loving longans

I'm a certified fruit addict. I eat fruits 24/7. Before, after, in between, with_ the three major meals of the day. I eat them in bulk.So I always go for fruit in season for practical reasons of availability and affordability.



Whether in the grocery or in my favorite wet market, I'm always on the look out for fresh fruits with mark down prices. Yet, I'm very particular to the quality of the fruit. I would always ask for pre-tasting of the item prior to my buying it.

One grocery day, I was happy to find longans in marked down price, actually buy one kilo take one kilo. I pre-tasted it and it was good.

On the way home, my older daughter ( my co-fruit addict) and I consumed the first kilo of longan. Imagine, in 30 minutes drive, nothing left but the rough barky skins of one kilo longans.
So I took home the lucky other kilo of this nutty, lychee taste like fruits.



If you haven't paid any attention to longan before_ it's a tiny round fruit, looks like our native lanzones but unlike the latter, it has rough woody skin. When peeled, it looks like a smaller version of lychee, has similar taste too only with a hint of nuttyness, just a little. It's succulent and sweet.
You could enjoy it the way it is, just peel the skin off and take the seed out. It's also a thirst-quencher when turn into a shake. Here's my home recipe:

Longan Shake

-puree 50 pcs, peeled,seeded longans
-add 2 cups crushed ice
-ready to quench your thirst

Enjoy!

Vigan Empanada

Vigan empanada is one of the two variants of Ilocos empanada.( the other one is the Batac empanada with orange shell.) Empanada from Ilocos is so much different from empanada I grew up eating, particularly from Cavite which is meaty, cheesy and sweet. If I had tasted the Vigan empanada in my youngster years of meat sauce, I'm sure I wasn't going to like it.



But now at this stage of my palate's evolution, when I couldn't appreciate a dish without veggies, Vigan empanada is just right to my aged taste always open for new concoctions.
As fillings, it has green papaya, cabbage, longanisa and egg. Garnish with vinegar mixed.






Whereelse would like to savor Vigan empanada but in the place where it was rooted_



_ In Ilocos!!

Are They Crustaceans?

Anybody out there who knows how you call these crustaceans (that's my opinion :>) either in english or tagalog?



I bought them from a wet market and forgot to ask what they were called. I just knew from the memories of my childhood that they are edible, I'm sure about this thu'. But I had forgotten how they tasted. I asked the vendor how to cook them.
It's like the way you cook/steam your shrimps and crabs.Basically, just sprinkle with salt, cover it and cook until it turns to color red.



My hubby taught me how to open the shell. It's similar to opening a lobster. You press the soft side of tummy part, then tear it apart easily.

Oooh soo yummy. It tastes like shrimp and crab combined.