How to kill a pomelo

柚子yo-tzi, Pomelo, or Citrus Maxima if you want to be fancy, is a sweet citrus fruit native to South Asia. It has very thick skin wrapping juicy bits inside, and somewhat resembles a grapefruit, but with a much approachable flavour ( I despite grapefruit!) In Taiwan, its season coincides with the Chinese Moon Festival, so it's a tradition to eat pomelos on the day of the festival. The festival was a few days ago, but it's still great time to enjoy the fruit! If you happen to find pomelos in your local market and don't know how to process it, this is the post for you!

1. Find a pomelo you like. I don't know how to pick them, because you dont have to pick them in Taiwan, they are ALL sweet and yummy, but I think a good one would be green skinned with no obvious bruises. (Is it possible to bruise a pomelo?) to see if it's ripe, I just gently squeeze y to see if it's soft. The size can vary greatly but does not affect the taste. If anything I find the smaller ones to be sweeter! If you try one and love it, you can stock up, because of its thick skin, it has a long shelf life. My family buy in boxes and they are always gone in three days~

2. Slice he top off with a knife. It's okay to cut into the meat, but don't go too far down and cut too much.

3. Working from top, cut down vertically and divide pomelo into 4 or 6 sections. DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY THROUGH, leave the bottom connected.

4. Stick your thumb in between the meat and the white spongey skin, work your way down and remove the meat chunk carefully.

5. It should look like this when you finish.

6. Remove meat from skin. You should have a claw-like skin and some beautiful meat pieces.

7. Time for the labour! Because your cut in step 3 could not be perfect, there should be meat exposed. Claw them out with your teeth, or remove them from the white membranes meticulously if you want to save them for later. The meat is actually clusters of tiny pieces, so they can fall apart if you are not careful.

8. When you finish a section of meat, you 

Will run into a thin membrane,this membrane is very bitter and we usually don't eat it, making it a pain in the neck because there's a lot of peeling to do.

9. Stick your finger into the openings, it would be easier to peel.

10. Ta da!

11. Plate and save for later, or present to loved ones to show appreciation!

Remember to wash your hands, this citrus fruit can bite your skin and is sun-sensitive.

Remember how I said not to throw away the skin? We'll, this is how you can use it: 

Make it a cap! It will look adorable on children, dogs, cats or any small and cuddly creatures.  Take cute photos of them as a autumn memory collection! (Again, remember to wash their face and head if they come in contact with the citrus oil) 

Pomelos have all the benefits a good cruise has: lots of fiber, vitamin c, and whatnot, and it's taste is pretty accessible too, but please note that because of a certain chemical it contains, PEOPLE WHO ARE ON MEDICATION SHOULD NOT EAT POMELO. Also, pomelo can help cure constipation, which means too much consumption can lead to diarrhea. Moderate amounts, everyone!

This is Lenny, reporting from Taiwan.

早餐店Zhao-tsan-dien "breakfast shops"

When I first heard that Singaporeans have laksa for breakfast, I was shocked. How can one have such a spicy and heavy food for the first meal of the day ?!

The Taiwanese breakfast choices is much lighter, at least for the busy city people. From my experience of living in Taipei, because mornings are always hectic with little time to buy and consume food (students have to be at school by 7:30am) , most people will opt for something that they can grab and go. Common choices are 吐司too-shi (toast) , 蛋餅Dan-bing (egg omelette?) or 三明治San-Ming-gi (sandwich) . Because the traditional staple food of Taiwan is rice, these are considered "western food", but it surely has evolved from when it first came to Taiwan. One can make these at home themselves, but why do that when you have 早餐店 just round the corner? Because these breakfast shops are very affordable and convenient, offering a huge range of choices, some people will go there for lunch or snacks too, kind of like the " all day brunch " idea .

 I, for one, would never have noodles, rice or soup for breakfast, because I'm fixated on the idea of havin something "light", but the 鐵板麵tieh-ban-mien (grilled noodles) from breakfast shops are my only exception. They usually come in black pepper or mushroom sauce flavour, both of which I love, and they don't have any other topping, which works great for me, since I eat in small portions. They are the only thing that I am willing to eat for both breakfast or lunch.

Below is a photo of my lunch today, it's a 鐵板麵set, with the basic noodle and extra egg and pork meat, also a complimentary soy drink. This set is NTD70,which is about USD2, and makes a decent meal for me.

So, please tell me if you think this looks good!  If it doesn't then it's probably because of the bad photo , since I write my blog on my phone :p I would also like to know what you typically eat for breakfast!