We have mangosteens!
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord in Heaven! We have mangosteens!
I read a post on MarketManila sometime ago, which mentioned the fact that mangosteens had become available in the United States. I got excited then, but I pretty quickly forgot about it and moved on to other amusements. (Hello, ADD.)
Anyway, Bill recently found an online store that sells them. Apparently, there are two legal sources of mangosteens that are available in the US: Thailand (irradiated ones) and Puerto Rico. Yes, Puerto Rico. I guess some enterprising entrepreneur figured out that the climate in that Caribbean territory of ours mimics that of Southeast Asia pretty closely.
We received our shipment day before yesterday (8 smallish fruit for $34.99 plus shipping - FedEx 2-day required). So, yeah, it's very expensive, but well worth it for something so good. It was an excellent coming-home treat after our Tahoe trip.
We're eating them s-l-o-w-l-y. Only two mangosteens a day. Must savor the flavor.
I'm too lazy to take pictures, but trust me when I say they look really good both inside and out. Deep brown-violet outside, pearly white inside. No bruises on the "meat" whatsoever.
Mangosteen! Mangosteen!
Getwaway
It's been a long time coming. This weekend - well, actually Wednesday to Sunday - we were in Lake Tahoe for a much-needed break. We toyed with the idea of going someplace farther away, like Montreal or Vancouver or England, but in the end we decided to save money and go up the Sierra Nevadas instead.
We rented a 2-bedroom cabin at this nice little place called Spruce Grove. Not deluxe accommodations by any means, but it was still very good. The cabin was cozy and spacious, with a full kitchen, dining area, living room, and bathroom. There was a cast iron fireplace in the living room, a nice deck, and rustic Native-American-inspired decor. The deck had a picnic table and a gas barbecue.
On the grounds of Spruce Grove, they had a few swings, a couple of hammocks, plenty of room for the dog to run, and an outdoor spa. Tall pine trees dotted the grounds, and flower beds ringed the trees.
My coworker Cathey spent most of the time with us. She stayed with us longer than she had planned because her car broke down. She had to bring it to the nearest dealership for service and was effectively stranded. It was time well spent, though.
It wasn't a hectic vacation at all. We barbecued, napped on the hammocks, dined out, played with Devon, drank wine (lots of wine), barbecued some more, relaxed in the spa, gambled, shopped for souvenirs, walked along the lake shore, and went kayaking at North Lake Tahoe.
At the casinos, I lost a couple of hundred dollars, mostly at the blackjack tables but also at slots and roulette. Cathey broke even, I think, while Bill won quite a bit at roulette (which shall henceforth be known as "spinny ball"). Bill ended up giving all his winnings back to the casino via the dollar slots, though.
Oh, wait. We didn't go gambling. We went gaming. Apparently, "gambling is for people from New Jersey."
The kayaking was the highlight of the trip. I had never done it before and was a bit apprehensive. After all, I can't swim.
Bill had arranged for the kayak trip. It was a three-hour guided "tour", which we got through Tahoe Paddle & Oar. Bill was in a solo kayak, the guide was in another one, and Cathey and I were in a double. It was a blast.
The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, and the waters were calm. Lake Tahoe's legendary water clarity allowed us to see the lake bottom almost the entire time, whether we were in water two feet deep or thirty feet deep.
Notice how I said "almost the entire time"? Well, at one point we went paddling through an area of the lake that was very deep. It was quite disconcerting. One second I'm looking at rocks strewn along the lake bottom, and the next second all I could see is a deep, dark blue. Then our guide says that we were above more than a thousand feet of water.
Egad! One thousand?! I kept waiting for my kayak to capsize and for Nessie to suddenly surface from the deep. Nevermind that Loch Ness was over 5,000 miles away. I have to admit that I was very nervous while we were in that area, even though I was wearing a life vest.
It was fun, though. I was actually surprised that almost three hours flew by so quickly. Before I knew it the guide was telling us to row back to our starting point. I was so sure I would be panting, winded, and wheezing by the end of the trip, but I wasn't. Must have been thanks to the cool, clean mountain air. It sure as hell wasn't due to my awesome athleticism.
Anyway, here are some pictures...
We rented a 2-bedroom cabin at this nice little place called Spruce Grove. Not deluxe accommodations by any means, but it was still very good. The cabin was cozy and spacious, with a full kitchen, dining area, living room, and bathroom. There was a cast iron fireplace in the living room, a nice deck, and rustic Native-American-inspired decor. The deck had a picnic table and a gas barbecue.
On the grounds of Spruce Grove, they had a few swings, a couple of hammocks, plenty of room for the dog to run, and an outdoor spa. Tall pine trees dotted the grounds, and flower beds ringed the trees.
My coworker Cathey spent most of the time with us. She stayed with us longer than she had planned because her car broke down. She had to bring it to the nearest dealership for service and was effectively stranded. It was time well spent, though.
It wasn't a hectic vacation at all. We barbecued, napped on the hammocks, dined out, played with Devon, drank wine (lots of wine), barbecued some more, relaxed in the spa, gambled, shopped for souvenirs, walked along the lake shore, and went kayaking at North Lake Tahoe.
At the casinos, I lost a couple of hundred dollars, mostly at the blackjack tables but also at slots and roulette. Cathey broke even, I think, while Bill won quite a bit at roulette (which shall henceforth be known as "spinny ball"). Bill ended up giving all his winnings back to the casino via the dollar slots, though.
Oh, wait. We didn't go gambling. We went gaming. Apparently, "gambling is for people from New Jersey."
The kayaking was the highlight of the trip. I had never done it before and was a bit apprehensive. After all, I can't swim.
Bill had arranged for the kayak trip. It was a three-hour guided "tour", which we got through Tahoe Paddle & Oar. Bill was in a solo kayak, the guide was in another one, and Cathey and I were in a double. It was a blast.
The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, and the waters were calm. Lake Tahoe's legendary water clarity allowed us to see the lake bottom almost the entire time, whether we were in water two feet deep or thirty feet deep.
Notice how I said "almost the entire time"? Well, at one point we went paddling through an area of the lake that was very deep. It was quite disconcerting. One second I'm looking at rocks strewn along the lake bottom, and the next second all I could see is a deep, dark blue. Then our guide says that we were above more than a thousand feet of water.
Egad! One thousand?! I kept waiting for my kayak to capsize and for Nessie to suddenly surface from the deep. Nevermind that Loch Ness was over 5,000 miles away. I have to admit that I was very nervous while we were in that area, even though I was wearing a life vest.
It was fun, though. I was actually surprised that almost three hours flew by so quickly. Before I knew it the guide was telling us to row back to our starting point. I was so sure I would be panting, winded, and wheezing by the end of the trip, but I wasn't. Must have been thanks to the cool, clean mountain air. It sure as hell wasn't due to my awesome athleticism.
Anyway, here are some pictures...
Nuestro Perdido Eden... ¿Tienes Hambre?
A couple of weeks ago we were at Whole Foods to buy ingredients for dinner that night. Meat, vegetables, some spices, manchego from Spain, provolone from Italy, and a bottle of California wine. After paying, I looked at my receipt, winced, and said, "Damn! Food's getting really expensive! Pretty soon we're going to have to start food shopping at Wal-Mart! THE HORROR!"
Then we had a good laugh.
A clip on the evening news talked about the rising prices of food, especially now that huge swaths of the mid-west and plains states are under water from severe flooding. Acre upon acre of corn and soybean farms lie ruined by flood waters.
Apparently, the United States produces over 50% of the world's corn, and over 25% of the world's soybeans. The sudden drop in corn and soybean supply, coupled with the diversion of hundreds of billions of pounds of corn into ethanol production, puts extreme pressure on food prices. This is especially true because most of the world's meat is now obtained from grain-fed livestock.
(And by the way, in terms of energy efficiency, corn ethanol sucks. Bigtime. But the US government is too stupid to understand facts and figures and too beholden to the powerful corn lobby to acknowledge it. So now peasants in Mexico can't afford tortillas.)
We have a perfect storm: the bio-fuel craze sweeping North America, Europe, and Brazil, floods in the mid-west, drought in California, rising prosperity (and therefore food demand) in China and the Indian sub-continent, and insanely high prices for the fuel needed to transport food to all corners of the world.
Eureka moment: Aha! That's why shopping at Whole Foods is beginning to hurt my wallet!
Then came the reality check: comparative statistics.
According to the news clip, the average American household now spends 10% of its income on food. In contrast, the average household in the Philippines spends 55% of its income on food. Fifty-five percent! That was a real shock.
I mean, I always knew that food was a lot more expensive in the Philippines, especially when calculated as a percentage of income. I just had no idea it was that much more expensive.
Kawawa naman talaga ang Pilipinas. I sometimes wish I could just wave a magic wand and fix the ills of the Philippines. All that poverty is heartbreaking. Ninety million people, the vast majority of whom are poor.
So, I won't whine anymore about not being able to shop at Whole Foods as much. I will try to keep my complaints about food prices to a minimum. I'll remain thankful that I live and work here in the United States, and that I have access to some of the cheapest food on earth.
*But I will never, ever, do any of my shopping at Wal-Mart. tee hee
Then we had a good laugh.
...fast-forward to this evening...
A clip on the evening news talked about the rising prices of food, especially now that huge swaths of the mid-west and plains states are under water from severe flooding. Acre upon acre of corn and soybean farms lie ruined by flood waters.
Apparently, the United States produces over 50% of the world's corn, and over 25% of the world's soybeans. The sudden drop in corn and soybean supply, coupled with the diversion of hundreds of billions of pounds of corn into ethanol production, puts extreme pressure on food prices. This is especially true because most of the world's meat is now obtained from grain-fed livestock.
(And by the way, in terms of energy efficiency, corn ethanol sucks. Bigtime. But the US government is too stupid to understand facts and figures and too beholden to the powerful corn lobby to acknowledge it. So now peasants in Mexico can't afford tortillas.)
We have a perfect storm: the bio-fuel craze sweeping North America, Europe, and Brazil, floods in the mid-west, drought in California, rising prosperity (and therefore food demand) in China and the Indian sub-continent, and insanely high prices for the fuel needed to transport food to all corners of the world.
Eureka moment: Aha! That's why shopping at Whole Foods is beginning to hurt my wallet!
Then came the reality check: comparative statistics.
According to the news clip, the average American household now spends 10% of its income on food. In contrast, the average household in the Philippines spends 55% of its income on food. Fifty-five percent! That was a real shock.
I mean, I always knew that food was a lot more expensive in the Philippines, especially when calculated as a percentage of income. I just had no idea it was that much more expensive.
Kawawa naman talaga ang Pilipinas. I sometimes wish I could just wave a magic wand and fix the ills of the Philippines. All that poverty is heartbreaking. Ninety million people, the vast majority of whom are poor.
So, I won't whine anymore about not being able to shop at Whole Foods as much. I will try to keep my complaints about food prices to a minimum. I'll remain thankful that I live and work here in the United States, and that I have access to some of the cheapest food on earth.
*But I will never, ever, do any of my shopping at Wal-Mart. tee hee
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