Tropical Fruit and Toe Jam - A Yummy Combo?

 

After a long afternoon at a convention at – where else – the Convention Center, Zach (of 2BC fame) and I met for dinner at Mainland, a newish Asian noodle restaurant located in the Palazzo. I will write about the overall restaurant and food experience during another post, but I want to focus on one item we tried during this meal

Durian. The fetid über-fruit of tropical legend.

Yes, folks, they have shakes on their menu, and one of them is Durian.

After all of the hubbub I’ve heard about it, I finally gave in to my curiosity and decided that I just had to have this shake. After all, I reasoned, how bad could it be?!? Apparently, pretty bad.

The bartender sent our waitress Mayela back to us to make absolutely sure that we had indeed meant to order the Durian shake on purpose. Oh yes, we assured her, absolutely. She said that the bartender just wanted to be certain. The Durian has a way of making impressions on people that aren’t always positive, the curious have ordered in the past and not been aware of its, um, *characteristics.*

The shake arrived in a beautifully tapered, Pilsner-like glass. It was the rich color of buttercream frosting, and it was topped with a dollop of whipped cream. Two black straws poked out of the shake and it made a lovely presentation.

That’s where the fun both began and ended.

With a happy smile, I had to sniff it to see if the smell is as bad as “they say.”

You decide.

The nose is somewhat reminiscent of mildewy laundry, faintly funky armpit, inside of an old attic, toe jam, and gym socks. Used. So why would I even be remotely tempted to try to drink something like this? Because I could! And, unbelievably, this was great fun.

The flavor is the dichotomy. The flavor was like vanilla and buttercream pudding with a hint of banana and pineapple. The finish was a little funky (big surprise), but if you didn’t breathe while drinking it, it wasn’t too bad. However, the funk has a way of wafting through the olfactories. It’s absolutely unavoidable.

And then there are the burps.

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Pasta Fresca

I made this up some years ago because I don’t like pasta/macaroni salads with mayonnaise.  I don’t like cole slaw with mayonnaise.  Potato salad is supposed to have mayonnaise and it’s tasty, but I recently had a sweet potato salad that had been made with mayonnaise and it was execrable. Whoever created it obviously didn’t sample it.

At any rate, this is a fresh summer salad that you tailor to your own tastes.  Just follow the basic outline and go from there!

Pasta Fresca

All ingredients are to taste and you can make the proportions any way you want.

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Julia Child

We all had to start someplace. My “actual” start was with my grandmother, but I will have an article on her later.

This is about celebrity chefs. And Grandmom wasn’t a celebrity, and because of the times and politics, she wasn’t a chef. But she could cook circles around anybody. But I digress.

And as you read this snippet about my first and favorite celebrity chef, keep going to the end. There’s a great piece of news that is just making my day!

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Why? Because I’m Different

“Why in the world would you have a food site when you already have a wine site up and running? Are you nuts?!?”

My answer to that question? “Probably.”

And I don’t care. This is my other passion (which a quick glimpse at the size of my behind will confirm), and there was too much to share about my love for all things culinary to put on Vegas Wineaux. So MirePoix Vegas was born.

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