I think I might be eating too many wild foods....
I can't rave enough about Borneo. And I only visited one small part of one small area of the country. The area of Sabah is on the northern tip of Borneo, just south of the Philippines.
Very warm and quite humid, because January falls into the rainy season there. The best time to go seems to be Sept-Nov. Otherwise it is unbearably hot and humid, or its raining in the evening.
Our days were always sunny, but the night brought light showers. Nothing to stop a determined raw foodie from scouring the local markets for all the goodies to be discovered.
This market was right across from our hotel...luck? I keep saying thank you...
Papayas and some lovely Salak fruits...
Is this not perfection? Simply amazing.
Not a huge fan of the green mangoes, mostly because I cant eat them right away.
But if you had a food processor, you could make shredded mangoes with some chilis, olive oil, lime juice and a little nama shoyu. Thats hard to beat, and so easy!
Not a huge fan of bananas, but this is how they are supposed to look.
Sorry Miss Chiquita...youre as fake as it gets.
Did someone say coconuts? 50 cents each and MASSIVE.
I couldn't finish them sometimes.
A bundle of fresh mangosteens...50 cents a lb!($8/lb for frozen ones in Chinatown NYC)
Someone is getting very rich importing mangosteens...
And of course...the meat. So for all your relatives that still partake in the flesh,
they will be loving it. Freshly charred meat, and very reasonable prices.
Poor little fishes...just swimming in the ocean this morning.
She knows whats up...the greens are where its at.
Gigantic bundles of cinnamon. What are we settling for in the states?
And yes...after asking around, we found the durian stall. Only two varieties are available
this time of year, and not many people are selling them right now.
These are called "Village Durians" which means that local people from the
villages will get them from the jungle and bring them in every night.
These were so small, but really packed a wonderful flavor.
I was loving it.
I even started eating the seeds. Not the brown coating, but the inside white part.
They were crisp like an almond that has been soaked overnight.
Not bitter at all.
Hmmm...what more could I ask for?
They weigh out your durian, place it on your table already split open for you,place a box of tissues on your table as well, and thats it.
You dig in, leave the seeds on the table, and
when you're finished, they wipe it down and put all
the scraps in a big plastic bucket. Genius.
This was our first evening there. We arrived around 8pm, so it was just the market.
This was so good already, as I said before...I'll be coming back here asap.
Day two coming up soon...
To travel is to grow. And its so fun...you just cant lose.
6 comments:
anthony, you should work for the SE Asia tourism office. . . i'm about ready to book a flight and basically camp out at the markets! Or that coastal + rocky beach that looks very similar to maine, but a hell of a lot warmer!
i still haven't had a durian, but for the past year or so, i've had a curious habit of trying to eat all seeds i come across in my fruit- i've discovered that persimmon seeds are fun to mull around in your mouth, avocado pits are bitterly inedible. . . and so on. it's quite entertaining, and i'm still determined that i can someday replace nuts with not just pepita, sunflower and hemp seeds, but fruit seeds as well so there's even less waste and nut-free "flours" and dessert fillings.
are you missing the cinnamon bunches and durian feasts already??
x jenny
damn that durian looks good! i'm miffed i missed out on season eek.. and to think this is the only time in my life i actually paid attention to durian season! what?
i really have to go to sabah. so near yet so far! argh!
when are you going back??
:) m
Anthony!
I love your quote "To travel is to grow." I just can't get enough of traveling either. It's my life.
As for Durians, I CAN get enough of those. You inspired me to go buy one. The only ones I could find were frozen ones at the asian market here in Canada. I really didn't like it. The first bite was interesting, but it gave me the worst after taste.
I will definitely try it again sometime, but ONLY if I am in asia and I get it fresh. You look like you're in heaven in your pictures of you eating Durians! I want a piece of that heaven! haha
Mel
Dizam! Those prices! I bought a lousy rotten durian at my local Asian market and it cost me $17 bucks and was horrid! lol
I'm going to Borneo someday, oh yes, I will.
take care,
Sam
yardsnacker.com
I wanna go, I wanna go!!!
You look fierce! Totally awesome.
B
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