Lengkeng, bangkoang and umbrellas

What are those topics?  Today's main topic is related to food as it often is.I decided to make jicama sticks with a cilantro and sour cream dip for tomorrow's mahjong potluck. At the store, I had been under the impression that jicama is called jicama in Indonesia just like it is in the US. I was wrong. In Indonesia it is called bengkoang (or bangkoang, bangkuang or bengkuang). When we asked for jicama at the store, they didn't know what we were talking about. My phone had no signal at the time so I couldn't put jicama into Google Translate to find out the Indonesian word. Finally I found something labeled bengkoang and it looked just like jicama so we bought 2 and took them home. Once home, research revealed that in fact jicama is bengkoang. I haven't made the sour cream and cilantro dip yet but unless you hate cilantro ( I know a few people who do) it sounds yummy.

Now what about lengkeng bangkok? Lengkeng bangkok is known as longan in English.  It's closely related to a lychee but slightly smaller and has a smooth skin. The taste is also different. I read that the longan has a drier sweetness and that the lychee's taste is slightly sour but juicier. All I know is that they taste good, sort of like a grape but better and much easier to peel-- see below.  They are used fresh, in sweets, desserts and even some sweet and sour type savory dishes. Longans are supposed to be good for skin and hearth health among other things. They contain a variety of trace vitamins and minerals but are a good source of Vitamin C. This member of the soapberry family is the fruit of a tropical evergreen tree from mainland SE Asia. It is grown some in southern Florida. So here is a freshly washed basket of lengkeng.

How does one eat a lengkeng?  You squeeze it a little until it starts to open. You peel off that piece and then squeeze from the side opposite the opening and the fruit pops right out. There is a large pit which gives the fruit it's nickname of " dragon eyes." You do not want to eat the pit. These are yummy especially when cold. Don't seem to have the same flavor when room temperature.

On to the topic of umbrellas. We wanted to buy an umbrella yesterday. Sounds simple enough, right? Went to the Metro store across the street. Asked about the price of some umbrellas near a cashier. We learned that in order to purchase one of the umbrellas, you first have to spend 125,000 IDR on something else in the store, then you are allowed to buy an umbrella for 50,000 IDR. Off we went to look at shirts on sale for B and we found one so we ended up buying the umbrella after all.