New Experiences

Recently I have been having a lot of new experiences and most of them have been good. So I've decided to document my new experiences for a future date when I feel like life is boring or stagnant. I find that reflecting on my past experiences is sometimes helpful when I feel down. So here goes, for November 2015, I had the following new experiences:

Panacotta

I had Panacotta. I know, it doesn't seem like a big deal to you, but for me it was major. I love food reality tv. I religiously watch Master chef and on Master chef someone is always making a panacotta and running the risk of it not setting in time to complete the challenge. This dessert is not popular where I live, so I had no idea what it tasted like. I assumed however, that it would taste like jello or like a custard pudding. So, you can imagine that when I saw it in the convenience store, I squealed at the opportunity to finally taste this dessert that was so popular on one of my favourite tv shows. Needless to say, I enjoyed every spoonful of my panacotta :).

I learnt that there is a fruit called 'Buddha's Hand'. I didn't get the opportunity to taste this exotic fruit, but from my research I probably haven't missed much. So, just knowing it exists is enough. Isn't this world amazing! I would never have imagined that this was the normal shape of anything. It however, is beautiful in its own right.

Buddha's Hand

After living in Japan for several years, I finally tried hot Japanese sake and discovered just how strong sake can be and that I actually like it. I was at a public cafeteria when I saw some people drinking a clear liquid from cute, tiny cups  that looked like toy cups from doll houses. I was immediately intrigued. So I tried it. The heat from the sake is somewhat intensified when heated. The sake immediately warmed me from the inside out on a cold autumn day.

Hot Sake (Japanese)

In addition, I recently had two strange but interesting fruits from Vietnam. I tried langsat (lanzones) and dried lychee. The langsat was dirty on the outside but the inside had such a pleasant taste. The texture of the fruit was that of a grape, but the taste was reminiscent of passion fruit.                 

At first I was unsure about the dried lychee because I didn't know what it was, and it looked spoiled. I opened the lychee expecting to see white flesh, but was greeted by a black, shriveled object. As you can imagine I was surprised and scared to try it. Upon closer inspection, however, I realized that it was similar to a raisin or prune - a fruit that has shriveled up and changed to black during its aging process. After making that connection it got easier to eat the dried lychee.

Langsat (Lanzones)

Dried Lychee

What lies inside the dried lychee