TARAP, A WILD FRUIT WILDLY DELICIOUS

My family is always in dismay whenever I do my weekly visit to the market as I tend to buy more fruits than anything else. I would normally depend on Mr Hubs to buy fish or meats as he makes better choices while I buy vegetables and fruits. Especially now that it is the fruit season, you’d find me struggling with bags of all sorts of fruits like langsat, rambutans, even durians, mangosteens and tarap. 

For those not familiar with tarap fruit, it is a wild fruit and native to Borneo and I believe is not found anywhere else. The skin is spiky but spikes are not hard like the durians, rather rough and colours of the ripe fruit may vary from greenish to yellowish.

It has a strong scent (but not anywhere like durians) and the flesh when ripe is soft, sweet and white. Ok, not a good description and you still have no idea what it looks like? See pictures please :)

Tarap fruit

When the fruit is ripe, the outer skin can easily be pulled apart and it would then reveal the delicious fruit inside. The fruit comes in seeds and each seed has a layer of the soft white flesh covering it. The flesh can be eaten direct from the fruit or you can scrap the flesh into a bowl or a fancy container, have it chilled and viola….a great dessert! 

tarap flesh... ahemm...this one looks a little too ripe.. 
No need to eat the seeds :)

I’ve also tried placing them in a freezer and eat them just before they freeze. Sinking one’s teeth into the succulent fruit with just a hint of frost is like a little bite of heaven!  Alternatively, one can also make fritters out of it much like making banana fritters.

So if you intend to visit Sabah, come in October or November and you will find them everywhere in the open market or ‘tamu’ even those roadside stalls. They would be sold side by side with the other seasonal fruits like durians, mangosteens, langsat, rambutans.  

durians, the King of fruits 

 langsat

 rambutans

mangosteen

A good place to stop by if you are on the way up to Kundasang where the mahestic mountain, Mount Kinabalu is situated, is Pekan Nabalu.  Just head to any of the stall selling tarap, request them to open them for you, and you can sample them there and then. Usually a medium-sized fruit will cost RM5.00 each. I’ve come across Japanese and Korean tourists even visitors from Peninsula gleefully enjoying the fruit. 

Just a word of caution, if you are not a fan of soft sweet fruit with a strong scent, tarap is not for you.  Why do I say that...well ‘cause I know of people not really keen on them ..hahaha…just like how they do not like cempedak or durians.  Oh well, one man’s food is another man’s poison. 

Tarap anyone?  :D

CHANGE IS CONSTANT IN OUR LIVES....NOVEMBER RAIN

Have not touched my camera lately apart from just randomly shooting. It is not the same as in really taking photos you see. At least that's what I think. Yeah, have gone a little lazy I guess.  

As I was browsing through the thousands of pictures that I've taken a little way back - landscape mostly,  some macro and some so-called portraits,  I discovered that I've taken some nice pictures which I've totally forgotten.  A couple I took with my digital camera.

Have adjusted the colours on 2 of the pictures into black and white - yeah changing what's real.  Change is inevitable in our lives, so let's freeze time through these pictures. 

These were taken from Strawberry Garden Resort in Kundasang, Ranau. Hence, the strawberries. Too bad they weren't in season but I managed to capture some...

Here's how it looks with colours and below in b & w

'Cause nothing' lasts forever

And we know hearts can change
It's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain..

(excerpt of a lovely song by  Guns n Roses)

SHOP TILL YOU DROP..

I woke up with a start.  I blinked and I wondered where I was. I looked around, but the place was not familiar. I sat up and collected my thoughts. Oh my God, I thought, where am I? Then it slowly dawned on me. Of course I was in a hotel room in Taipei. But where is everyone? I reached for my mobile phone which was on the bedside table. The time showed almost 10.05 pm. There was a WatsApp message from my friend. "I've gone out with TM and D. Couldn't wake you up."

Hahaha...gosh, what was meant to be just a little nap have turned into a deep sleep, dead to the world for almost one solid hour! This must have been a culmination of the hectic schedules we had the last 6 days. Hey, I am usually a light sleeper you know. I took that little nap after coming back from a whole day of window shopping and sightseeing, hopping from one train station to another station and from mall to mall in Taipei. My friends and I were supposed to go out again for supper and a little chit chat in our friends' room. It was our last night in Taipei after all.  So, literally, I shopped till I dropped.

Ready to paint the town red..

New Taiwan Dollars  .. don't be deceived by the looks. NTD1000 is equivalent to around RM100.00 only.  Anyway, things there are not cheap. 

Sogo, sighh... we only managed to look inside. Couldn't afford anything..

Taipei 101, is a landmark skycraper, once the tallest building in the world, yes even taller than our own twin towers, until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. Taipei 101 comprises 101 floors above ground and 5 floors underground.   Ouchh, my neck hurts looking up.. :)

Taiwan is prone to earthquakes and we were informed that there are several mini earthquakes the year round. All tall buildings in Taiwan are earthquake-proof.

View from the 85th floor of Taipei 101..

We can only afford to shop here...a wholesale market

But they sell nothing but winter clothes...LOL

in between hopping from shops to shops... antics of the naughty boys and girls... 

Hey, we managed to get some nice food. Ordering food when Mandarin is not one's language is a little tricky.  Ahemm.. they do not provide spoon, they give you ladle. LOL

The Shilin Night Market. Hmm.. love this..

the famous Stinky Taufu at the night market. 

These stink to the heavens but a delicacy to the locals. I understand the taste is nice but oh puleeezzz, not for me.. sorry.. LOL

Ohh so tired..we sat about anywhere... 

at a cool countryside of Taiwan, overlooking the Tachia River and the misty mountain..lovely.

Forever fumbling for something  :)

at a Taiwan countryside 

I called our friend's room which was 6 floors below and yes there were there chit-chatting.  They laughed at how they failed to wake me up even after vigorously shaking me...hahaha..eeekk, how embarrassing. Them old body has taken its toll. They invited me down but I declined. I still felt a little groggy and a little disoriented. I thought I'd better take a good shower and start packing.  We had to leave at 5.00 am for the airport the following morning anyway. Yayy.. we're going home.

After shower and feeling much better, I again lamented at the arduous task of packing. I looked at what I bought..hey, how did I come up with so much stuff? How on earth am I going to fit those in one bag. Granted I have a big luggage but even if I can fit all those God knows what stuff, what about the 20kg limit on luggage? Sighh..big problem..

Homeward bound at the hotel lobbey, 5am in the morning. 


OK,  more about the trip later. Meanwhile, cheers everyone and have a lovely Sunday.