Fiance finally over here

[robert angel]

Also my wife love eating lemon. We would go to the supermarket & buy lemon and then I turn around & it is gone. She use it with just about everything she eats. She wouldn't touch the limes but just the lemons. Lemonade is one of her favorite drink & since I started buying it she have stopped drinking my pomegranate juice.

Weird--my wife has told me dozens of times how she really, really wanted a lemon tree. She made it sound like some mushy dream of hers--our own little lemon tree, in our own little back yard...I figured we were on the same page, because she liked when I sang that hokey old Harry Belafonte calypso tune:

"Lemon tree--very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet--but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat"

Sooooo, anyway--I finally found a nursery that had a bunch of citrus trees, like 70 or 80 of them, all closely stacked on pallets, but apparently no lemon trees, although the garden worker said 'there 'might' be one in there--we had some, but they went real fast'....

So nonetheless, I wandered through all the trees, most of which had plenty of sharp thorns, and found one!

Bloody and tired by this time, I stuffed it into the back seat of my car, making a mess inside, with the window open and it sticking out, I brought it on home. Upon arrival, I proudly told her 'Honey--I found your lemon tree!"

She smiled broadly and said "OH Popeye, YOU'RE MY HERO!" put her skinny arms around me and gave me a kiss worthy of Olive Oyle.

Then I explained how it not only was flowering already and had small lemons on it, but that in this species, the lemons will grow quite big and be somewhat sweeter than most, be good for eating, juicing etc...

THEN she told me--"Honey-I said 'lemon trees', but I thought you knew I REALLY meant a tree that grows the little LIMES that we cut, squeeze and add vinegar and the little hot chiles for dipping fish and other foods'....

Arrrghh.....

[thekfc]

THEN she told me--"Honey-I said 'lemon trees', but I thought you knew I REALLY meant a tree that grows the little LIMES that we cut, squeeze and add vinegar and the little hot chiles for dipping fish and other foods'....

Arrrghh.....

[Jeff S]

That's OK Robert. You do know that citrus trees are far more productive when you have two of them, particularly if they're different species.

[robert angel]

Thanks Jeff,
 
Problem is, I'm running out of land that can truly support a tree once it's 'grown out'. I see city govts and private developers in such a hurry to make a place look 'green' that they not only plant the fastest growing trees, which tend to be the first to break in storms, but they plant them two or even three times closer to each than they should. I see a lot of Bradford Pear trees--they're pretty and grow real fast but branches go flying during a medium strength storm.

 
I didn't think about production, but dang--you're right again! I will check and see if limes can cross pollinate with lemon trees-I bet they can and I can probably plant a lime tree 15 feet away and my wife will be sooo happy.
 
When I was in college one year, I planted corn, cantelopes and cucumbers. I might have been OK if I'd put the corn in the middle as a 'block', but I planted the cukes and cants side by side and the corn towards the back to get the most sun. Damn if they didn't cross pollinate and I got tough chewy 'cukelopes' instead!
 
Being a poor college student with just enough money for the essentials (beer& rice a roni)  I ate them anyway.....

[Ray]

 

I didn't think about production, but dang--you're right again! I will check and see if limes can cross pollinate with lemon trees-I bet they can and I can probably plant a lime tree 15 feet away and my wife will be sooo happy.
 

No, you will still be wrong and she still won't be happy.
 
I'm sure she is talking about a calamondin tree. Look for a dwarf or semi-dwarf variety and grow it in a large container.
 
Calamondin do not require cross-polination.
 
Ray
 
 

[robert angel]

Thanks Ray, guys--but I'm already running out of room. For my veggies, I have gone over to just using large containers, but I wouldn't want a large, half an oil barrel sized container in my living room for the 4 or 5 months a year we just 'might' get a killing freeze.

 
How big a container do those calamondin trees typically require and how big do they usually (high) grow? Wonder where I might find one? I hear there's about 50,000 Filipinos in the Jacksonville, Florida area alone--a couple hours from us--so maybe there?

 
It is, as mentioned for the little lime like fruits she likes to use for dips back home, espec. w/ fish. I like it too.

 
Key Lime pies are ridiculously expensive and even in Key West Florida, almost none of them have real Key Limes any more--they substitute other limes. Like the miniature Key Deer and some species of pine trees and other desirable vegetation, between the high cost of real estate, builders clearing land, greedy people and animal pests, they're all but gone .

[thekfc]

How big a container do those calamondin trees typically require and how big do they usually (high) grow? Wonder where I might find one?

Mine is a little over 2 feet.  I bought mine at a flower store in Chinatown.

Ours is about this size:
http://www.guide-to-houseplants.com/calamondin.html

[Ray]

 
Robert,
 
I'm growing mine in a 15-gal plastic nursery pot but it's a dwarf variety. It's got fruit after 1 year now so I'll let you know how it's doing in 3 or 4 years. 
 
Check with local nurseries and garden centers. I'm sure they have them in Florida. I would go for dwarf or semi-dwarf only.
 
Yes calamondin is the same as the calamansi back home in the PI.
 
Ray
 

[robert angel]

Thanks Ray, Kfc,
 
Last night my wife told me that we have some friends who have a couple of these trees in their back yard and they purchased them at Lowes Hardware--most of you know, it's like a Home Depot--almost identical in terms of what they carry. Might be getting a little late in the season to pick one up--but after being in the game this long, I'll at least try a bit more for this year. I don't think I'll settle for anything bigger than dwarf or miniature.

 
Now WHY she couldn't have told me this six weeks ago, when the places were probably overflowing with the trees, I'll never know.....

[jm21-2]

Thought I had made a post earlier but apparently never hit submit or something.


We're pretty much stocked up on spices, noodles, and cooking supplies. She's still debating which hot water dispenser to get and which food processor to get (mine fried out a couple days after she got here). Hit a bit of a speed bump when my car started over-heating and broke down last week...seems to be fixed now but after going to IKEA and not being able to fit any of the furniture into my trunk....after spending about 3 hours picking it out...thinking seriously about switching up to something a bit more practical...but don't really have the money to change my car and buy her one as well.


During the last few moths before she got here I was staying up until 1-2am, skipping breakfast, and if I ate lunch fast food. Switching from that to getting to sleep at a normal time, home cooked breakfast, and mostly home-cooked lunches...huge difference in attitude and outlook on life.

[jm21-2]

So my parents got back from a trip to Europe and she met them for the first time last night. Went better than either of us thought it would I think. We've got a few more weekends of gathering odds and ends (will be buying a bed this weekend and I'm looking forward to sleeping on a real bed again...have been on an air mattress since she got here). I seem to have a mechanical jinx at the moment and keep breaking stuff and having to repair it which has taken up a lot of my spare time. Doing about two months of accounting and billing this weekend on Memorial Day I guess and hopefully will have a better picture of my finances, then we've got to figure out what to do about cars....big ticket item there. My car keeps having problems so thinking about trading it in for something more reliable, but not sure I can do that and get her a car too. But I think she's going to need her own car so she can be a bit more independent....take her time picking out lotions or shopping for clothes or whatever.


Not planting trees but we have some herbs that are doing pretty well. Weather has been really cold this year so everything's a bit behind.


I took care of my parent's yard while they were gone and she thinks maintaining a lawn is about the dumbest thing in the world, which I am grateful for. I have a secluded house that never really had much of a yard and it has gone to meadow. Just fine for us.

EDIT:
Did end up selling my boat. We just have absolutely no time to use it and won't for the foreseeable future. Too much stuff going on with meeting relatives, planning the wedding, going to the Asian malls to stock up on food, looking for cars, looking for furniture, etc. I may end up buying a small trailerable boat to go out on day trips on but not even sure of that right now. My parents want a small boat for fishing and we may buy something together. Will see....pricing out the materials for Jeff's 17' pacific power dory...

[thekfc]

It is awesome that she & your parents hit it off.

Right no, taking care of the more "immediate" needs & getting her settle is more important so I would take it slow with the car for her.  I don't think that she will be driving anytime soon plus you have too much on your plate now to be buying 2 cars. If "push come to shove" rent something short term until you are able to buy / comfortable buying another car.

[jm21-2]

She is super curious about everything here and wants to try/see everything possible. So far that's been good, except for applebees. I hadn't been to one in ages, if ever, but they seemed popular, close by, she was interested in trying American food...blehh. We could barely stomach the food it was so bad (and ridiculously salty).


She likes potato salad and salsa quite a bit and keeps wanting to add them to things that, imho, they shouldn't be a part of, like noodle dishes...


She has problems with the dairy products here and was a bit sick at first. Taiwanese dairy is fine for her, but not Australian or American. Don't know why. The taro root in the US is a lot bigger than Taiwan and not the same flavor. Good affordable Macha tea continues to elude us. Either it's not good or it's really expensive.


My understanding is that it's OK for her to drive here with her Taiwan license until she establishes residency (by registering to vote, filing taxes, or something like that) at which point she needs a WA license. We went to a restaurant during happy hour and ordered some different wines for her to try....she didn't really like any of them so I drank them and she drove home just fine. Taiwan driving rules are very similar to here and her mom was a strict instructor...I think she'd probably be a safer driver than me.

[thekfc]

My wife also want (wanted) to try all the American food so I too her to various places including Asian restaurants. She commented how different the Asian food were here & that she did not care for a few of them. This weekend (if the weather isn't too bad - it been raining a lot) I will take her to Red Lobster / The Olive Garden.  We were suppose to go last weekend but we spent most of our time browsing the Filipino stores (including Red Ribbon, The Philippines Bread House) and hanging out in Battery Park City.

My wife also have a slight diary problem so I buy her the Silk (Soy) Brand and it is fine for her. She also eat ice cream with no problems.

My wife is not a drinker, I think smelling alcohol will get her drunk. 

I am surprise you cannot find good affordable Macha tea in your area. I haven't bought any but I remember the time I went to the supermarket in Chinatown to see if they did lower the prices of Japanese goods (after the earthquake/ nuclear plant "leak") I saw a can of Macha Japanese green tea for about $20,

[Ray]

 

She has problems with the dairy products here and was a bit sick at first. Taiwanese dairy is fine for her, but not Australian or American. Don't know why.
 

May be lactose intolerant like a large percentage of Asians. Does milk make her fart and give her the hershey-squirts?
 
My wife drinks milk daily but can't handle regular. Lactaid lactose-free milk is around triple the price of regular milk but she now uses the vanilla-flavored soy milk which is more reaonably priced.
 
In California, a foreign license is also good until you become a resident. When she applied for a California license, she passed the written test and they gave her a temorary license good for 6 months based on her PI license, but was required to take the road test for her permanent license.
 
She was pulled over once by San Diego's finest for an equipment violation and the officer had never seen one of those temporary license types in 15 years on the force. He had to confirm it by radio. (?)
 
Ray
 
 
 
 

[Capstone]

 
May be lactose intolerant like a large percentage of Asians. Does milk make her fart and give her the hershey-squirts?

I have a different theory because my wife is the same as Jm's fiancee - she can drink large quantities of milk in China and not have any ill effects but drinking the milk here in the US gives her problems (although her problems with the milk here have been diminishing over time). My theory is that the different pasteurization methods which are used in different parts of the world is the culprit. Here in the US we use the High Temperature/Short Time (HTST) method while in China and other Asian countries they typically use the Ultra High Temperature (UHT) method. I think that people's innards just need to get used to milk pasteurized by a different method - well that is my unsubstantiated theory anyway.

[jm21-2]

We bought lactose free milk and soy milk right off the bat because I suspected she might be lactose intolerant due to her experiences in Australia, but she wants to try out everything, and they don't taste quite like real milk. I thought the lactose free stuff we got tasted really sweet/sugary. Not 100% sure it's the dairy but it sure seems that way. She's stopping the dairy consumption for a bit to try to narrow down the problem so we'll know a bit more in a week or two.


Actually, I and everyone I've talked with about the dairy issues thought different methods of pasteurization might be the problem. Interesting info Capstone. The milk in Taiwan had a fairly different flavor than here as well. I'd been thinking about there may be different pasteurization since I tried Taiwan milk but never really looked it up. Just did and Taiwan is mostly UHT as well. Interesting...

I didn't see anything about a temporary license here in WA. Will have to look into that. My understanding was she essentially had a year to take and pass the WA driver's test and she got a permanent license if she passed.

[thekfc]

Interesting.

My wife have no problem eating ice cream (Breyers, Edy's, etc) but have problem with Yogurt &  "regular" milk.

[Capstone]

Actually, I and everyone I've talked with about the dairy issues thought different methods of pasteurization might be the problem. Interesting info Capstone. The milk in Taiwan had a fairly different flavor than here as well. I'd been thinking about there may be different pasteurization since I tried Taiwan milk but never really looked it up. Just did and Taiwan is mostly UHT as well. Interesting...

Yep, I am pretty sure that the pasteurization method is the real reason why some people can't handle diary products from other countries as I experienced this myself. Most of the milk sold in Japan is pasteurized via the UHT method and when I first moved there it took my system a little while to get used to milk products - I would sometimes get mild stomach cramps after consuming the milk. Over time my system got used to the Japanese milk and I no longer got the cramps. However when I moved back to the US the same thing occurred - I would sometimes get mild stomach cramps after consuming the US milk.

[jm21-2]

Interesting.

My wife have no problem eating ice cream (Breyers, Edy's, etc) but have problem with Yogurt &  "regular" milk.

This might be due to differences in products produced from cream vs. from milk? Looking it up quickly (still at work) it looks like cream here is "ultra-pasteurized" which is somewhere between HTST and UHT...Breyers and similar  ice cream is typically produced from cream whereas yogurt is produced from milk....if I remember correctly...


My fiance doesn't seem to have problems with ice cream, but time will tell...

EDIT:

A little unclear whether ultra pasteurized is UHT or something slightly different.....

[Ray]

 
BTW jm,
 
You sure whimped out on the sailboat thing in a hurry! 
 
 
 

Ray   

[piglett]

Bloody and tired by this time, I stuffed it into the back seat of my car, making a mess inside, with the window open and it sticking out, I brought it on home. Upon arrival, I proudly told her 'Honey--I found your lemon tree!"

She smiled broadly and said "OH Popeye, YOU'RE MY HERO!" put her skinny arms around me and gave me a kiss worthy of Olive Oyle.

Then I explained how it not only was flowering already and had small lemons on it, but that in this species, the lemons will grow quite big and be somewhat sweeter than most, be good for eating, juicing etc...

THEN she told me--"Honey-I said 'lemon trees', but I thought you knew I REALLY meant a tree that grows the little LIMES that we cut, squeeze and add vinegar and the little hot chiles for dipping fish and other foods'....

Arrrghh.....

why is it that chicks do that.................?
i am sure the same kind of thing will happen once Marily arrives here 
(hopefully with less bleeding though)
   
 
pig

[robert angel]

Re:
 
>>why is it that chicks do that.................?<<
 
Because they can! (And live another day, even!)

[Osa]

good thread. thanks for all the coming home info.  we'll be doing this come the fall, hopefully


CONGRATS!

[piglett]

BTW jm,
 
You sure whimped out on the sailboat thing in a hurry! 
 
 
 

Ray   

  & that may come back to bite him in the @ss .....time will tell
 
 
pig