Durian, the King of Fruits, From Bud to Fruit.

The Durian has a very cloying, pungent smell but it has a taste which aficionados swear is  heavenly. You either love or hate the smell!! There are sweet durians and bitter durians.

The outer skin is very thorny and the experts can tell by its thorns the type of fruit you will find within. Durians now come as branded too!  The D24 used to be very popular but it has now been surpassed by the Musang King.  One is even known as the XO.

I prefer the bitter tasting durians to the sweet tasting ones.

 The durian is not harvested but left to fall from the trees as this indicates that it is ripe to eat.

The hot weather of the past few months has the durian trees coming out with prolific blooms and durian orchards are anticipating a bountiful harvest this season.

Although you can gain weight if you eat many durians, there are health benefits to offset this..
Nutritionists have claimed that eating durian can help to lower cholesterol levels as well as to cleanse the blood.

The durian also has high iron content and .amino acids as well as Vitamins B, C and E. Its high level of anti oxidants can also protect you from free radicals thus helping to minimise the effects of aging on the skin, giving you a younger look.

Tryptophan, one of the amino acids found in the durian, is essential for making and maintaining serotonin levels in your body. Serotonin is the hormone that regulates our happiness. Thus eating durian will also increase your general happiness and well being.

The only disadvantage of eating durian is the awful gas that comes out when you burp! The only way to eat durian is with your fingers. You will have to wash your hands using the durian seeds to get rid of any smell that clings to your hands. Some wash their hands with the water running down from the durian’s thorny skin.

To prevent getting a sore throat after eating too many durians, you need to drink water from the durian shell and lots of it.

One thing never to do is to consume alcohol together with durian.  It can prove to be fatal.

Breath-taking View from the Air

Just as the plane was descending, this is what I saw.

                                          There were many vessels streaming in the Straits.

 Then we flew over a golf course which sent my heart fluttering.  So many bunkers!!  And big ponds to hit one’s ball across!! The fairways and greens look immaculate.

Quite unlike my home course which is scorched and parched from lack of rain.  In places where the water from the fairway sprinklers cannot reach, the grass is either brown or black!

One consolation is that the ball runs a longer distance! But I would rather have nice green and lush fairways.

Qing Ming Festival or Tomb Sweeping Day

This festival falls on the 5th of April every year and can be observed either ten days before or after the date.  Many people prefer to visit the graves of their relatives before the actual day so as to avoid the crowds and massive traffic snarls leading to the cemeteries.

The family will be armed with implements to clear away the overgrown grass and to repaint the faded characters on the tombstones.  It’s either red paint or gold paint. So another name for this festival is the Tomb Sweeping  Day.

Food is offered and Joss paper or  hell money is burnt together with other elaborate paper offerings such as the latest electronic gadgets  like smart phones, ipads, effigies of maids, chauffer, cars and other things that would make life easier in the other world.

Family members pray for good health and wealth and for the departed loved ones to protect them from evil and harm.

It is also a time for family gatherings as they meet at the tombs of their loved ones and make their offerings and pray together.  Should some family members go ahead and perform their prayers on an earlier day, they will incur the displeasure of the rest of the family because they are said to have taken away the good luck, leaving nothing for those who came later.

However, not all families go to the graveyard.  Some visit the columbarums where the urns containing the ashes of their loved ones are kept and they  pray there together with their offerings neatly laid out.

Others pray at home where the ancestral tablets are kept.  Food offerings are laid out and prayers are performed, after which  joss paper together with other paraphernalia are then burnt.

 

The Christians do not offer any food or burn joss paper  but will lay flowers after cleaning the tombs.

Petai, a Super Food

It is amazing how the petai transforms into the bean pods that we are familiar with. This is the first time that a friend has shared the pictures of the petai growing in her garden and I have her consent to share these pictures with you.  Many of us do not realise how the petai evolves.

                                                   This is what we usually see in the market.

Petai has to be taken out from the pod before it can be cooked and it is usually cooked with prawns and a spicy chilli paste . This dish is known as sambal udang petai and is a great favorite with Malaysians.

                                                        The round flat green discs are the petai

The petai is bitter and can be considered a super food. It contains B vitamins which help to calm the central nervous system. It also contains tryptophan, a type of protein which the body converts into serotonin, that makes you relax, improves your mood and generally makes you feel happier.

It is high in fiber and eating it regularly will help those who suffer from constipation

It is extremely high in potassium but low in salt and eating petai regularly can help to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke. Note that any bitter vegetable is good for us, e.g. the bitter gourd.

It's one of my favorite food.