Lychee!
My sweet sister Emily came to visit this week. (Hi, Emily!) We had such a nice visit. But wait! Let me back up a little.
M. and I returned from the Outer Banks on Monday, just in time to avoid hurricane Ophelia.* We had flown out there on Friday to attend the wedding of our lovely cousin Jennifer to the dashing Duncan. It was a very beautiful wedding and a fantastic weekend, packed full of great company and great food. We were all worn out by the time we got back. Felt like we’d been gone much longer than a weekend.
Emily and her darling friend Blondie were at our house when we got home, and she proceeded to feed us the most excellent snacks. And a most excellent dinner! We had stuffed chicken and steamed baby squash and wild rice, and purple baby artichokes for dessert. Sometime during the meal Emily and I shared a bout of near-hysterical laughter. I think M. and Blondie were just a little freaked out by it, but we sure enjoyed it. I don’t laugh that hard very often. I don’t even remember what we were laughing about. Something to do with methods of artichoke heart revelation, maybe.
Emily left some nice things in the refrigerator — whether on purpose or not, I’m not sure. (Thanks, Emily!) One was a package of lychee fruit. I just tried one a little while ago, and it was very interesting. The peel seemed sort of like an eggshell, the way it comes off in hard flakes, a little bit, then a little bit more, then the whole rest at once. And the inside, the way it’s folded in on itself — never seen anything like it in a fruit. The flavor was nice. Sweet. I wanted to have more, but by the time I’d gotten down to the seed (which I have to say is very nice-looking and smooth, like a little oblong horse chestnut) I realized that my mouth was starting to swell a little. Damn! Allergies! So I can add lychee to my lengthening list of forbidden foods. (Raw nuts, peaches (sob!), apple peel, fresh figs.) Boo!
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*Here’s hoping it’s not a real bad one. Fingers crossed!