Saturday 4 May 2013

The fruit in China has been the best.
This is probably because it is fresh, here in the south of China, with farmers bringing local crops to market.
The fruit is often sold off trucks parked on streets, and at small sidewalk markets. In other words, there is no
middleman or warehouse storage. It is fresh.

Last autumn, Don and I noticed how wonderful the oranges tasted. It was the season for mandarin oranges and
tangerines, and it was 'Christmas' all fall. It is impossible to describe how great these oranges were, in taste, in texture and
in sweetness. They set the standard for perfect oranges.

Then the fruit kept coming, with equal rave reviews.
Bananas, grapes, apples (which may not be local since they are individually wrapped), mangos, watermelon.

For the past few months, pineapples have been in season. They are small and sweet and the best we have ever tasted.
Even Don, who spent two years in Hawaii on his mission, says that these are number one. And, how many of you have
experienced a real, fresh, soft, perfect mango? OK, the fellows who lived in the Philippines have. It is mango season now.
Eat your heart out!

There are types of fruit that we have never heard of.

One is the durian. It is a large, oval, interesting, spiny tropical fruit.
We first noticed it when we walked past a stall that emitted a terrible, revolting odor.
I looked up the fruit in the dictionary to see if I could explain it properly. The description said that
durian has a 'fetid smell', and 'fetid' means 'smelling extremely unpleasant.' When Ian and Debby
were visiting, Debby exclaimed, "What is that?" It was that fetid smell coming from a durian
stand. The odor rivals anything in China, even the sewer-fume manholes.

The taste must be better than the odor, since people buy it and you see durian flavoured ice cream.
Once (Uncle) Ian and I were buying gelato at a good ice cream stand. We asked what the favourite
flavours were and the girl replied, "Chocolate, mango and durian." Since Ian could hardly believe
that durian was in the top three, he had a sample. Then he really couldn't believe it!

I goes to show that some things are an acquired taste.

One photo is of durian.
Another photo shows a fruit stand and a sweet little boy.
The last two are of our alley, behind the campus. Don goes there because he likes to "buy local." It is 2 minutes from our apartment.
Our gate is at the trees at the end of the alley, which we have named 'Dumpling Alley,' because of a good dumpling shop.
The shop is always busy, usually with students from the north, who especially miss their dumplings. Dumplings are like wan tons.
No one was up this Saturday morning, but the street is usually busy. You can see a lady carving a pineapple.