I am the second born of three sons. Besides being the best looking, smartest, and most athletic of my brothers (there is no such thing as overcompensation by an ignored middle child!), I am also the biggest foodie. So every now and then my brothers will pass along some food items to me because they know I will appreciate them. This was no more evident than last week when my bros had some great finds for me.
Knowing of my manic desires for Super Powers, my older brother (AKA Claudeezy, AKA Claudizzle, AKA The Diesel) recently gave me a magic elixir as a means to that end:
That isn't just any sports drink. It was a sports drink flavored with "Lemon-Lime Calamansi"! My brother said he found this sports drink at Bristol Farms in Newport Beach and rightly knew that I would want a bottle of it.
In addition to the claim of "Lemon-Lime Calamansi" flavoring, its label also touted its benefits of easing sore muscles and joints.
Following an intense, hour-long session of Filipino stickfighting pumping iron windsprints yoga jogging walking sitting on my ass and food blogging, I downed the entire bottle of this rejuvenating potion. And... nothing.
Although it was vaguely citrusy, I detected no specific flavor of calamansi whatsoever. And its healing powers were null as well since my rock hard abs and biceps qwerty fingers were still sore. Oh well. It was still a neat little find by my big bro.
My little brother (AKA Jean-Luc Monstroso, AKA uh, that's all I've got) also had a sort of food find for me as well. His contribution came in the form of a phone call last week that went a little something like this:
Little Bro: Hey, have you seen Ratatouille yet?
Me: No. I don't watch cartoons (much, on weekdays, that aren't about robots) anymore.
LB: You should really watch it. It's really good.
Me: How good can a cartoon (that's not about robots) be?
LB: Look, I'm telling you, just go see it. You'll really like it.
Me: Are you high?
Well, after seeing Transformers first, a few days later my wife and I saw Ratatouille. My little brother was right. I absolutely loved Ratatouille. Everything about this movie was great: the animation, the characters, the story, all were nearly perfect. And because we had just gotten back from Paris, Ratatouille was that much more enjoyable for my wife and I.
There was one particular scene in this movie that really resonated with me. I don't want to ruin it for those that haven't seen it yet, so if you haven't, get yourself to a theater and watch it this weekend.
And to my Filipino readers, just substitute the title "Ratatouille" with "Pinakbet" as Ratatouille is just a western form of Pinakbet. Or is Pinakbet a Filipino version of Ratatouille? Either way, just go and see the movie.
One final note: With all the charcuterie and salumi I enjoyed during our trip to Europe, I was inspired a bit and have been experimenting with something in the kitchen for the last couple of weeks. Stay tuned for the results of that foray. Toodles.
Oh! I drank an Asian calamansi juice and it was very strong in flavor a while back. I thought of you. It was good! I guess I could have been nice and sent it to you, but soda cans are heavy and cost too much to send for a 49 cent can of juice.
My mom sometimes uses the calamansi juice for marinades, or to sub for lemon when making dipping sauce with fish sauce.
Posted by: Wandering Chopsticks | July 12, 2007 at 10:51 PM
WC, it's the thought that counts right? And if you are ever to send me anything, a six-pack of beer would suffice.
Posted by: Burnt Lumpia | July 19, 2007 at 08:37 PM
whenever Kal sprouts out some serious fruit, try kalamansi-ade. my mom made it during a few childhood summers...
i loved Ratatouille! it made me crave some vichyssoisse...*drool*
Posted by: Janice | July 21, 2007 at 12:24 AM
Hi Janice. I've actually been having problems with Kal. His limes die off before growing any bigger. So I replanted him in a bigger pot and moved him to a sunnier place. Hopefully he grows something soon.
Posted by: Burnt Lumpia | July 23, 2007 at 09:34 PM
I was in the backyard of my mom's house and her calamansi tree is fruiting like crazy. I originally went out there to get some for my arroz caldo, and got the idea to make some calamansi aid. YUMMO! Anyway, I was perusing the web and typed up calamansi and found this thread...good read. Cheers.
Posted by: Ro-Dizzle | October 21, 2007 at 05:38 PM
Thanks Ro-Dizzle. Since this post, I've actually come up with something you might find better than calamansi aid: Kalamansi vodka.
http://burntlumpia.typepad.com/burnt_lumpia/2007/10/kalamansi-vodka.html
Posted by: Burnt Lumpia | October 21, 2007 at 08:37 PM