Watermelon

Posted in Fruit on May 3rd, 2007 by mei| | 1 Comments.

watermelon.jpgI am soooo sick right now.

Either the remnants of the moldy pancake mix got to me or I chugged too much cold 青草茶 too fast… or my immune system is just @#X% anyways. Right now I am nursing a large glass of hot ginger tea but I wish I could be chomping on a cold slice of watermelon with the sweet sugary juices dribbling through my fingers.

I’ve been writing about my fave winter produces (liuding and sweet potatoes) but now I feel that I must do the justice of the impending summer by dedicating one post to the fruit that seems to epitomize the season - watermelon.

Growing up, I actually never cared to eat this fruit. It’s not the taste. I just don’t like spitting out the seeds. Too much work. So-called seedless watermelons won’t cut it for me either since they still have tiny seeds.

Pitiful pit issues aside, another pet peeve of mine when it comes to watermelons was that the fleshy area around the seeds was generally too mushy. Perhaps that’s why I tend to prefer yellow watermelons - the flesh is crisper. Anyhow, they still come with seeds.

Perhaps I have grown a little more mature… and a lot less lazy but I’ve been growing quite fond of watermelons. My good friend, Rose, made this wonderful watermelon salad with mint, parsley, olives, red onions, feta and the fleshy red fruit this past weekend that was quite inspiring. You know what this means, Rose - make it again and don’t forget to send out the invites!

And if possible, please dig out the seeds (*tongue firmly in cheek*).

Citrus sinensis?

Posted in Fruit on May 1st, 2007 by mei| | 2 Comments.

taiwanese_citrus_drink.jpgI wouldn’t call it OJ.

It’s called liuding （柳丁） in Mandarin which is different from liuchen （柳橙）which I consider “orange.” Liuding, like my fave sweet potatoes, comes out during the winters here although they are both available perennially. A Liuding does look like an orange but it has a skin that clings dearly to the pith and is hard to peel. Hence people usually eat the fruit cut into wedges, instead of peeling them, or they have them juiced. To me, freshly squeezed liuding juice is much better than the 每日C stuff that you can get in the supermarkets or 7-11s. It’s sweet and tangy like orange juice but at the same time, much lighter. Perhaps a cross between an orange and a lemon without the tartness.

You can usually find it sold in the local freshmarkets/nightmarkets or from the back of trucks randomly parked throughout Taipei and it is usually peddled in clear oblong bottles with red caps. (Yellow and red - quite striking I’d say.) It keeps fresh for about 2-3 days in the fridge but it’s always gone before then in mine :>