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I like this poem because I can taste the nice sweet juicy plums and plums are one of my favourite fruits. Not only are they nutritious, but they are good for your heart, blood circulation, and cholesterol levels. Did you know that plums can even help fight cancer?
My grandma also says they help you poop when you are constipated.
Hi, it's Maya. Just so you know this post is just for fun because it's the end of summer.
By the way, this article is all about fruits and vegetables and our mom and grandma are going to help me and my sister with some tips on how to pick the best, sweetest, juiciest, freshest fruit that kids like me love to eat.
Since I am back at school and Midori just started Montessori kindergarten, we are now trying to eat more fruits and veggies and healthy stuff. Fruits and veggies have lots of sugar but good sugar and LOTS of vitamins and nutrients. Because Covid-19 is here, we need to be extra cautious about staying healthy and keeping up our immune systems.
It is refreshing on hot summer days to dig into a big ginormous very extra mega juicy crisp watermelon. Midori and I love everything melon, like our CoCoDot Affection Wonderful Day Natural Lotion Spray!
Did you know that Midori and I once tried drinking out of a watermelon but our experiment failed? We stuck a straw into it and tried to suck some juice out but all we got was a tiny bit of juice, a lot of air, and two seeds. I think there wasn't enough juice in it. Midori was not very impressed.
Hey, do you have a garden? We do. It’s in our front yard and we love it. It used to be in our backyard but it wasn’t getting enough sun so we moved it into our front yard. Turns out Mommy didn’t have black thumbs after all.
Our dad was the one who built it and I am so glad he did because I could not live without it. Our dad takes care of it and plants it but sometimes we help him. Once we even helped him paint our fence rainbow!
There are lots of things growing like nice, big, juicy tomatoes and enormous cucumbers that look like tall towers, a forest of kale, and we had delicious sugar snap peas...
...and for the garden boxes we made little signs that say Mommy, Daddy, Bossy (he is our pet dog), Midori and Maya by painting on slats of wood.
And I love the smell. It smells like the garden soil and the nice green leaves. Our organic fruits and vegetables are sooooooo juicy and if you try to compare these to the store bought ones you would find no similarities.
Once when I was in Grade 1, Ms. Nagle was teaching the difference between a house and a home. We needed to pretend that we were moving and we could only bring three things. I said that I wanted to bring my stuffies, my family and our tomatoes. That's how good they are.
I have a question for you. Do you like veggies? I do. My favorites are cauliflower, broccoli and choy choy (that means “vegetable” in Cantonese). If you want to try Chinese stir-fried vegetables, here is our recipe from Po Po (that means “Grandma” in Cantonese).
Po Po's Stir-Fried Chinese Vegetables
Choy Perfection Every Time
~ by Grandma Vivien
What you'll need:
- Chinese veggies*
*Look for whatever is freshest and in season. Chinese people like to go to the market every day so we can use the freshest possible ingredients in every meal!
- Light cooking oil eg. avocado oil by Chosen Foods
- Salt eg. pink Himalayan salt
Optional: olive oil, fresh ginger, garlic
Directions:
Start with the freshest seasonal Chinese vegetables available at the produce stand. This basic technique works for almost all kinds of Chinese vegetables.
Cut off the ends of the stems and discard. Separate the leaves and cut into smaller pieces. (Some kinds of Chinese vegetables such as pea shoots will require more prep to strip off the tougher stalks). Soak in a large bowl of water and rinse thoroughly until all sand and dirt wash loose. Drain.
Heat the wok on medium high. Add enough avocado oil to cover most of the bottom. At this point, you may add two thin slices of ginger (julienned for extra flavour), and one or two cloves of garlic, crushed and finely diced. Skip these ingredients if cooking for young children who may not have developed a taste for these flavours.
When the oil is hot enough, it will smoke a bit. By now, the ginger and garlic will also have had time to infuse. Add vegetables and start stirring immediately to prevent burning. Add a pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to medium setting. You may add a bit of olive oil for extra luster. Keep stirring until soft and tender (or cooked to your preference - some like it crunchy!) and adjust salt to taste.
Thank you, Po Po! You are the best grandma ever! Midori and I like to eat choy choy with chopsticks. We learned with training chopsticks similar to these but we can use big girl chopsticks now. Do you know how to use chopsticks? Here are some tips for teaching your child to use chopsticks!
And finally, here are our:
Top 5 tips for picking the best, sweetest, juiciest, freshest fruit that kids like us love to eat
1) Watermelon
This is a hack from my great grandmother. She grew up on a watermelon farm and she told Po Po and Po Po told Mommy and Mommy told me.
On both ends of a watermelon, there is a brown dot. The bigger dot is where the watermelon was attached to the stem. You have to look for the smaller dot on the other end. Pick the watermelon with the smallest dot you can find because that will be the best, most juiciest, most crispest, most sweetest watermelon in the world of watermelons!
Po Po also likes to knock on watermelons. If they feel a bit bouncy, that's a good thing, too.
2) Pineapple
Tug at the spikes and if they come out easily, the pineapple is ready!
3) Melons (other than watermelons)
Pick the ones that are heavy for their size. If they’re heavy, they’re stuffed with juice like a pillow that is full of feathers. When they’re really juicy, they drip down my arms all the way to my elbows!
4) Oranges
This is another tip from my great grandmother: look for the ones that have thin skins and are heavy for their size. If an orange’s skin is lumpy, bumpy and pebbled, then it’s probably not so thin.
5) Bananas
Po Po says these should be fat, not long. If they are long and skinny they will not be as sweet and flavourful. I’ve heard that if you don’t want to get bitten by mosquitoes you should stop eating bananas in the summer. Do you know if this is true? Mosquitoes love to drink my blood and Midori’s, too!
Do you have a favorite fruit? My favorite fruit is yellow dragon fruit (also known as yellow pitaya) and Midori’s favorite fruit is hami melon, and we both LOVE golden kiwi. Po Po says they are very nutritious. Try them if you haven't already!
Green Kiwi Meat Tenderizer Hack
If you want your beef to be tender, you should put a little kiwi and mix it together, and that will tenderize your meat! This is a trick Po Po learned and she says it works!
Midori also loves strawberries and we went blueberry, strawberry and blackberry picking this summer at Krause Berry Farms with our friend Auntie Cindy. Auntie Cindy is an entrepreneur just like my mom. My friends Z & K are always wearing the cutest socks from Koowawa. Their socks are cute and fuzzy and comfy and Midori and I give them a thumbs up.
Before I forget, did you know you can even make tea from berries? Po Po and Mommy do.
Goji berry tea is delicious and has lots of health benefits, and it's very easy to make. All you need is hot water and goji berries like these!
What are some of your best fruit and veggie tips, hacks and secrets? Share them with us in the comments!
Disclosure: Blogging is hard work! One of Daddy's sayings is, "It's hard, it's difficult, but it's worth it." Mommy has helped me set up some links in my blog so that one day, my hard work will hopefully pay off. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links lead to other affiliate programs that also allow me to earn commission if you make a purchase through them. Any commission earned will be going into a college fund for me and my little sister Midori!
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