Fruit Trees and Neighbors

Avocados from a friend's tree down the street...

Rambutan from next door neighbor's tree...

  A mango tree I planted five years ago bore its first fruits; a ten year old pomelo tree I brought along in a drum finally has fruit growing; a guyabano also hanging from the tree; finally tasted the atis before the bats beat me to them (they're sweet!); and a papaya tree is bearing lots of red lady papayas.

  Cooked Thai Tom Kha Gai for the first time with the galangal and lemongrass from my garden. Galangal/lengkwas/langkawas/kha which came from my Indonesian neighbor's garden, and originally from her tutor's Bicol hometown. 

   It doesn't take much, really, the soil here keeps us happy.

   On a sad note, I am mourning, I am delayed in mourning the loss of a lady I befriended three years ago. She who sold me my poinsettia three Christmases ago; from whom I purchased pots of Gynura Precumbens (they call it Ashitaba though that's different) to give as Christmas presents.  She was a cancer survivor, and she was not only a retailer of herbs and plants, but also an advocate of natural food, raw diet.  She not only sold the plants, she made friends with her customers and was sincere in her efforts.  She and her sister sold plants at Solenad, as a test for the future area of the mall. She was looking forward to the opening of the "Market" area of Solenad, where they were offered space.  Now, that space is open, and I looked for her but she was not there.  I was happy to have had a good conversation with her sister. But allowed myself a moment to remember her.

   

Rambutan!

It's the same cheap plastic colander the "ginger lily" or "Kamias" was in in my first post. That's just to follow "tradition"--like the kamias, a whole bag of Rambutan came also from a neighbor...whose tree has been giving an excess of the fruit!

     At no other time have I had so much rambutan...many fresh-picked and for free.  Well, maybe over a decade ago during a series of long stays in Thailand. There, rambutan is regular fare, along with papaya, pineapple, and other tropical fruits it seems.

     It is only this year that I realize how much there is in Santa Rosa, and even more so in Silang.  I am happy that my child has come to love this fruit so much, she asks to have it for snack time at school.  In fact, so many of her classmates love this. It was actually interesting for me to see one of her classmates open his food container, packed tight with the peeled rambutan. This is what snack time ought to look like! Not the processed, plastic packaged, additive, preservative, coloring-laden junk kids are now being discouraged (hopefully) to snack on.

   Inside, it is an oval shape, with a firm, smooth cloudy gelatin appearance. To open it, you squeeze the middle level of the skin (it looks prickly but those prickles are soft not sharp) with your thumb and forefinger, this should open crosswise. To eat it, you may nibble it in bits.  It doesn't matter if some of the seed's skin gets stuck in the flesh. If opened at the right stage---apparently when firm and maybe even slightly green sometimes--the flesh comes off the seed easily.  The seed resembles an almond.

     The rambutan has a mild flavor. Strange how in the past weeks since its abundance I have come to actually seek the taste, despite the almost-blandness.  That's it's beauty I guess, a mild, gentle, juicy flavor that provides refreshment. In my childhood I've mostly had tangy, tiny ones, often not fresh anymore. It was always a surprise to open one...I was never sure if it was still alright--plump and smooth--or rotting.  In the groceries the fruits turn black on the outside. These are not as great as the ones I saw for sale by the roadside today:

     Just as I've admired the following fruits' colors:  Avocado Green, Macopa pink (and green), Guava Pink, Kamias Green...I have a new addition: Rambutan Red.  The photo doesn't quite capture it...but the Rambutan's red at this fresh-picked stage is not deep. It's something I would describe as maybe coral-red...it would make a good lipstick shade, I think.

    Lanzones is also in season. When I got this Rambutan, Lanzones had run out.  

John Bamboo in Nuvali Solenad

    This is not a blog about restaurants nor food, so I am not prepared with photos of John Bamboo's offerings. I am just prepared to say, it is good, it exists.  An Indonesian friend let me know this when this was newly-opened, and it had her seal of approval.  Enak! (Delicious in Bahasa Indonesia) Masarap nga, even if it was just the "Martabak telor" we had for merienda. Authentic. I forgot to take a photo of it, the presentation was more hotel-like than street-food like.  

    We met the chef, imported from Jakarta. A very friendly guy, he said he was employed at the Hotel Intercontinental Jakarta for seven years before coming here (no wonder the martabak was pretty). As we knew Indonesian dishes from a past life in Jakarta, he talked to us about how John Bamboo was originally supposed to be just a sate house.  The owners, he claimed, didn't know about the 300+ Indonesian students at the Adventist University of the Philippines!  I found that hard to believe.  The Red Crab, which owns this, is a major company, which I'm sure, planned this carefully with research. Within the first two weeks of opening, they were also raided by expats--Singaporean, Indonesian, and Europeans who were previously living in the region.  With many Filipinos also having experienced the region's cuisine, missing it, and purchasing property in  the area, the timing is good.  The chef had to change the menu, which now includes favorites as bakso (soup that can be had in the streets of Jakarta in warungs or streetside cafes).  He has also done special requests such as a huge, party-sized "nasi kuning" (yellow rice formed into a cone) for an expat's surprise party.

    I am sorry I don't get the name John Bamboo, and seeing Rambo up there in the mural. I like the red furniture, but really, the place could have had bare walls and it wouldn't have mattered--the food was good.  They also have drinks such as Markisa 7-Up, and passionfruit syrup mixed with 7-up that is an Indonesian thing.  We had their "STMJ--susu telor madu jahe" or milk, egg, honey and ginger.  It was warm but so energizing.  They have "es cendol" I don't remember seeing any apulkat shake in their menu though. Apulkat is avocado, and this drink usually has lines of chocolate syrup dripping into the avocado green. It's something I miss. 

   The prices are very reasonable in this place. Really. Good value for money.  It is owned by the Red Crab group. Ah basta, try it already.  I'm so happy it's there. There is nowhere else in that Solenad I'd rather eat so far.