A plate of fruit from my motherly landlady. She had me repeat the names over and over again and I have no idea what I'm saying.
These taste like nothing else. I think the orange one, which sounded like thotho, is papaya, but I've never had it before so it's a guess. It's firm like cantaloupe, but silkier like mango, and tastes so lightly floral you almost miss it. Custardy and good. The internet tell me the green one is a vietnamese guava, which is crisp like a pear and weirdly almost salty on the sides of my tongue. Do I detect a note of cumin??? Don't know if it's not quite ripe, but it's not awesome. It tastes like green and not ready.
She also gave me some jelly things. Very firm, taste like coconut and coffee. My twelve year old self would have been ecstatic because thirty year old me was also pretty pleased.
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| Pretty |
Cherimoya - toothsome little pods that are creamy, yet pleasantly gritty. Candy-like sweetness.
Milk apple - I love these things. We frequently eat them at work and this is how the hotel serves them, which is wrong:
The traditional way is to squish and roll it around in your hands until it's soft and pulpy, then slice off the top to scoop the "milk." It has a very mild custard flavor and the juice has the unfortunate effect of creating a firm sticky film on your lips, so be neat when you eat.
Also, I realized today that the Malus domestica I bought are imported from Washington state, so I feel stupid, but I think we're exporting all the good apples because these actually have flavor.
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| I know it's a stupid cupcake, but it's so pretty! |
Coconut tart and a taro paste mummy. Taro wins everything ever for being purple. I've also had a great warm dessert soup with salted sticky rice, coconut and condensed milks, and chunks of roasted taro.
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| Uh, they meant it was spicy shrimp flavor. |
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| Delicate hollow crackers of the sea. The Homer-face on the right is supposed to be an octopus. |
Rice wrapped in leaves is always awesome because the leaves impart a wonderful tea-like flavor to everything, so I'm always happy when I see these pyramids. I don't know what the leaves are - mom? I don't think banana. This guy was slightly chewy glutinous rice gel-stuff instead of whole rice, with minced pork, wood ear, and quail eggs inside. Super fantastic. 15,000₫, including another mummy.
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| It was like a padded bra, with so many layers of leaves, but still a filling snack. |
I told you I have been trying to find Cherimoya for many years in the States. Have not succeeded yet. I am jealous. Now you know how I have been deprived. At least you didn’t know what you were missing. I love all your pictures there. Especially the mummy. Is that in a flaky pastry shell?
ReplyDeleteYes, the green thing form your land lady is guava. I swear I remember growing up getting some really sweet guava with flora scent. But now they are all planty tasting and the seeds are too hard.
YiYi also taught us the right way to eat milk apple.
The Marine Boy are the crackers?
The leaves around the rice dumpling looks like bamboo. You can tell them from banana and lotus leaves by the long narrow shape and parallel veins. Banana leaves are much bigger, something as big as a small table and thick. Lotus leaves are round with the petiole attached to the center and radiating veins. It looks like your dumpling has red beans instead of the hulled mung beans (green). I think I can see the quail egg.
Happy mouth! Happy tum!
When you are tasting all the exotica from VN and the Far East, do you think of applications for your pastry.
ReplyDeleteTHe gelatin-like dessert from your landlady were so beautiful, as was the CUPCAKE!!!! Love reading your comments and Becky's responses - you are both what B could call Foodies ( a complement). pj