Mango trees in full bloom

Mango trees in full bloom

The village where I reside in was supposedly formerly a mango orchard. As such, there are many old large mango trees everywhere. The Clairvoyant and I like to think that a mature mango tree is the status symbol for a homeowner in our village and we are fortunate to have one in our home. We actually oriented our house to retain the mango tree in our lot (the right thing to do) and it is one of the distinct features of our home.

Most of the old mango trees where I reside are now in full bloom. Many branches (large and small) are now sagging with the weight of the flowers. I am afraid branches will start crashing down once the flowers transform into fruits.

Our mango tree had not been as productive the past almost 4 years after a large branch was removed by a strong typhoon in 2014. We were able to harvest something like 3 to 4 boxes of carabao mangoes then, and now look forward to a good harvest in a few weeks.

Another street and more flowering mango trees.

We hope to have a good harvest in the coming weeks and are praying that there won't be heavy rains that will ruin the flowers.

-

Atis in Vietnam!

Atis in Vietnam!

Atis or sweetsop is my favorite fruit. One of the highlights of the trip to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) aside from the conference I attended, was going to Ben Tanh Market where may of us got our souvenirs to take home. On the Sunday we were there, we checked out the fruit stands to get some to eat back at the hotel. I was delighted to see they had atis, which was also in season in the Philippines, only that theirs were larger and heavier. We haggled a bit as we tried to get a feel of the prices for fruits. My friend brought lanzones, too, and both of us thought it over if we were going to buy some of the large chicos that was also available and ready to eat. The atis, we were told, can be eaten the following day.

I bought a couple of these large atis

Here's a standard pen for reference on the size of the atis

We didn't get to eat our atis until 2 days later. It was worth the wait though as we were treated to really juicy fruit with just the right sweetness. I shared my fruits with other colleagues who weren't able to join us at the market earlier.

I brought some of the seeds with me back to Manila. I will be planting those and hopefully they will grow and bear fruit in the future.

-