5.22.2007

fruit extravaganza

i love this time of year, for many reasons...but today i especially love the fruit. this morning the three oldest McNabb girls took a walk to the front gate to see what kinds of fruit we might encounter. this entire spread of fruit (shui guo = 水果) only cost us 41 kuai ($5.33), which felt like a bargain to me. i even bargained for it! i plan to freeze some strawberries to last thru the summer, and make some sugar-free apple sauce for the fam. the girls gobbled up most of the xingzi (like mini peach/apricots) fast, and i think we will make mango smoothies for lunch! some highlights of buying fruit at the market - you get some exercise, you see friends along the way, you can brush up on bargaining skills + practice Mandarin, you get sweet deals, and your body will thank you with glee.
A short fruit lesson (minus the tones)
  • watermelon - xi gua 西瓜 (shee-gwa)
  • banana - xiang jiao 香蕉 (shi-yang-jow)
  • apple - ping guo 苹果 (ping-gwo)
  • mango - mang guo 芒果 (mahng-gwo)
  • strawberry - cao mei 草莓 (ts-ow-may)
  • pear - li 利 (lee)