Switching Gears and a Stinky Little Fruit

The new year has just begun and everyone's thoughts are turning to change. Anything from trying to lose a few pounds to being a bit nicer (hah!) to what am I going to do with my life? I think the reason most resolutions fail is that they're usually too grandiose, too unattainable or made while hiccuping though a champagne induced haze. I've decided not to make any firm goals or drastic changes that I know I won't stick to, but since change is so obviously needed, I'm going to try and trick myself by making tiny little innocent changes in my life. I've decided to shelve the idea of baking as a side business, at least for a few years (the odd commission for a friend doesn't count). It came down to either I bake or I have a life; in the past few months the two have been in a tug of war and since I've been trying to do both, I have forgotten what a full night of sleep feels like. Now this doesn't mean that I'm going to stop baking, oh no. It just means that I'll be baking what and when I feel like, so if any of my co-workers are reading this, don't worry, I'll still do everything I can to undermine your "lose weight" resolutions...just maybe with a little less fervor.

The good thing is that I can redirect the focus of this blog to not just baking experiments, but pretty much any food-related subject I choose, and therefore today's post: the Mangosteen. I went to the giant Asian market with my friend a few days back on yet another spur the moment "they're closing in 15 minutes, but if we get into the door they surely won't kick us out" shopping spree and while sprinting past the frozen foods aisle I noticed a bag of funky frozen fruit. I've heard of mangosteens before, they're becoming the latest advertised "super-fruit", but I've never actually tried them. I tossed the bag into my cart and continued running to catch up to my friend when a Chinese lady going in the opposite direction stopped me, reached into my cart, pulled out the bag and said "This is stinky fruit, not good!" Forced to a dead stop I listened as she told me how she tried it and how it was a waste of money, but tastes differ of course, so I could do what I wanted. I took the bag from her hand, thanked her for her opinion and continued over to where my friend was standing and giggling at me. Now, the marketing blurbs will mention the tale of how Queen Victoria offered a reward to anyone who could deliver to her the fruit fresh and they will tell you the wonderful medicinal properties of this "miracle fruit", so I decided to try it. After all, the bag was only $3.

Today, I pulled one out of the freezer and as it defrosted I did a bit of research. I learned that the elaborately spun tales and promises are all hype and the fruit, while it looks cool, really doesn't offer much in the way of nutritional genius. But still in the microwave it went...I'm not very patient and it was taking way too long for this thing to defrost. The pictures you see are the before and after shots, but let me describe what the pictures may not convey. The before stage is of the frozen fruit devoid of scent, but full of intrigue....and the after is a stinky leaking mess. I think the fruit was named after a mongoose, for surely this smells and tastes like a wet animal. Bleh! It took a bottle of Febreeze to get the smell out of my kitchen.

The moral? If a Chinese lady you don't know makes it a point to give you advice, listen! Unless you are as curious and stubborn as I am, in which case you can't complain, it's all your fault. Now who wants the other mangosteens now taking up space in my freezer?