Coffee bun and mangosteen

This has indeed turned out to be the week for tasting new things.Continuing with new fruits,the friend who brought me rambuttans seems to be on a mission to introduce me to the fruits of SE Asia!!!Yesterday,she dropped by with mangosteens.I had seen them around but had never tried any (honestly,I didn't even know what they were called till yesterday!!!).These look like smaller cousins of our very own 'nongu' (in Tamil).Mangosteen has a hard,dark brown outer layer.Once you pry that open there's a fleshy inside with one seed.The inside reminded me of the custard apple.Thinking of that I bit into it....goodness it was nothing like custard apple or nongu for that matter!!Interesting fruit which tasted like a mix of peach and maybe a hint of pineapple!!

The next new thing was coffee buns.They have apparently become really popular here and there are atleast 3 or 4 shops around that are devoted to these buns.Ah well a bun's a bun you say.........No,these are really something worth trying.The idea is imported from Malaysia where the Roti Boy (the first coffee bun store to open in Singapore) stores originated (my guess is 'roti' means bun in Malay).These are extremely soft,melt-in-your-mouth,freshly baked buns that sell for $1.20 apiece.The dough is topped with a generous swirl of coffee cream (and hence the name) and has a coating of butter in the center.When the bun is baked the butter inside melts and the coffee cream turns into crust.It's quite a tasty after work/school snack and I've gotten to realle like it!!

Well,that's about it for now.There' s still one more day left in this week.......I wonder what adventures await my taste buds!!

I usually like trying out new things....especially when it comes to food (as long as it appeals to my largely vegetarian senses though!!). But today I tried two new things and that two both fruits....a first for me!!A friend brought some fresh rambutan today.For those of you who are wondering what the hell that is......it's a cousin of our very own leechee.Very popular in Sri Lanka,Thailand,Singapore and some other South East Asian countries.Coming back to the fruit.....it reminded me of a sea anemone.It has a rather hard pink skin with green things growing out of it!!Anyway,if you get past the outer skin,there's a light coloured fleshy inside and finally a gray seed inside all the flesh.The inside was soft yet firm and sweet.A really nice fruit....all the more I suppose because it was tender and fresh.

Now coming to the other new thing for the day.I have taken to this habit of having a fresh fruit/vegetable juice after my lunch at the univ canteen.The juices are good.....made right in front of you and no sugar added.To boot,you can ask for combinations too like pineapple/orange,apple/strawberry.......whatever you fancy basically.The other day I heard someone asking for guava/lemon.Hmm.......how would that taste I thought to myself.Today I tried it.Two big fat guavas were squeezed into my glass and a generous amount of lemon juice added.The result was a greenish looking liquid in a green tinted plastic cup (yes Meer,I know you are thinking alien blood....so was I!!!).I took the first sip.......interesting.......it had a very distinct bitterness thanks to the lemon juice.Tasted alright I thought.Though I would've never thought of combining guava and lemon myself!!!!