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Durian, A Story (Part 2): I Told You Not To Keep It Too Long in Your Refrigerator...

Friday, June 30, 2006

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One year from “Durian Candy” affair, and May came again. This time I carefully marked my agenda for the Thai Festival, and I was lucky enough not to forget it or happened to have other plans on those dates. It was raining, but I still took my time to go to Yoyogi park (where the festival held) for that crazy little fruit called Durian (well, not ‘little’, perhaps :-) ).

The ‘fragrance’ (I think my lab pals won’t agree with this wording :-) ) quickly guided me to the right spot, and without further ado I started to choose the fruits. Wondering how much Durian I should buy, I began to think to whom I would give the fruit besides Pecolin and Sonoyo. The remaining members of my lab who witnessed “Durian Candy Panic” episode were Kurata and Makii, and I think both of them would kill me if I still dared to bring the smelly object to the lab. I didn’t want to risk my chance to graduate from my lab by giving the fruit to my professor, either :-), thus the option to bring it to the lab was out of question. After short-listing candidates for my next ‘Durian victim’ :-), the (un)lucky :-) person was Aki. Hippo members are always a good choice on something like this, for most of them dare to try new things. And most of all, Aki sometimes invited me for a dinner, and I think this was one of the way to express gratitude (honestly, at that time I didn’t reckon that Aki might not consider it as a gift, but as a disaster :-) ).

Anyway, I mailed her to ask whether she liked Durian or not. She said that she never ate it before, but, as I had guessed it, would like to give a bite. She also offered a pasta dinner for the exchange of the fruit, and we set the date to the next Thursday.

Thursday came and I brought the Durian to her place. This time I had already came to my sense (?) and realized that she might not like it, thus I also brought Azuki ice cream with me, just in case. Like I often said before, Aki is a good chef, and even though it was only two of us, she cooked pasta that enough to feed 10 hungry persons (exaggerating :-) ). Anyway, we started to eat, and it was really delicious that we (We? May be it was only me :-) ) ate a lot. Finished with the dinner, we were about to proceed to the long awaited dessert (yes, Durian...), when Aki said: ”Can we skip the Durian tonight? I think I prefer the Azuki Ice Cream...”

Well, I had no problem at all with that, thus we proceed to the ice cream. I told Aki before I left not to keep the Durian too long in the refrigerator, because the ‘fragrance’ would spread out (The Durian was double sealed, but you could still smell it. Even in the train back home from Yoyogi park to my home I started to worry when I could feel the smell creeping out of my bag. Accidentally, I was taking Toyoko line, where around a decade ago the Sarin gas accident occurred. I started to wonder whether people around me who could smell the Durian suspected me as a member of strange religion which planned to do a mass suicide in the subway :-) ).

The following Saturday Yoshimi and Aki invited me for a sushi along with Chesda (a guy from Kampuchea) and Akane (another Hippo member). At that time Aki told me that she still kept the Durian in her refrig and that all her stuff there seemed to have turned to Durian (well, at least the smell :-) ).

“I told you not to keep it too long there”
“I know, but I don’t have the confidence to finish it all by myself. Can we all come to my home and help me finish it?”

Yoshimi and Akane seemed interested with the idea, and I would be surprised if Chesda didn’t like Durian (he’s a southeast asian!) so after the sushi we went to Aki’s place to do her the ‘favor’. To make it short, we opened the fruit, and one by one tried it. As I already guessed, they found that it was more delicious than they thought before, but learning from “Durian Candy” affair, I prepared for the worst: their reaction for the “after effect” (when only the smell left in the mouth).

Well, may be because I had prepared myself for it, their “after effect” reaction were not as bad as I predicted. Aki and Akane did race for toothbrush after eating (literally :-) ), but at least they said that they would have no problem with it if the smell was not that strong. Moreover, Yoshimi was doing fine (and not reached for mouthwash :-) ), and thus we finished the remained Durian together.

“Is there any other way to eat Durian beside eat directly like this?” Yoshimi asked when we about to finish the fruit.
“Well, sometimes I eat it as ice cream”
Yoshimi savored the Durian taste in her mouth. “I think it suit a vanilla ice cream. I’d like to give it a try”

Well, now I know what’s my “Durian project” for next year: to find Durian ice cream in Japan.
And since this time the result was not so bad, I think it’s not a bad idea to test it again to my lab pals...