The "Top 5" meme, or whatever it is.

[oyceter]

Top five tropical fruit for rachelmanija

1. Mangosteen (shan zhu or "mountain bamboo" in Chinese), which is my favorite thing ever and which I spent about half-and-hour trying to describe to Rachel before we resorted to Google images. It's got these white sections, sort of like an orange, but they're fleshy and soft and juicy and very fragrant and tasty. They're just sour enough to make them tangy and interesting, but so sweet that they don't pucker your mouth. Anyway. They're just really, really good.

2. Wax Apples (lien wu) - one of my favorite summer fruits! They look incredibly weird, but they're crispy and sweet and juicy. Also, the hollow bit inside has a cotton-y texture which is very interesting. Sometimes they can be too watery, but when they're sweet and fresh, they are delicious.

3. Mango - Not even the mangoes you get in California, but the giant, fat, ripe, red mangoes of Taiwan, which are so sweet and juicy that you basically have to eat them over a sink and let the juice drip down from your elbows. And the smaller, wilder green mangoes with creamy yellow flesh, which are a little more sour and tangy than the red ones, but I actually like them better because they have that sort of wildness still in them. And the little pickled green mangoes are good too.

4. Starfruit - They're juicy and mild, with a slight hint of flavor, and I always feel like they soothe my throat. Also, when you slice them, you get little stars! (thought I personally prefer slicing each lobe off, so you don't have to eat around the seeds)

5. Dates - small and oval and pale green, they are crunchy like apples, but less grainy. I eat these by the ton during the winter, and I love the sweetness to them. They're not quite as sharp as I think apples are, less honey and more... something else.

Screwy, already hit five... I could go on for hours about fruit.

Top five recipes with the most imbalanced (either way) effort/reward ratio for maga_dogg

Er, I haven't been cooking very long, so I haven't come up with that many of them, and since I am not too ambitious (yet!), I don't have much on the too much effort/too little reward end. Well.. ok, I tried some sort of tough stuff, but it was totally worth the effort.

1. Cucumber-yogurt-dill sauce, which is amazingly easy, very adaptable, and very, very good with chips or chickpea pancakes or pitas or anything, really.

2. Twenty-clove garlic chicken. Toss together chicken, root veggies, oil, salt, pepper, rosemary and a whole lot of garlic and roast. The chicken fat softens the veggies and flavors them, the roasting makes the chicken tender and juicy and not too dry, and dude... more garlic is always a good thing. Plus, you can spread the squishy garlic on bread!

3. Broiled salmon. Take salmon. Oil both sides and sprinkle on salt and pepper. Put under broiler for eight minutes. Take out. Flip. Put under broiler for another eight minutes. Squeeze a ton of lemon juice on top and eat. Easy! I was doing this before I even really started cooking, which should say something.

4. Polenta. Boil water. Add cornmeal slowly. Stir a lot. Substitute 1/2 the water with stock if you really want to. Tasty and lasts forever and can be sliced or broiled or eaten with cheese and is the best thing ever.

5. Steel Cut Oatmeal. Ok, maybe it's not as easy as instant, but it tastes about a thousand times better because the steel-cut oats have a nice, creamy, chewy texture, as opposed to just being sort of wet. Toast oats in butter, add water, let sit. Add milk (optional), let sit. Add dried fruit, brown sugar, maple syrup, whatever else you like, eat. Really yummy and good for you to boot!

Sadly, some of my favorite recipes so far are not on here because they involve more than two or three ingredients and a food processor or something. But these are my absolute favorite, really, really easy things that even I can make and not think about. You don't even really have to measure anything!

Five sexiest things about Eliza Dushku for the_red_shoes:

1. Pouty mouth! Pouty mouth! (different from potty mouth)
2. The way she looks like she could beat people up
3. The hair!
4. Leather pants! (ok, possibly I am equating her with Faith, but still...)
5. The way she sort of swaggers when she walks

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Ahh, I have never had four of your five fruit! (I hate dried dates, but maybe I'd love them fresh. Plus I've never had red Taiwanese mangoes, but I am sure Indian mangoes are just as good.) As for mangosteens... arrrrgh... "Although difficult to describe, the taste is an instant sensation (as opposed to aquired) for most people and commonly rated as the best of any fruit amongst those whom have tried it."

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

SQUEE!

1. Pouty mouth!

Ghod, those lips. Yes yes.

2. The way she looks like she could beat people up

And frequently does! Heh.

3. The hair!

I so want that hair. THAT hair, specifically.

4. Leather pants! (ok, possibly I am equating her with Faith, but still...)

Hee, doesn't bother me....

5. The way she sort of swaggers when she walks

Thank you! I got several happy moments out of that one.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

My response: http://www.livejournal.com/users/thomasyan/177879.html

I could go on for hours about fruit.

Go for it!

In the meantime, depending on your sensibilities, you might be amused by my post "100 or more things about food". See the top entry here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/thomasyan/170293.html

[justinelavaworm.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, mangosteens. Better than sex. Nuff said.

Star fruit (belimbing). Never really got the appeal. I mean, they're soothing and all, but kind of flavourless.

Dates aren't a tropical fruit! Though they are divine.

Mangoes make me happy. Especially Bowen Island mangoes. Sigh.

I've never tried waxy apples. I will now track them down.

What do you think of rambutan and longan? No where near as good as mangosteen, obviously, but they're still pretty good.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Have you ever had fresh (not tinned) lychees? Those and Alphonso mangoes get my vote for Fruit of the Gods. At least, until someone can bring me a fresh mangosteen.

[justinelavaworm.livejournal.com]

Sure. Lychees are way common here, but not only are they not as good as mangosteens, they're not a patch on longan or rambutan either. (All these fruits are the same family.)

Clearly, Rachel, you must come visit me in Sydney in February--the height of mangosteen season, when there are plenty of mangoes about as well!

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

I've never had mangosteens but have often wanted to. I hear that they are bcoming the new fashionable "magic food" among health food quacks, so they may become more available soon. Star fruit, to me, are more valued for looks than flavour.

[maga-dogg.livejournal.com]

I agree with the starfruit. It may be just that I've never had starfruit in the right place; mangoes in the UK, for instance, are pretty emasculated imitations of the genuine article. And mangosteens are very, very good.

[oyceter]

Yet another reason why I must drag you back to Taiwan! And dried dates are a totally, totally different thing from fresh dates (like grapes and raisins). I read further in the Wiki article, and it looks like mangosteens are illegal in the US! Woe!

[oyceter]

Yay, I'm glad!!

[oyceter]

Ooo I like the sort of soothing nature of starfruit. Also, I am still highly amused by the shape.

Hrm, had no clue about dates! I suspect it's because I just sort of equate any fruit available in Taiwan with "tropical fruit" -- I kept trying to put oranges and strawberries and apples on the list because they're so good there, before remembering that they weren't necessarily tropical.

I don't think I like rambutans quite as much (they're the weird pink tentacly ones with white flesh and little speckly black seeds, yah?), mostly because I generally don't like fruit that's too sweet or without any sourness or something, and ... I haven't had longans. I know!

I think for some reason as a kid I decided I didn't like them, and just avoided them. I should try them when I go home!

And I forgot lychees!

[oyceter]

I hear that they are bcoming the new fashionable "magic food" among health food quacks, so they may become more available soon.

Oh huh, I had no idea!

I actually really like the mellow-ness of starfruit, but admittedly, if they're not ripe or something, they're just sort of watery and boring. But when they're sweet, they're very good!

[(Anonymous)]

where do you get fresh dates in N. Cali? farmer's market? are these dates from Coachella Valley in S. Cali? What stages of ripeness do you receive them? I've beey dying to try fresh barhi's from there b/c it's suppose to rival native arabian dates b/c of the similar climates. Also, farmerss at Coachella Valley are a bit finicky about ordering dates b/c of stages of ripeness during harvest season from September through October or November can be very tight. I keep missing the dates (no pun intended) to order on time :( Now I want a date milkshake. argh.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

And I forgot lychees!

I feel better.

I haven't had longans. I know!

Oh, wow. By the way, a friend once told me she was under the impression that lychees and longans were more popular among females than males, which surprised me. I suppose that is possible, but I've never heard of such a thing. Have you?

I know that longans and/or lychees can sometimes be gotten dried. I wonder what that would be like. (My mother stewed some dried longans. I don't remember what that was like. I suspect the taste was ok, but the texture not so nice. Maybe she had also included dried dates in the stew.)

[oyceter]

I actually have no idea; the only fresh dates I've had have been in Taiwan.

Eh, sorry, but... who are you?

[(Anonymous)]

Oh weird! I've never seen them in Taiwan, must have missed them :( Well, if you're in LA during fresh date season, you can buy them at farmers' market in Alhambra (and they'd be driven in from Coachella Valley, which is much further east ), or mail order at an exuberant mailing fee. Sorry, should've intro'ed myself. I'm Linda. I knew fannishly from highschool and live in Menlo Park. I popped to your LJ from hers and stayed b/c I like your food posts and think they're funny.

[ponygirl2000.livejournal.com]

I made chickpea pancakes with yogurt dill sauce on the weekend and they were damn tasty! The pancakes even heated up nicely in the toaster the next day.

[oyceter]

Aren't they tasty? I love them very very much!

[diony.livejournal.com]

I haven't had star fruit in quite a while but I remember really liking it; it seemed like just the thing for a hot day.

[oyceter]

Very much so! It's just nicely soothing and not too strong, but still tasty.