http://napper.typepad.com/chiu_on_this/
Submissions
2007.12.05 /Bug and Bird Nuts
2007.01.22 /Israel
2007.01.02 /Raymond's Seafood
2006.12.16 /El Grullense
2006.10.12
In lieu of writing about a new restaurant, I'd like to write about a new fruit. Every summer, the large cactus in my backyard puts forth exotic, hand-sized white blossoms, which later transform into peculiar-looking fruit. This year, for whatever reason, my cactus yielded a bumper crop of fruit. Having nothing better to do between jobs, I ate a few.
These fruit aren't pedestrian prickly pears, oh no. About the size of a lemon, the outer skin is bright pink and spineless. If left to mature on the cactus, the fruit eventually splits open, revealing white flesh with tiny, black seeds. in this respect, the fruit greatly resembles the dragon fruit (pitaya), which, it turns out, also comes from a cactus.
This fruit somewhat tastes like dragon fruit, too. Imagine a mildly sweet kiwi fruit (including the little seeds), except the flesh is crisper and spongier--there isn't much juice in them. The fruit also leaves a slimy feeling in my mouth, which I found a bit detracting. You're not going to find these fruit anytime soon in school lunches, though they still beat the britches off those nasty, clorox-jello-tasting kiwano horned melons.
2006.07.15
2006.03.09
2005.11.13
2005.10.06
When Tracy and I visited Spain a few years ago, I came across a soda called Bitter Kas. The drink is well-named: Bitter Kas is in fact very bitter, but unlike tonic water, the flavor has an added dimension which defies description (by me, at least). "Turpentine-like" or "pine resiney" seems to best convey the taste. From what I can tell, the drink has an enthusiastic following in Spain; perhaps it would have a more international fan base if it were distributed outside of Spain. Or perhaps not.
Recently, a friend returned from Barcelona. Having remembered my descriptions of Bitter Kas, he brought back a bottle for me. I was surprised to discover that Bitter Kas is a Pepsi Co product. The tinge was a bit redder than I remember, but it certainly tasted the same: quinine...tincture of pine needle... Would it mix well with vodka? Is "Kas" an English-Spanish cognate for "gas(oline)"? Bitter Kas is something I could possibly grow to like--if only the 7-11 carried it.
2005.09.11
Lee's Sandwiches, the local (California) chain of Vietnamese sandwich shops, also carries a number of Vietnamese drinks and desserts. The other day, I picked up a curious-looking drink with my order of bahn mi.
Out of ignorance, and for lack of a better name, I'll call this drink "The Pond." Like many sweet drinks from SE Asia, The Pond blurs the texture line between drink and dessert. Do I sip it with a straw, or eat it with a spoon?
Here's what is in The Pond:
- Sugar water
- Frog eggs: the frog eggs are basil seeds, which develop a fuzzy, jelly-like coating when soaked in water. If you remember the extinct Orbitz, the short-lived drink with (floaty) balls, you get the idea. The basil seeds have exactly neutral buoyancy, so they stay put, neither floating to the top nor sinking. They don't taste like anything.
- Algae: a brown, slightly crunchy mass. I'm not exactly sure what this is, but it reminds of white fungus (the crunchy stuff in sweet Chinese soups)
- White chunks: Coconut?
- Red chunks: hmmm. Dried papaya?
How does it taste? The Pond is sweet, and a bit earthy--perhaps from the brown stuff--but it's not bad. In any case, The Pond has vast visual appeal!
