Dylan discovers Durian & Jacqueline cooked Squid curry (not on the same day!)

For those of you who don't know, Durian is a fruit or better known as the 'King of fruits' in Malaysia. As the King of fruits, Durian has slowly gained global awareness as a number of documentaries have surfaced in the National Geographic, Discovery, and travel channels. Quite unfortunately (perhaps fairly as some would defend), the fruit is known internationally for its notoriously strong smell/unique odor.

Here's a little excerpt from Wikipedia on Durian --- The durian (IPA: [d̪uˈɾi.ɑn]) is the fruit of trees of the genus Durio belonging to the Malvaceae, a large family which includes hibiscus, okra, cotton, mallows and linden trees. Widely known and revered in Southeast Asia as the "King of Fruits,"^[1] the fruit is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and a formidable thorn-covered husk. The fruit can grow up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter, and typically weighs one to three kilograms (2 to 7 lb).^[2] Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown and its flesh pale-yellow to red, depending on species.^[2] The hard outer husk is covered with sharp, prickly thorns, while the edible flesh within emits the distinctive odour, which is regarded as either fragrant or overpowering and offensive. The odour of the ripe fruit is very strong and penetrating, even when the husk of the fruit is still intact.

After hearing about the fruit for about a year (through TV documentaries, and his wife and mother-in-law), Dylan finally agreed to give this well known fruit a taste. Verdict - happy to announce that he liked it (or does not have an adverse, gagging reaction to it--he was just 'hamming it up' for the photos below). Just in case you want to take the plunge as well, Durian can easily be found these days in Chinese grocery stores all over the United States as well as Scotland (so I discovered)! It is quite often in a frozen state rather than fresh because it is a tropical fruit thus freezing is required to be transported to these non-tropical countries quite naturally. I hope you'll get a chance to try it someday for those of you who have never tried or even heard of the fruit!















Squid curry ..... right. Squid is also known as Calamari (for those of you in the States). It is one of my all-time favourite seafood dishes. To my delight, there are a number of fish mongers along the street on my way home from work. They carry a large array of fresh seafood and huge squids are quite a common sight. Dylan decided that the whole preparation process is quite blog worthy and took some pictures to document it. Hope you enjoy the photos!! ha ha ha....