It’s durian season!

No one had to tell me what was going on when I started noticing neatly stacked piles of a certain large prickly fruit sprouting up on the side of roads all over town.  I would see at least one man standing guard over his prized goods customers were smelling, weighing and comparing the tricky fruits before paying the $1.50.  It’s definitely durian.  Most people in the US have ever heard of the fruit let alone had the pleasure to try the soft, pungent flesh that is found inside of its spiky shell.  I have had one friend describe the experience to be like eating butter while another said the smell was exactly like mashed onions and garlic, but then sweet somehow.

Even though I had already tried durian once in Thailand, (and did not enjoy it despite my attempt to keep an open mind) when my coworkers at SIKOK called me upstairs to partake in the exciting group experience of dissecting and demolishing a whole durian, I could not refuse.  I was surprised that on this occasion, possibly because it was a “better” durian, I did not particularly dislike the taste/text but did not fully enjoy it enough to have a second piece- until of course I was peer pressured into it by my coworkers that were already licking their fingers.  Now that that “necessary” experience is out of the way I am content to just stick with durian flavored ice cream, an equally creamy but much less potent option.