Foot and Fire

ULTIMATE MYANMARESE STREET FOOD: Pig mask and other internal organs in sticks. One has to cook it by dipping it in a boiling liquid in the center. The containers on the side are the condiments and the red ones must be chili... *** Watermelon for 900 kyatts. *** The whitish green watermelon. *** Sayote or squash leaves. *** Melon. *** I'm holding a honeydew. *** Golden-orange Papaya. *** Some deep-fried stuff: crabs, shrimps and some floured food. *** Just like the Thai papaya pickle. The woman is using the mortar and pestle to mash the spices and then she adds this to the raw green papaya. *** Must be jelly sweets. *** Cold desserts to quench the sun-dried palates. *** Ice cream from Nylon Ice cream parlor.  Quite a following among the locals for this dirty a.k.a. home-made ice cream. *** Rainbow ice cream. Choices vary from tropical fruit like Durian to the classic ones  like chocolate and vanilla.  ***

Strawberries. *** Grapes. *** Grapes, Banana, Guavas. *** Bananas, strawberries, Guavas. *** Banana *** Not a pomelo, I'm sure. *** Jackfruit crossbred with Marang. The peelings look like jackfruit but it peels like marang. The smooth texture in the mouth is marang while the smell is jackfruit. Awesome best of both world. ***  Papaya and Guavas *** Papayas. *** Must be sugarcane wrapped in some dry leaves? ***

For lunch today, we had laswa. We mixed all solid vegetables available: papaya called kapayas here, squash or kalabasa, okra, takway (gabi roots) and saykwa or patola and the green leaves at hand: malunggay called balunggay here and saluyot called tugabang. The secret addition is the lemon grass known as tanglad here and some dried fish. .N.B. the ingredients are actually flexible; compare this laswa with my previous post.... Match this vegetable soup with fried fish and rice... Perfect!

By GERLIE M. UY LEE NATHAN WONG, poster boy of fruits!!!! ABIU seedlings is now available at Bureau of Plant Industry, Brgy. La Granja, La Carlota City abiu is the family of caimito but this kind is without the messy tar, but with extra sweetness and jelly-like flesh... Bugnay aka bignay abounds. This little grapes can turn into wine. Bugnay, up close. Santol, the pulpy seed and chewy flesh is popular when sweet and soury, not when entirely sour. This is not the Bangkok Santol because they're all small. Avocado is rich in good cholesterol but high in calories... pulpy and smooth... add some milk and sugar to complete the dessert. I love lychees...this was bought from the grocery. not so good capture by a cellphone camera... A taste of Kiwi... not a native here, of course. These were presents from a family friend. Tasting Kiwi. grapes in toothpick... grapes quoted with chocs... Lakatan, fave of Pinoys... Papaya aka kapayas is sweet a...