The Jennifer Blogs

I have always loved fruits of all kinds - apples, bananas, cherries, and all the way through the alphabet. So when I saw that the ExxonMobil Expats were having a class to teach ladies how to select, cut, prepare and eat fruits from Thailand, I had my name on the list but fast!



I couldn't believe the spread Nantana had laid out for us. Her table was covered in unique delights! The colors and shapes ... the textures! I knew before she began that there was going to be some really good stuff hittin' my mouth that morning!



Now I wish I had taken some notes, but I was too busy eating to hold a pen. The first thing we were served was grilled banana. It wasn't a long banana like you'd see in Publix with a Dole or Chiquita sticker on it. These bananas are smaller. Much smaller. And like I said, they were grilled. Well, actually she said she cooked them in her toaster oven because she doesn't have a grill. It was really good. Definitely very black on the outside, but so tasty on the inside. And Nantana told us the Thai people do not eat those same bananas "raw." Only cooked.



I don't remember the order in which we were served the rest of the fruit, but she also taught us how to choose and prepare rambutan, mango, mangosteen, santal, longkong, pomelo (my favorite), salak, guava, pomegranate and pineapple. I think there may have been some others in there as well.



The pomelo was probably my favorite. It resembles a grapefruit, but doesn't offer the same bitterness as a grapefruit. It was delicious and I can't wait to go buy some this week. My friend Melanie told me these are also available in Florida, but I was never introduced to all the deliciousness that is a pomelo while living in Florida. What a shame!



Before we left, Nantana made us some mango sticky rice. We had to peel our own mango (not an easy task), and the sticky rice was so good! It's basically white rice with coconut milk and sugar. Delicious! I would have never imagined I'd like it because I'm not a fan of the taste of coconut, but this was really good.



If I hadn't gone today I would have missed out on a lot of great fruits that are available here in Singapore. It's not that I'd be worried I wouldn't like them. It's that there's no way I'd ever have figured out how to peel or serve any of them on my own.