people experience them for the first time.

That’s the limit of my sneak peek…visit us and try one for yourself!

It will start making its way into all my materials, but for now, I just had to share it:

Thanks Martin!

The project kicks off this summer at the Renegade Craft Fair in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Guests will be able to taste 1 of 3 unusual dishes at a free tasting booth. Once guests have tasted a dish, and “earned” their seven days, they’ll be able to enter a private space, akin to a photo booth, where they can share how they’ll use this new free time.

Confused? It really is that simple. You taste something new, you get seven days longer to live. At least that’s what this this old proverb predicts. It’s a win-win situation: free food + longer life

Visit the booth June 14 and 15 at the McCarren Park Pool. If you’ve never been to the Renegade Craft Fair, I highly recommend it, and not just because I’ll be there serving free delicious unusual dishes

Coming soon….read more about the project, meet the crew, and get a sneak peek of the menu for the first festival! Also, a gorgeous display of photos of people happily tasting stuff curated from Flickr.com.