There was a little incident earlier, when I went to make myself a cup of tea, and noticed that house keeping had...overlooked some things when cleaning my room before I got here. I called room service to get some tea, instead of using what was provided in the room, and when it arrived, I gave the waiter a piece of my mind. He called house keeping, and eventually a manager showed up, and I gave him a piece of my mind - I'm getting quite good at that by now. But seriously, I was a little disgusted by the dirty napkin and erm, body hair on the dishes. Well a little while later, this fruit basket showed up at my door - just in time, since I was getting hungry! So, I thought I'd take a look at some of the local produce, and try it out for your entertainment, human guinea pig style.
Okay, the orange colored, round thing...just an orange. I didn't bother with pictures of that. If you're curious, walk yourself down to your local grocery store and pick one out yourself. Then come back, there's more to come here.
First, we have this fruit, kind of looks like an apple, kind of looks like a pear.
Once inside, yup, still can't decide - apple or pear? I took a bite...still couldn't really tell. Well, really, it's an Asian pear, but tasted pretty bland. It definitely needed another day or two to ripen.
Next, oh boy, we've got something strange looking here. The spiky looking bits are funny, and kind of soft. Hmmm. I cut it open to see what it's like on the inside. My first thought - damn, these would make good eyeballs for a Halloween haunted house - like grapes, but bigger, and even more slimy. I scooped one half out, and gave it a little nibble. Tasty. Sweet, and a little on the tough side to bite off at first.
I wasn't so sure about eating that seed though, so I turned to my good friend, Mr. Google, for help on this one. This is a rambutan. And you're actually supposed to just squeeze them to get the fruit out, and don't eat the seed now, because that can be toxic. Okay, should have googled a bit sooner!
Don't worry, I didn't eat the seed. You're just supposed to nibble this and leave the seed, and the skin around it. It was kind of hard to get the flesh off without eating the skin from the seed, so I gave up after a bit. Still, tasty, and enjoyable.
On to the next funny looking fruit. I turn to Google right away, since I'm not too sure how to approach this one. According to a Cambodian cooking school website, and all the other sites I checked, this is a dragon fruit. I can kind of see where that name came from. And all you have to do is cut this right in half.
It cut very easily, and opened up to a white inside, with lots of little black seeds. I took a spoon, and scooped out the flesh, just like you would an avocado. The seeds are edible, luckily, and the fruit itself is kind of like a kiwi, but without the tartness. In fact, without really much taste. It's a watery fruit, and didn't really jump out at me. Okay, but not my new favorite fruit.
Lastly - you didn't think I was going to eat the bananas, did you? I'll tell you, I actually ate one in Bangkok (since there was always a bowl of fresh fruit in my room there), and it tastes like a banana. Plain old, boring, mushy banana. Never been a fan.
Actually, I finished up with this. I stopped for lunch at this place called The Shop, and they had a good selection of pastries there. The mousse is chocolate hazelnut, and it looked much more attractive before I bought it and took it home with me in a tuk-tuk. And the brownie...just a brownie (and upside down too, I think). I'm actually saving that for tomorrow - I hope it's worth it!
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