The Mangosteen

One touch of a mangosteen segment to your lips, and you will understand what manna tasted like.

After you carefully cut an opening into its thick, fibrous rind, you will find a supple treasure within this tropical fruit. A mangosteen is divided into segments, just like a tangerine, and has one (or two) medium-sized seeds inside each segment. The fruit flesh of a mangosteen will melt on your tongue, releasing its abundant, honeyed juices in a flood of deliciousness. The flavor of a mangosteen is subtle, and less concentrated than a dragon eye (longan fruit). I would say that its texture and taste is almost like a cross between a juice-filled loquat or lychee, and with the finish of a soft, ripe (but not overripe) banana or a very ripe and non-gritty pear.

Confusing enough?

If I had to compare a mangosteen to our everyday fruits as available in the local produce market, I would say, imagine a slickly lubricious, non-fibrous, and incredibly juicy citrus fruit with a soft, melt-in-your-mouth banana-like interior. But way, way better.

I hope that "the Mangosteen" has encouraged you to be more adventurous at your local farmers market or while inspecting the exotic area of your supermarket's produce section. You never know what treasure you will find there.

Why I Love Vietnamese Grandmothers

Because after a long day at work, you will "mysteriously" discover a tray full of crackly, golden, and freshly-fried cha gio sitting on the kitchen table. And what do you know? They are just waiting for you to eat them.

You Must Take This Quiz

I just took this test, and it was brought a smile to my face.

70%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?
If you are a blogger, this is the ONE quiz that you need to take. It will either humiliatingly expose your addiction (for which you need help for) or confirm what you knew all along: that you need to get off the computer, you fool! Though I am technically a "blogger," even despite my lengthy hiatus, the quiz still asserts that I am addicted to blogging. Lately, I've been addicted to surfing through and reading other people's blogs, which I love doing with all of the great content and ideas out there.

I have to admit, I am both relieved and stressed to be back to the blogging world. And I have to qualify my return: my reentry will be a little slow and painful. I plan on just posting about how I am going to gain back those five pounds (and then some, preferably, ten to fifteen additional) that I lost for the wedding! Bring on a carb lollapalooza, the po' boys, the pizza, and the fried chicken! (Or bring on the below images! . . . Can you tell that I am purging my hard drive of old food pictures? No? Okay, thanks.)

Now Mrs. Passionate Eater

Finally, the wedding is OVER and I can go back to passionate eating!

The bad thing is, I couldn't take pictures of the food and hardly ate at all because I was busy visiting the guests and going over other wedding details. So instead, I just wanted to show you all these pictures of the tasting menu, of what we ended up ordering for our buffet dinner. We had a sushi buffet station (as seen above), a French station, and an Asian fusion station.

At the French station, we ordered a salad made with wine country organic mixed greens with Napa Valley goat cheese, slices of Asian pear, toasted pecans, and Chardonnay verjus dressing.

For the appetizers, we enjoyed (1) ahi tuna fire spiced on crispy lotus root topped with wasabi aioli, (2) succulent Washington oysters served on the half shell with Chardonnay verjus dressing, and (3) mini dungeness crab cakes with a Spanish romesco sauce. We also ordered other items, not listed here in the tasting menu.

We also ordered grilled Colorado filet of beef tenderloin marinated with herbs de provence with a Cabernet roasted garlic sauce with a gratin of horseradish potatoes and a bundle of seasonal vegetables.

For the Asian fusion themed buffet station, we ordered teriyaki glazed salmon cooled on cedar planks and garnished with grilled pineapple and crispy fried spring onions and served with a mushroom mango risotto and saute of vegetables.

And I DO have pictures of the cake:

Now back to posting regularly! I missed everyone a lot, and am happy to announce that the stress is over!

Almost all images (with the exception of the "tasting menu" shots) are credit of their respective photographers (friends and professionals) and not Passionate Eater