Nostalgia with Makataan konfyt (watermelon preserve)

I am cheating a bit this time, as the preserve in the blog was not actually made by me, but by my mom.  I thought you would not mind, as this is such a special recipe and so very time consuming to make, that it deserves a post.  It just does.

We found a huge makataan at the farmers' market last weekend and when we did, my mom and I were both giddy with excitement.  It has been years since we found a watermelon with a skin thick enough worthy of the effort of making preserve.  Makataan is just perfect, as the skin is all you are really after.  

My mom took on the almighty task of preserve making this week and by friday she was ready to bottle them.  This is not a process for the fainthearted, because it takes a full week of tender, loving care to get the end result in the bottle, but boy is it worth it.  Nothing, absolutely nothing compares you for that first bite into the sweet, sticky, gingery, syrupy deliciousness.  

For me a smell or a taste, sometimes even a sound can transport me to a different place.  I am not talking about anything extra-ordinary or outer-body, just imaginary.  Eating the preserve did just that.  It gave me a nostalgic glimpse into a past shared with grandparents, aunts and uncles.  Making preserves, jams, dried fruit, special biscuits were such a big part of our lives growing up.  A huge chunk of my childhood memories consist of us, sitting around a table in our or my grandmothers' kitchens peeling, boiling, tasting and eating.  Both my grandmothers were very industrious in the kitchen and their pantries were always filled with jars and cans and tins of goodness.  I adored that about both of them.  My mother continues the tradition and I hope to fill her shoes one day too.

Thai-Style Litchi chicken

Well it's been a while since my last post, but sometimes life just seems to take a detour and you just have to go with the flow.  Last year was definitely full of detours for our family, nothing serious, but very time consuming.  I am not going to bore you with the details, but lets just say I even learned how to build a house out of timber during the process.

My parent moved in with us for a few months last year as well.  It was a wonderful experience, albeit challenging at times.  And the biggest challenge was to adapt our respective eating habits to suit the other party.  Strange don't you think, that I lived with them for such a big part of my life and did so much cooking while I was growing up, and yet our eating habits have drifted worlds apart since?

I am a very curious cook, always looking for new recipes, new styles of food to cook.  I enjoy nothing more than challenging myself with a complicated dish that I have never tried.  My favourites dishes sometimes evolve from opening the fridge and just cooking what is in there, trying something I have never done, mixing different flavours.  And that is how this family staple happened too.  

It is such a simple dish to put together and you don't need fresh litchis at all.  In fact, it is much better with the canned version.  The herbs are refreshing, without being overbearing.  And this dish was a hit with my parents too.