Pineapples… Wonderful fruit

Yes, the pineapple is a wonderful fruit. There is just so much you can do with it. Cakes, desserts, juice, Hawaiian style cooking, BBQ, the list could go on.

But what do you do with the spiky leaves, the crown on top?

I know, garnish a piña colada…

Yes, that is an option, and not a bad idea at that.

Did you know that the drink  piña colada was only ‘invented’ in 1963?

Piña colada is Spanish for ‘strained pineapple.’

This cocktail has been famous in Puerto Rico since 1978, and it became more widely known after Rupert Holmes released his song “Escape“, commonly known as “The Piña Colada Song”.

Remember that song?

The crown of the pineapple can be planted. It makes an attractive pot plant for indoors and in about two years it produces another pineapple.

Image courtesy Tickled Red

Hop over to Tickled Red and read step by step instructions and some more great photos of the process.

Change the World Wednesday- 25th April..

See, it happened again. The week disappeared. This week was abetted by Monday being a public holiday to celebrate St George, just so confusing.

Today, I am cooking lunch again while posting. An inch-thick pork chop marinated with rock salt and soya sauce.

This week’s CTWW from Reduce Footprints:

This week plant a vegetable or herb. And then, tell us what you decided to grow and where (your yard, a container, a pot on the window sill, etc.).

Or … If you are a gardening guru and plant veggies each year, please offer us any tips, ideas and advice. We’d like to know if you plant in containers or till the soil … how do you fertilize your garden … and what about keeping pests away. We want to know it all!

I have, at least, I did. About four weeks ago, I potted a sickly looking cayenne pepper plant in a pot and it is thriving, slowly, but thriving. It was planted wild by seeds from the mouldy peppers that I had discarded during the drying process. It is my first indoor pot plant.

But, I felt that was cheating, because I didn’t plant it specifically for the CTWW. So I got an egg tray, composted earth and dropped a couple of salsa (parsley) seeds in each part. The photo is terrible, but at least I managed to coax the camera into behaving like a camera, sort of. If and when I get results, I’ll keep you posted.

The salsa isn’t the kind of curly parsley that most westerners are used to. It has a plain leaf, still tastes like parsley, but not as strong. I have been looking for curly parsley and there is only one place I know of that sells the seeds, and that is in Barra da Tijuca and involves a lot of walking from bus to superstore. Barra da Tijuca is not pedestrian-friendly, it is designed for the car-owners. In other words, people who have money… not English teachers.

Mission: Completed!

You’ll notice the dead LCD behind the plant. Evidence of products that are designed to die within months of the end of the guarantee; in this case two months. R$400 (USD350) destined to become an expensive picture frame (recycling). It cannot be repaired. The part to repair is costs about R$30, but is unavailable, supplied only to assembly plants. So when your LCD breaks down, you are forced to buy a new one.

The pork chop was delicious. Served with a knob of garlic & rosemary butter, boiled potatoes and garlic steamed spinach. Not a microwave in sight!

That’s it for this week…

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