Anthony Boudain

I don't know why but I feel like writing about Anthony Boudain. He is a chef, a writer, and most notably the host of the show, "Anthony Boudain: No Reservations" on the Travel channel. He travels around the world, dipping his hands and tongue into some of the world's best and most exotic foods. This past week on the Travel channel, they were doing specials on China given the Olympics and all. Both hubby and I love Anthony Boudain's show because he's so entertaining, witty in his speech, and the food looks so delicious that I dream of going to the same places he's been.

Here's a couple of quotes by Anthony while in China:

"Given my relationship with livestock in this life, I might just come back as my favorite snack in the next life. . .the pig."
--While contemplating Tibetan religious beliefs in Lhasa.

"Even if you haven't had Chinese food, you've had Chinese food, whether it's in pasta or dumplings."
--While walking on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China

A few more caveats about the show. A warning message about offensive material precedes every segment of his show. Yes, he's foul-mouthed but that's all bleeped out. I think they are talking about the actual food that's on the show. All I have to say is that no parts of any genitalias of any animals should ever be eaten, ever. Just my opinion. I consider myself an adventuous eater. I AM Chinese, afterall, so I love the intestines and pig ears and even chicken feet, but after watching the show I realize that unlike Mr. Boudain, I DO have some reservations about what I eat.

The Best of San Fran

Take a short picture tour of San Francisco with me. For more pics, check out my Facebook site. Darn blogger limits my picture memory!

We stayed with David, my BIL, at the Pacific Heights neighborhood in San Francisco. It was within walking distance to almost everything: the Fisherman's Wharf, the beach, and Golden Gate Bridge. Look at that view! The highest incline of any street was up to 31 degrees.

The Golden Gate Bridge in the fog as seen on our ferry tour.


It was so chilly and windy on the ferry, but had beautiful views of the bay city, Alcatraz island, and the Golden Gate Bridge.



The Crookedest St, seriously, that's its name and what it is. See how winding the street is behind us? There's a 5 mph limit. A flower-filled and picturesque place, the Crookedest St is the last part of Lombard St. in the Pacific Heights neighborhood.

Beautiful flowers abound in San Fran.

With my best friend, Shoreh, who just recently migrated from the east coast and is already calling Cali her home. It was so awesome seeing her! We spent the Fourth on the Pier and took a ferry to Sausalito, a city across the bay north of SF.

Another view of the GGB.

Bike the Bridge. Here's David with his roommate, Sameer. On Saturday, the four of us rented bikes and rode along the Pacific ocean, all the way across the GG Bridge, and into Sausalito. We had well-deserved ice cream cones in Sausalito before heading back to SF on a ferry with our bikes. It was a really fun day and awesome way to experience SF.

Stopping for a pic. . . and for me to catch my breath. Biking with 3 guys was hard, being an out-of-shape wimp didn't help either, but I made it!

View of Chinatown at sunset. We had two meals here, different days but same restaurant. It was very good but not anything that Dallas couldn't offer. Some restaurants looked very sketchy to me as in I wouldn't eat there in a million years.

Another day with BFF, Shoreh. Here we are on Sunday at the Fillmore St. Jazz festival where good food is to be had, and one can stroll around with wine or sangria in hand admiring the expensive crafts and brave souls singing karaoke.

Paul and I at the Fillmore St. Jazz Festival.

Food at the festival. Check out the size of those baked oysters! So yummy that I wish I had more.

Caricatures with Shoreh at Fisherman's Wharf. Such a tourist trap, but I don't care!

At the beach at Crissy Fields.

I love the beach, even the unswimmable, chilly beach of San Fran.

Our last meal in San Fran, oysters and clams at the Hog Island Oyster Company.

Oysters on the half shell at the Hog Island Oyster Bar. The best place for fresh oysters in SF. It was uber fresh and full of yumminess. I was never a raw oyster person, but that won my over.

San Francisco was simply wonderful. I am ever so grateful that David is there this summer and had such a awesomely located apartment and cool roommate (Sameer) to boot. We took over David's room and I can only hope the couch didn't do much damage to David's back. I thank Sameer for being so friendly and for letting Paul play with his PS3 every night. Apparently "Call of Duty" is a very addictive game for the guys. It made hubby's vacation that much better.

There are tons of things to do. Of all the touristy things to do, we didn't get to ride the cable cars. The one chance we had, the cable car was full! I would have also loved to take a tour of Alcatraz island, bike to Tiburon, visit Napa Valley, and I can always spend more time at the beach.

It really does take planning to have a good vacation. And I took pains to plan our itinerary and get to know the city beforehand. But no matter how hard one plans, it's always wise to leave a little room for chance. As for my big plans to see the fireworks at the Pier. Well, it didn't pan out. The night got so very cold, so we went home and had take-out Thai food instead, not very patriotic. It turns out the fog was so heavy, even people at the Pier didn't get to see the fireworks. I also wanted to see the adorable sealions at Pier 39, but unknownst to me, they had migrated elsewhere this time of year. Then there are good things that come unplanned, serendipities! While at Sausalito with Shoreh, it was Farmers' Market day so we got to buy the freshest berries and peaches. It was so good!

So, food is definitely a big highlight of of trip. Our first meal was at a hibachi grill place in Japantown, the restaurant (I don't remember the name) turned out to be owned by Rocky Aoki, father of model Devon Aoki. Don't ask me how I know these people, just the random facts I know! The next day, we ate at Scoma's, a nice sit-down dinner at the Wharf where we had large bowl of clams and seafood sautee with prawns, crabs, lobsters, scallops. The dish looked just as beautiful as it tasted, no pic that day 'cause I know hubby would be embarrased if I took a pic then. Then there was the fresh crabs bought from street vendors, clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl at Boudin's Bakery, dim sum at Chinatown, and oysters at the Hog Island Oyster Bar.

While we were gone, Hiro boarded at Petite Pooch Chateau. If only dogs could talk, but I assume he had a good stay there. The lady there told me Hiro had a "big personality." Now I wonder if that was her euphemism for "naughty" which is perfectly inline with Hiro's personality. Since I've been touting other commercial venues in this post, I will recommend Petite Pooch to anyone in the Dallas area looking for dog boarding places. This was a first for me and I had no idea where to pick, so I actually visited a few places as well as read online reviews. I liked Petite Pooch because it was clean, had a grassy yard, and only accepted dogs <30lbs.

Lastly, I have to say both Paul and I fell in love with the San Fran weather. We would move there in a heartbeat if it weren't for the outrageous housing prices and oh yeah, the little situation of employment. Coming back, the Dallas heat hit me hard, like hubby said today, Dallas "is next to hell." But home sweet home it still is!

Making Baozi

I bought a steamer recently, one that's made of stainless steel, not the bamboo kind. A steamer has always been a very important piece of kitchen gadget in my house because my Dad's favorite food is Mom's steamed buns and baozi (steamed buns with meat filling). I have been eager to make baozi and this past Sunday I did! I grew up watching my mom making steamed buns from scratch so I know it takes a long time. Well, for me, it turned into a day-long affair!! Although I did take breaks while patiently waiting for the yeast dough to rise.


The rised dough. I decided to use 50% whole wheat flour and 50% white flour in case you're wondering about the odd color. This combo turned out well for taste and skin integrity.

The filling, pork and veggies. I used white Chinese cabbage and also mustard greens for the added intense green color.

Ta da!! The cooked result several hours later. They are not white like my mom's, the brown specks are due to the whole wheat flour. The round-shaped ones are prettier but I quickly found out that the moon-shaped baozi can contain up to 30% more filling so I made more of those. More filling = more taste.


Uncooked dumplings. I started with 2 lbs. of ground pork, which makes a LOT of filling, so I made over 50 dumplings and will freeze the leftover filling. I would have made more but became too tired. I used ~30% whole wheat flour in the dumpling dough. From past experiments, I found that 25-30% of WWF will not change the taste, texture and integrity of the dumplings much so I'm sticking with that. More WWF will make the dumplings too grainy-tasting, not to mention the skin cracks during cooking.

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As for the baozi, for first-time making it, I give myself a 80%. There's a sweetness to the dough skin which did not go entirely with my veggie and pork filling. The recipe for the dough is, afterall, for char-sui bao, which is a sweet and tangy BBQ pork filling. I will try using an all-meat filling next time, it should work better with the "sweet" skin. Or maybe I'll add more salt to the dough to even out the sweetness? I know the sugar is important b/c that's what the yeast eats. Hubby liked it but he's more of a dumpling person, it turns out.

Eating Yee Sang and CNY

We celebrated Chinese New Year with friends at Adrian and LeeLee's house on Saturday night. It seems we've adopted a new tradition for CNY in the last few years, the tossing and eating of Yee Sang! Just what is Yee Sang? After enjoying this dish with our Malaysian friends for a few years now, I decided to find out!

It is basically a colorful salad made of shredded veggies and raw fish served with plum sauce dressing. Yee sang is "yusheng" in pinyin, or 鱼生 in Chinese. It literally means "raw fish," but "yu" can also mean "over abundance" or "excess" and "sheng" is also "birth." So the element of word play here provides the basis for eating raw fish salad in order to bring in good luck and prosperity for the new year. One source says the dish originated from southern China 1,500 years ago, but most people seem to agree that it actually was invented or at least was made popular as a CNY dish by Chinese immigrants in Singapore or Maylaysia. As far as I know, this is not a CNY tradition in mainland China, but is practiced widely in Maylaysia and Singapore.

Ingredients: finely shredded white daikon radish, carrots, pepper, chopped shallots, crispy fried noodles, roasted sesame seeds, pomelo, cilantro. . .

Just before eating, thinly sliced pieces of raw salmon and plum sauce are added.

Then, everyone gathers at the table, each equipped with a pair of chopsticks.


Let the tossing begin! The higher the tossing the better b/c the act of tossing ("lo hei") symbolizes the gathering of prosperity for the new year. While tossing, people are also to speak 吉祥话 (Jíxiáng Huà), auspicious wishes to each other.

What a fun and very yummy tradition!

The part of China where I'm from, eastern China, we eat dumplings during CNY. I celebrated only but a handful of CNY before coming to the US, but some of my best memories of China was the CNY celebration at my grandparents' home. My grandmother would put a clean coin or red date in several dumplings. Whoever gets a dumpling with the special filling is said to have an auspicious year. This was a big deal for the kids, and we would eat many dumplings in the hope of biting into a coin! Hmm, sounds like "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."

Other memorable traditions of CNY include wearing new clothes for the day, getting "hong bao" (红包, red envelops with money) from aunts and uncles, and of course, the fire crackers! How I'd love to pass some of these traditions to my kids one day.

Happy Chinese New Year!!

The year of the pig!!

What's in your freezer?

Up to today, if you asked me what's in my freezer, I wouldn't be able to tell you! Paul has been the one shopping mostly and stocking up our freezer. He's always been the better cook of us two. He's fond of making soups, especially pork rib soup with daikon and bak ku teh (pork with tea/herbs soup). Paul also likes to make chicken curry and anything with seafood. He likes to make meaty dishes trying venison, duck, etc. while I'm more comfortable with vegetable cooking. Recently, however, there's been a switch in the household. I've picked up the responsibility of grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning. I had always thought I'm too busy with a mindset that I need to be either studying or thinking about studying with my time. I realize that it no longer has to be true this year with my time being so carte blanche outside of rotations. Hubby is now the one taking a class and spending his non-work time studying and doing homework. It's been great knowing that I can lend support for him in ways of making hot green tea or bringing chocolate treats for him during study sessions. I'm also cooking more and more and hubby is very grateful about it. It truly makes me feel more like a wife! It use to be on the weekends, the first thing we do after waking up is asking each other the question, "where do you want to go for lunch today?" Now, I've gotten in a habit of whiping up a meal for two in no time! My cooking is far from great and much of it is still a trial and error. The stuffing and chicken casserole did not work out very well last week but my Chinese cabbage with shrimps and scallops today was delicious!

So, back to the freezer. It use to be a formidable and uncharted territory for me, I didn't know what was way back there and I didn't want to find out! But today, I finally got up the nerve because I was willing to conquer whatever I find there. I found two packages of frozen tomatoes bearing the handiwork of my mom. She must have given them to us during her visit last month. No problem! They will make a good and easy "tomatoes with eggs" dish. I have already taken care of all the frozen eggplants last week. There were also packages of meat-looking things, one was a bass hubby bought from Hong Kong Market and there was another wrapped up and cut up fish with no identification. I think it's another present from my mom? How can I cook it not knowing what kind of fish it is? It should be interesting.

Eggplant Supper Stew Recipe--a keeper!

My mother gave us bags and bags of frozen cooked eggplant. This might sound like a strange thing, definitely not found in any Wal-Mart freezer section. Well, let's just say my parents had a huge eggplant harvest in their garden this past summer. They are always giving away their fresh veggies by the baskets to their friends or neighbors, and still they have tons of tomatos, eggplants, green beans, etc. left at end of the season for freezing. I was getting very tired of eating these frozen eggplant by stir frying with onions and garlic. The dish is never as good as with fresh eggplants anyways. In an attempt to clear out our freezer and to make frozen eggplant more appetizing, I found this following recipe:

Eggplant Supper Stew
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Eggplant-Supper-Soup/Detail.aspx

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 pound ground beef
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 pound eggplant, diced
3/4 cup sliced carrots
3/4 cup sliced celery
2 (14.5 ounce) cans Italian diced tomatoes, drained
2 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry macaroni
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion, beef, and garlic until beef is evenly brown. Drain grease, and mix in eggplant, carrots, celery, and tomatoes. Pour in beef broth. Mix in sugar, and season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Cook and stir until heated through.
Mix macaroni into the soup, and continue cooking 12 minutes, or until macaroni is al dente. Mix in parsley. Top with Parmesan chreese to serve.

It was quite good! Tastes like a beef stew. BTW, I used way more oil than the recipe asked for; I cooked the veggies in ample oil before adding broth. I omitted the macaroni, parsley and parmesan cheese. Hubby suggested that I use chunky beef next time instead of ground beef.

I had it with baguette bread and hubby had some over his brown rice. This is a very good left-over food which is good since I made a whole pot of it. And best of all, this was a great way to use up the frozen eggplants! So, I'm ready next time mom stuffs our freezer full of eggplants!

My Favorite American Recipes

Here are some simple, all-American recipes, tested and proven by me. Purists will say these are semi-homemade, but they are very delicious so who minds a little time saved? These are not the type of home cooking that hubby will enjoy on a daily basis, as he is all Chinese when it comes to eating. But I love cooking American, so easy and very much comfort food to me even though I didn't grow up with it at home. These are very good cook-ahead type of foods that come handy at a potluck or our Saturday night Bible study dinners. I'm looking forward to expanding my Asian cooking repertoire, so hubby can benefit more, but I consider many Asian cooking too advanced for me right now.
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Cheesy Cornbread

Ingredients
1 (10 1/2-ounce) box Jiffy cornbread mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 (8-ounce) can cream-style corn
3 eggs
1/2 cup grated extra sharp Cheddar cheese

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease an 8- or 9-inch square pan. 2. In a medium bowl, mix cornbread mix, sour cream, oil, corn, eggs and cheese. Pour batter into pan. 3. Bake 45 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cut into squares.
Serves 9.
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Green Bean Casserole

INGREDIENTS:
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup
4 cups cooked green beans (2 cans)
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup milk
1 1/3 cups French fried onions

PREPARATION:
Mix soup, milk and pepper in a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish. Stir in beans and 2/3 cup of the fried onions. Bake for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees F. Top with the remaining 2/3 cup fried onions and bake about 5 more minutes, until onions are lightly browned.
Serves 6.
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'Joy of Cooking' Quick Tuna Casserole

4-5 servings
Irma S. Rombauer considered this an excellent emergency dish
INGREDIENTS:
12 ounces canned or pouch tuna, drained
2 cups cooked egg noodles or elbow macaroni (about 4 ounces uncooked)
1 (10 3/4 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed, or one 8-ounce can green peas, drained
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup chopped pimentos or minced red bell pepper (optional)
2 tablespoons minced scallions or onion (optional)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce or red pepper sauce (optional)
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs, fine cracker crumbs or crushed cornflakes
1/2 cup grated Parmesan (optional)
2-3 tablespoons butter, melted

INSTRUCTIONS:
Instructions: Preheat the oven to 375°. Grease a shallow 1 1/2-2 quart baking dish.
Place the tuna into a mixing bowl and break into chunks with a fork. Stir in until just combined the noodles, condensed soup, peas, milk and optional pimentos, scallions and Worcestershire sauce, if desired. Turn this mixture into the prepared dish. Mix together the bread crumbs, Parmesan, if using, and melted butter and sprinkle on top. Bake until top is bubbling and browned 25 to 35 minutes.

Per serving: 350 calories, 26 g protein, 34 g carbohydrate, 12 g fat (5 g saturated), 57 mg cholesterol, 800 mg sodium, 3 g fiber.
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Guacamole

2 ripe avocados
½ red onion, minced (about 1/2 cup)
1-2 serrano chiles, stems and seeds removed, minced
2 tablespoons cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh lime or lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
A dash of freshly grated black pepper
1/2 ripe tomato, seeds and pulp removed, chopped

Garnish with red radishes or jicama. Serve with tortilla chips.

1 Cut avocados in half. Remove seed. Scoop out avacado from the peel, put in a mixing bowl.
2 Using a fork, mash the avocado. Add the chopped onion, cilantro, lime or lemon, salt and pepper and mash some more. Chili peppers vary individually in their hotness. So, start with a half of one chili pepper and add to the guacamole to your desired degree of hotness. Be careful handling the peppers; wash your hands thoroughly after handling and do not touch your eyes or the area near your eyes with your hands for several hours.
Keep the tomatoes separate until ready to serve.
Remember that much of this is done to taste because of the variability in the fresh ingredients. Start with this recipe and adjust to your taste.
3 Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole to prevent oxidation from the air reaching it. Refrigerate until ready.
4 Just before serving, add the chopped tomato to the guacamole and mix.
Serves 2-4.
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Beef Lasagna

8 ounces lasagna noodles
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
8 ounces mushrooms, optional
1 jar (about 16 ounces) spaghetti sauce, your favorite
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon dried leaf basil, crumbled
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions; drain and set aside. In a large skillet, brown beef, onion, and mushrooms; drain well. Stir in spaghetti sauce, garlic powder, salt, oregano, and basil. In a 2-quart buttered baking dish (about 11x7x2-inches), layer 1/3 of the lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the sauce and 1/3 of the ricotta cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and Parmesan cheeses. Repeat layers twice. Bake lasagna for 30 minutes, or until thoroughly heated and bubbly. Let stand for 8 to 10 minutes before cutting and serving. Serves 6 to 8.
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SPINACH DIP

1 pkg. chopped spinach
1 cup sour cream
1 cup of mayonnaise
1 pkg. Knorr vegetable mix/Hidden Valley Range Dressing Dry Mix
Optional: chopped water chestnuts, chopped red onions, chopped olives

Mix sour cream, mayonnaise and vegetable mix together. Drain and add spinach.
Serve with pumpernickel bread! Also good with crackers!

(Prepare at least 30 minutes before serving to give the vegetable mix enough time to soften.)
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Gumbo

1 box of Zatarain's Gumbo mix
1 medium onion, (chopped)
1 large green pepper (chopped)
1 cup celery (chopped)
2 cans chicken broth
1 can tomato paste
1 can spicy stewed tomatoes
1 package frozen okra
1 can light kidney beans (drained)
1 small can whole jalapeno peppers, (sliced)
1 16 oz. package frozen peeled shrimp
1 pound hot Italian sausage (sliced)
1 pound frozen or fresh fish filets, cut into chunks (catfish, flounder, bass etc.)
Hot sauce (add to taste)
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Cayenne pepper (1 tsp)

In a large pot, combine onions, green pepper, celery and sausage with one can of the chicken broth. Cook over high heat until onions become soft. Reduce to medium heat; add all other ingredients except for fish and shrimp. Simmer for at least an hour, stirring occasionally, adding hot sauce to taste. Add up to a cup of water until desired consistency is reached. 15-20 minutes before serving, add fish and shrimp. Very good with French baguette bread!

You Eat What?!

Here are two dishes on the menu from my parents' recent holiday party. Some will be grossed out by these and surely say, "you eat what?!" To the exotic epicureans from Asia, however, these are delightful delicacies. My mother, Paul and I belong to this camp.

Chinese wood ears or wood fungus, 黑木耳. (Auricularia polytricha or Hirneola polytricha). They actually grow on dead wood and have the medicinal quality of anticoagulation. These are soaked and ready for cooking. Cooked and Uncooked wood ears both look and taste the same. Very crunchy and light tasting. My mom stired fried it with pork. Yum! *Click pic to enlarge*

Chicken feet. With flavor pouch, dried chilis, green onions, soy sauce and ginger, these are ready to be cooked and simmered for a few hours. Paul made this for the few who dare to devour chicken claws!

Tuesday Cooking

With continous Christmas music streaming from the radio in the background, I cooked for several hours non-stop today. I was in the mood, I guess, and eager to cross off a to-do item on my list, ;) Here's what I have to show for it.

1. Wonton Soup. Felt motivated to make this. I used the same filling recipe as in dumplings: pork, Chinese cabbage, and shrimp chunks.

Wonton Soup. Wola! Soup base consists of chicken broth, whole shrimps, green veggies, ginger, cilantro and green onions.

2. Guacamole. One of my favorite things! The avocados were still a little too hard, so it came out clumpy instead of creamy, oh well.

3. Fish Stew. Main ingredients: flounder, various veggies, oregano, basil, and white cooking wine. I added a chicken boullion, too. It's just combine and slow cook in crockpot.

Fish Stew, cooked4 hours later. Hmm, not what I expected. The flounder fish chunks just disappeared, as if they were blown into smithereens the size of minced garlic. Oh well, it ended up being an okay "veggie soup."

4. Apple Crumbles. Nice recipe! Ingredients include apples, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, butter, and nutmeg. It was simple, delicious, and relatively nutritious for a dessert. Best with vanilla ice cream! I haven't perfected it good enough to bring to someone's house or a potluck, though. This recipe is from a blog of a friend's friend. See http://provenrecipes.blogspot.com/

It's leftover time for the next few days.

Bananas Gone Mini

Bought these at a Asian market. Aren't they cute? They taste sweeter than the bigger variety and has a thinner peel. I imagine their nutritional status is the same.

Autumn Fruits

Yummy yummy fruits this season:

The Pomegranate: with just about 100 calories per fruit and rich in potassium and antioxidants, this is a beautiful fruit!

The fruit of my labor. Sweet and tangy.

The persimmon, what hubby calls "the tomato-looking fruit" is the national fruit of Japan. Persimmons are full of fiber and beta-carotene as you can see from the bright orange color. They take so long to ripen that I haven't had one yet!!

Fancy Fruits

I was in an Asian grocery store with hubby recently and suddenly had the craving for durian. Perhaps it was the smell flowing through the air? I found my way to a large crate of fresh durian, some were already cracked, exposing the creamy yellow flesh and particular aroma. When we got to the checkout counter, it was $20 ($4.99/lb)! The cashier asked me if I still wanted it, I impulsively said “yes.” Then she asked if I ever tried it, and it’s “yes” again. It’s the only fruit I know that comes with a warning label for it’s smell and taste!

Didn’t mean to spend quite so much on a fruit, but oh well. Here are a couple of pictures of the durian with a lime next to it for size. Luckily both Paul and I like the taste. How can one enjoy it with the other hating it? Durian is a controversial fruit, indeed. Either you are repulsed by the pungent smell (onion-like with a touch of banana sweetness) or you love its unique flavor. Durian is a native Southeast Asian fruit, it’s name means “thorny” in Malay.

I always like to know the nutrition of the food I eat so I did some research. (See right, 243 grams is about 1 cup) I was once told that durian is high in cholesterol. Not true! It has no cholesterol, only unsaturated fat, which is the good kind of fat. It’s also very high in potassium and vitamin C. Very nutritious but high in calories.

Another fruit hubby and I have been enjoying lately is fresh jujube, also known as Chinese date or zao. I'm used to eating the dried form which is used a lot in Chinese cooking, but I've only recently started eating fresh jujube. It tastes like apple but not quite as juicy or sweet. Just really simple and earthy, you know?

I took the picture on the left, and found the tree-bearing picture on the internet.