She Shoots, She SCORES!

It was my birthday recently, and my wonderful friend JJTHWH got me a super awesome foodie present! She knows what a food geek I am, so she looked in the back of Madhur Jaffrey's "World Vegetarian" cookbook at the "recommended resources" area... and ordered me up some super cool specialty items:

First to arrive: Fresh Mangosteens and Mini-Coconuts.

Here is a beautiful mangosteen... white pulpy fruit, deep red peel, gorgeous purpley red exterior. I should write a sonnet or something!

Fresh Mangosteens are one of my most favorite fruits of all times. They are so delicious!! The flavor is very sweet, but not in an overbearing way. The larger segments have a nutty seed inside that is also eaten - it actually has a nice nutty flavor of its own, is easy to crunch, and goes well with the fruit. It's a watery fruit, even more so than most fruits, so it's extra refreshing. Also, I happen to think mangosteen is just plain beautiful. I made a special little video of Mangosteen Appreciation, since most of you have probably never seen or eaten one.

(side note: every time I make a video, I am left wondering "Do I really sound like that!?")

Yes, you heard right. MINI COCONUTS. They are called "Coquito Nuts" and they look like tiny coconut babies, and they taste like coconut, but the coolest thing is that you can just pop them in your mouth and eat them like this. They are fun and tasty and wonderful!

Next to arrive, a wonderful shipment of cool Persian and Indian ingredients & spices! I still need to do some serious sleuthing around on the internet for recipes with all these neato things: Charoli Nuts, Anardana Powder (sour pomegranate seed powder!), Amchoor (sour mango powder), Anjain Seeds, Dried Limes, Radhuni, Khak Shir, and Char Magaz. I already made some dahl and added the Anardana powder - lovely! I welcome any and all recipe suggestions!

Thank you JJTWH!! What a wonderful present!!!!