My Encounter With the Lychee Fruit.

Yesterday I went walking through the City of Hollywood, Florida, Historic District Center with my husband and we reached Young Circle which is a huge roundabout where in the center there is a Farmer's market. One of the kiosks had a gentleman selling these fruits I had never seen before. I approached the gentleman and I asked him what the fruit were, he said they are Lychee and he offered to let me try one which I did. These were the most succulent juicy little things I tried. I ended up buying a pound for Five U.S. Dollars. My Husband, John, who was with me said I was crazy.

This is what I found out about Lychees:

The Lychee is a tropical fruit tree native to China, and now cultivated in many parts of the world. The fruit has a pleasant floral taste and is very sweet.
The Lychee tree is a medium-sized evergreen tree, reaching 10–20 m tall, bearing many small fleshy fruits. The outside of the fruit is covered by a pink-red, roughly-textured rind that is inedible but easily removed to expose a layer of sweet, translucent white flesh. Lychees are eaten in many different dessert dishes, and are especially popular in China, throughout South-East Asia, along with India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
Lychee is cultivated in Florida. The Lychee season is from May to July every year.
I hope you can try a Lychee and let me know what you thought about the fruit.

Bye Bye!

New Day New Beginnings and Watercress

I am starting this Blog about eating healthy foods and trying to become a vegetarian. The idea came from when I saw the movie: Julie and Julia, about the story of Julia Child. I need to eat healthier and I need to reduce my blood pressure and my Cholesterol. My husband's cholesterol is also very high and he is taking medication for it.

It is very hard for me to find websites that can help me to start eating healthier when you work full time and have to take care of an elderly mother who will not be eating any of the meals you would like to eat. I decided I would try to incorporate new foods into my life every day or every other day and hence the name of this blog: New Day New Food. I hope it will be helpful to any reader as it is being helpful to me in creating the content of the posts.

During Memorial Day Weekend and my cousin Silvia and her daughter, Imperio came to visit us and she showed me how to make a wonderful vinaigrette and pour the same over a bed of watercress and Haas avocados. I must admit the salad or side was very good and I would try it again. The vinaigrette was made with 2 tablespoons of Lime Juice from fresh limes and a tablespoon of vinager. I have seen enough food television programs to know that putting some rice wine vinegar is very tasty. Silvia later put some salt and pepper and some mustard to help emulsify the vinaigrette and some drops of Worcester sauce. After stirring the mixture she added ½ a cup of extra virgin olive oil and whisked it all together. The vinaigrette was poured over sliced avocados which were placed on a bed of watercress. Silvia told me that watercress had great nutritional value.

I did some research on watercress, here it goes:

Watercress is a pungent bitter herb, which helps to remove toxins, boosts digestion and has both diuretic and expectorant properties. It contains a fair amount of manganese, iodine, iron, and calcium, but the active principle is phenylethyl glucosinolate (gluconasturtiin). Watercress is also used to reduce water retention, for wet coughs, bronchitis, skin eruptions, anemia, gall bladder complaints, as well as rheumatism. It is also used to fight cancers brought on by cigarette smoking - such as lung, throat and mouth cancer, and although clinical trials may not have been done to validate this use, it may be an alternative to consider, as there are no side effects. This herb is great to add to salads or to sandwiches.

After reading some interesting websites the thing to remember today is "water, water everywhere!" Water has zero calories, helps curb your appetite, keeps you cool and hydrated in the summer heat and quenches your thirst better than anything else.

Have a great day!!!