The rotten plum tree

For much of today, I was over at my grandparents' house, completing more garden work for them. Today's biggest task was cutting down the nearly-dead plum tree near their back shed. My grandfather said that the tree died to a lack of sunlight, as caused by the trees around it in other yards growing. A few years ago, the tree produced these delicious plums - now, it can only manage a few scattered leaves.

The tree has been dying for a while, for when I cut into some of the branches, they were thoroughly rotten. In some cases, I didn't even need to use any sort of tool to cut the tree because the branches would snap once enough pressure was applied.

This is at least the second time I can recall cutting down a major tree. The first was when a willow tree on our property back in Oregon died in 2009; Mum and Dad asked me to cut it down and I did.

Apple tree and Chinese candy

In my mother's and brother's backyard is an extremely prolific apple tree; it has been producing apples at an incredible rate - to the point where Mum and my brother had too many apples and had to give some away. As such, when I went over to my grandparents' house today to do some gardening and other work for them, I brought with me a huge bag of apples for them. On the bright side, with all these apples we have fresh fruit for the time being!

While I was at my grandparents', however, they had something for me: A bag of Chinese candy. One of my cousins and his girlfriend were recently in Hong Kong and they brought back with them a load of candy from there. They gave a lot of it to my grandparents; however, it was too much for my grandparents and so they gave the excess candy for me to share with Mum and my brother.

Excess apples, excess Chinese candies - what fun!

Whack a pomegranate

Tonight, my grandfather utilised a method of quickly extracting the edible seeds from a pomegranate. He cut the fruit in half, held each half over a bowl and whacked them with a wooden spoon, which caused the seeds to fall into the bowl. Within five minutes, the seeds were ready to eat; there was no need for him to spend ages picking the fruit apart.

My grandfather said that he had read years ago about this trick with pomegranates but had not used it before tonight. For years he thought it might have been a hoax but he mentioned that he checked again earlier and found sources that confirmed its existence:

http://www.nwedible.com/get-the-seeds-out-of-a-pomegranate/

Unless it's something you enjoy doing, no more picking pomegranates apart!

Potential Android names

Following up on my my post about the creativity of Android version names, I decided to come up with a list of potential names for future versions, continuing the dessert-theme. Bolded names are existing versions, the italicised name is the expected successor to the current version of Android (Jelly Bean) and the remaining names are what I came up with for this post:

C: Cupcake

D: Donut

E: Eclair

F: Froyo

G: Gingerbread

H: Honeycomb

I: Ice Cream Sandwich

J: Jelly Bean

K: Key Lime Pie

L: Lemon Meringue

M: Marzipan / Mud Pie

N: Nougat

O: Oatmeal Cookie

P. Peach Cobbler / Peppermint / Petit Four / Profiterole

Q: Quince Tart

R: Rice Pudding

S: Strawberry Trifle

T: Toffee

U: Upside-down Cake

V: Vanilla Sundae

W: Walnut Brownie

X: ?

Y: Yam Flan

Z: Zucchini Bread (I've only known this food as a dessert.)

My brother thought of O, I had to cheat for U through to Y, and I couldn't come up with anything for X! I don't know if there are any desserts that begin with the letter X. P was remarkably easy, to the point where I chose four desserts with the best-sounding names.

Grapefruit

Grapefruit is my second-favourite fruit, behind pineapple. Whether it's fresh, tinned, white, Ruby Red or just juice, I love the taste of grapefruit. Years ago I frequently drank grapefruit juice with my dinner, but for whatever reason I stopped drinking it and switched to having only water with my meals instead. Still, I never lost my fondness for grapefruit.

I'm the only one in my immediate family who can eat grapefruit without succumbing to the sourness of it. Dad likes the flavour of fresh grapefruit, but he has stated on several occasions that the pith is too strong to eat and too fiddly to remove. Last night, my brother and I had some tinned grapefruit with plain yoghurt for dessert, but my brother ended up having jam instead. He found that the grapefruit, while tinned, was too acidic for him. With relatives, my grandfather is the only other person I know who can eat grapefruit like I can.

As with all citrus fruits, it's wise not to eat grapefruit every day, especially the fresh variety; over time, the acid within the fruit can wear down the teeth. Grapefruit is healthful, but also one of those foods to be enjoyed every once in a while.

Is anyone else a fan of grapefruit or other citruses? Speak up, fellow orange and grapefruit lovers!