Going bananas..

Are you a Monday blues person or one who says, "Thank God It's Monday!"? I'm not kidding about the latter. Some of us really do prefer Mondays to other days for their own reason(s). Me? Mondays are alright though Friday is still my favorite day of the week. Psst... I'm a Friday child.

Feeling the blues today? Here is something to cheer you up a little. Bananarama comes to mind, doesn't it? Holy bananassssss!

Image source: The Star thumbnail

Blue skies are back in Kuala Lumpur (for now)

Haven't seen blue skies in a while since the haze started. The shot above was taken around noon. I'm not given to moods but somehow, the sun has a positive effect on me - which accounts for my preference for sunny weather over rain though we do have equal amounts of both here in the tropics. Thunderstorms are common here too.

It was on sunny days like this that made my (separate) trips to the KL Bird Park and the KL Orchid Garden enjoyable but more about them latter. Lots of pictures to share so check back later.

For today, I just want to wallow in the sunshine albeit indoors. Still, it is nice to look outside and see blue skies and white clouds gliding by. Who knows, I might even spot another passing UFO like I did earlier.

A friend who came back from Vietnam, the same one who brought me those Vietnamese milk fruits, brought me some lychees and longans. These are in season and are cheap. Tried one lychee last night. Yum! It was fresh, sweet and succulent. Plan to peel them all and store them in the fridge for later. Happy times..

Durian, that heavenly fruit

One of the spaces I make it a point to check out when I read The Star online is Thumbnails. Thumbnails is a little column that features daily a few reader-submitted captioned pictures with the best shot for the day winning a RM50 prize. I thought today's picture warrants a posting even though it did not win the prize. Titled A thorny challenge by Ch’ng Huck Leong, it features three durians on a tree - and a squirrel having a durian feast.

If you haven't seen durians, this is a great shot. I like it for its clarity and close-upness (you get the drift). Not many of us have seen durians on trees. This is how it looks like. Notice one ripe fruit has dropped off as seen by the fruitless stem at the middle fruit. One of the reasons my preference for Malaysian durians as opposed to Thai durians is that Malaysian durians are harvested when they are ripe and when they do ripen, they fall to the ground. That's when they are picked up and go on sale.

The price of durians can range from a cheap RM1 for a (small) fruit during a glut to a high of RM30 a kilogram for a high-end fruit (species-wise). A regular price is likely to be RM5 a kilogram to RM10 for the D24 species. It is usual to pay around RM10 for a reasonably-sized (common species) durian in Kuala Lumpur. D24 remains my favorite because the flesh is nice (neither too dry nor soggy) and sweet, and most importantly guaranteed wormless according to the durian-vendor. Here's something to remember.. best not to leave durians on the floor for too long especially overnight as the flesh will turn soggy from all that dampness from the floor. If you have unfinished durian, move the flesh from the husk to a (preferably snug-cover) container (Tipu-ware will do too) and store it in the fridge. Durians taste even sweeter when chilled - my personal take.

As to how to get rid of durian smell in the fridge, leave some orange or lemon peels in there or any citrus peel. If you can find Charcoal. It works better. A few pieces would do wonders. Charcoal pills would do too.

According to a Chinese belief, durians do have eyes which accounts for why there has not been anyone being hit by a falling durian. This is an assumption, of course. The actual reason may be because durians normally fall at night when no one wanders out at the orchard during that time of the day/night. Durians are collected in the morning and distributed to the various marketing spots, mostly outstation as the orchards are normally located in rural places and away from towns. During durian season, like now, if you go interstate, you will come across durian stalls along trunk roads. It is not uncommon to see people sitting or standing around at roadside durian stalls sampling the taste-like-heaven but smell-like-hell king of fruits. If durians are not for you, sample our mangosteens and rambutans. They are in season now too. In the context of Yin and Yang, mangosteens are a cooling fruit while rambutans are considered heaty, thus best to take everything in moderation.

A word of caution here though: Durian is a heaty fruit (- hot dry weather bears best yield). Take heed that durian and cognac DON'T go together. Take one or the other but never both together. Result can be rather unpleasant (understatement here probably). I believe people with hypertension should also take the fruit in moderation.

Like cheese, durian is an acquired taste. You either hate it or love it - no grey, just black or white! Anthony Bourdain went looking around for the fruit in Cambodia and found it nice, while the bizarre food-eater, Andrew Zimmern found it not so agreeable. What about you? Do you love it or hate it? LOL!

That thorny fruit - Penang's famous Balik Pulau durians

Tis the season for durians..

If you are in Penang and love durians, you are at a sweet spot! Everyone knows Balik Pulau is famous for its durians but going there to the orchards could be quite an effort. The great news is the durians are now coming to you in the form of a durian promotion which will be held at the New World Park on Burmah Road from noon to 8pm daily from today until the July 31.

Durian varieties available include the famed Mao Shan Wang (King of Civet Cats) as well as Ang Sim (red heart), Khun Poh, Ang Heh (Red Prawn) and D24. Mangosteens and rambutans will also be sold alongside the durians.

Tip from a durian farmer: “Good durians can be smelt from a distance instead of having to sniff up close, and are lighter compared to durians yet to fully ripen.

“You also find the thorns less hard when you brush it against the palm of your hand.”


Source: The Star..Easier now to savour Balik Pulau durians

A Vietnam fruit, though Dragon fruit it is not - Milk fruit

People in Malaysia are blessed with the availability of a wide variety of local fruits. Someone at the office once commented that her diet of fruits at lunch is as effective as the best diet pills in the market. Talking about fruits, yesterday, I had the chance of tasting a fruit I have not ever tasted before.

What do you think is this fruit? A round green fruit. Seen anything like it locally? This fruit comes all the way from Vietnam, Saigon to be exact or rather Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).

I have no idea what it's called but this friend said people in Vietnam refer to it as a milk fruit because the juice looks and tastes milky. How it's eaten over there is to sort of roll or squeeze the fruit to make the contents soft and juicy so that it can be sucked out with a straw. I tried that but to no avail as the pulp is too thick for a straw to go through so what I did was to cut the fruit into half, as in the picture, and scoop up the flesh with a spoon. Yum! It's sweet and aromatic but if you dig in deeper, it becomes sappy and you'll find sap on your lips as a result but nothing to worry about. It can be easily wiped off.

Here's how the fruits look like. The fruits are greenish with a tinge of pink at the base the more ripe they become. The skin is smooth and has a shine, almost glossy. It's round (totally) and fits snugly in your grasp. It feels like a mango, only a little softer and a lot smoother and nicer. I know, it's only a fruit.. The leaves are interesting. They are green on the top but brown on the underside. It's a seasonal fruit and they are available December onwards. It's in abundance right now. That's a Malaysian fifty sen coin for comparison.

Btw, any Vietnamese resident reading this? Would appreciate your first-hand insight on this delicious fruit.