Be Braver! -- Durian

Last spring, I posted about how Hubby and the kids and I shop at the local Asian markets and wind up daring each other to try things.  Over the years, we've become steadily more adventurous. 

After last week, though, I'm not sure we have anyplace else to go. (Without getting into scary animals and parts of animals that I don't think are meant to be eaten. I drew that line even before my boys found frog legs at a buffet and tried to convince me that they were good.) 

Hubby called and told me to bring home an interesting fruit we hadn't tried before. So, after consulting with my three boys, I did.  

If you're not familiar with Durian, it's got a nasty reputation for its smell and flavor. The nice young man in the produce department told us that it wasn't nearly as bad as the Food Channel had led us to believe, that it tasted "like banana pudding and garlic powder had a baby."

And no, I can't tell you why bringing one home to try sounded like a good idea. Probably because I knew it was going to happen sooner or later and wanted to get it over with. One of my sons, the one who should definitely be old enough to know not to poke the sharp fruit, was bleeding by the time we got to the checkout line.

It was two days before we worked up the nerve to cut the thing open.

I took my bite before anyone else had a chance to make a face or tell me how awful it was. I think the banana pudding and garlic description came pretty close. Hubby says that it smells and tastes like natural gas. There's a definite touch of sulfur. And the taste lingers in your mouth for a very long time.

Be Brave!

Right after our oldest was born, Hubby and I ventured into the local Asian market. I can't remember what we were looking for that day, but that was the start of it. I only remember the timing because the owner offered to hold my baby for me while we shopped and I was still deep in my "no one is ever going to hold my infant except for me" mode and the idea of leaving the baby carrier up by the cash register made me want to run for the door.

That Christmas, I went back and bought the hottest, scariest looking sauces I could find to put together a gift basket for Hubby. (I've posted about his taste in food before, and how it's  contagious.) That's when the fun started. Some of those bottles are still in my pantry because we're still afraid to open them. Some got used and enjoyed and we went back for more. Since then, we've found six or seven different markets that we go to on a regular basis.

It's resulted in a lot of experiments and dares, and a lot of new foods that have become part of our regular grocery shopping.

This clay jar has been sitting in the pantry for about three years. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but we haven't worked up the nerve to open it.

Edited to add: Thanks to Kathy (who is a no-reply blogger, so I can't give her more credit than that) for shedding some light on the contents of the jar "The clay jar is preserved vegetables that you use when you make pot stickers. It is highly salted and needs to be rinsed before use. It lasts for years since it gets used at about 1tsp at a time. Refrige after opening." 

This stuff is candy (and the only reason we figured that out is because it was on the candy aisle.) The flavor was a surprise -- kind of like tame lemon drops. From the artwork, we were expecting something super sour or otherwise dramatic. There are red ones, too, but we can't decide what flavor those are. Maybe it's watermelon.

And this, the "purple rice porridge with mixed Chinese sweets," is just indescribable. It looked good at the time, and it had a cute little folded spoon under the plastic cap, but I just don't get it. Maybe it was because Teenage Daughter opened it up for a midnight snack and it was late and I wasn't hungry or in the mood to experiment. I don't think I want to give that one a second try. But I washed out the can and I'm going to keep pens in it in the sewing room because I like the look of it.

I still have the lingering fear that I'll poison the family by not knowing some important detail about our latest experiment, but so far we've been fine. And, like I said, we've added some really neat new vegetables and sauces and noodles to our regular diet.

Anyone want to bet on how long it'll be before we work up the nerve to try Durian?

This post is linked to WFMW at We are THAT family.

I have changed

I come from a family that thinks things like Doritos and pepperoni are spicy. I married a man who has swigged Tabasco from the bottle to see if its lost its kick or not.

Ask anyone in my house if Mommy likes spicy things and the answer will be no. Compared to my husband and my daughter (who is someday going to melt through the bottom of my frying pan with one of her stir fry experiments) I don't.

So why, when Bill told me that the hot sauce he picked up on vacation was a disappointment, did I stick my fingertip onto his chip and try it for myself?! He didn't ask me to try it, I volunteered.



The stuff has a seriously nasty flavor, but it really isn't that hot. Proof that I now live in a household where we use seranos because they're hotter than jalapenos and taste better.



We're just back from a four day road trip. I've figured out that the problem with tent camping isn't really being wedged in so tightly with my children. It's whatever the people in the next site are doing. Night #1, we had the loud drunk laughter. Night #2 was the hundred dollar tent site at a "destination" KOA -- I'm no longer afraid that my kids are making too much noise while we set up the tent. And night #3 we had more drunks, this time playing loud music that I probably would've liked under any other circumstances.

We did have a blast, and at one of the museums we visited, I had to take a picture of this old book.



From the card:

"Bessie Prehn complimented this field guide with watercolor paintings, dried flowers, and concise notes of what she had observed."

Today's inspiration --

I want a chalkboard globe and now I'm afraid that we threw out the one the kids kept disassembling because I was so sick of trying to make the countries line up again. It didn't seem like a big loss at the time because it was so outdated, but now I'm hoping it's somewhere and I can patch it back together because this is just SO neat.

I'm sure my kiddos would love some cereal box notebooks. Although I may just glue the boxes onto the existing cover instead of redoing the wire if they're for the little guys. For myself, I might tackle the wire.

The drafting series has started over at ikatbag. Am I the only one who had to resort to Wikipedia to find out what on earth a sloper is?

I could seriously use a double framed clock for my dining room.

Now I need to get the sleeping bags and tent back up to the attic and make some time to sew!