What can I say about this fruit? It was practically a religious experience. It was really that delicious. Originally from the Moluccas of Indonesia, it’s now grown in South America. I wish I’d taken a picture of the inside of the fruit – it was somewhat shocking to open it up. For some reason I expected it to look like passion fruit, but in actuality it looked more like orange segments covered in fluffy white mold. It was so horrifying I almost didn’t taste it, but I’m glad I did. Because it was insanely delicious. A little like banana, without the smushiness. If that’s a word, which spell check tells me it’s not.
ME: What is this?
LAUREN: Mangosteen!
ME: What do you think it looks like?
(No answer)
ME: A mangosteen?
LAUREN: Well the top looks like a flower.
EMMA: A fowers. (flowers)
LAUREN: And the bottom really looks like a flower.
ME: It does, because it came out of a flower. Flowers are the beginning of all fruit.
SAM: This looks like a fire ball.
ME: Is it hot?
LAUREN: Well, you can always imagine with your mind that there’s a big tractor and it has a line, and there’s a fruit on the bottom that’s a bomb.
ME: Interesting.
ME: If you shake it does it make a sound?
ME: Lauren let Emma shake it. Emma, what do you say?
EMMA: Tank goo.
ME: What is the sound?
LAUREN: The sound is like….
SAM: Mermaids!
LAUREN: Well, maybe. Mermaids swimming and flashing their tails.
ME: What do you think it’s going to look like on the inside?
LAUREN: White, or yellow.
SAM: A golden dragon.
EMMA: A dagon!
ME: Let’s see…I think you’re right Lauren, I think it’s going to be white on the inside!
ME: Oh, wow, I can’t be sure this isn’t an insect. I’m scared to eat it, (Note, the inside of this fruit looks like a caterpillar in its womb or a chrysalis or the foam batting on the inside of your couch, none of which seem appetizing.)
ME: OK, let me scrape the side and have a little taste. Oh my God, it’s so good.
ME: Here, taste, it, what do you guys think?
EMMA: Muttading. (this is one of her toddler phrases that is undecipherable but said frequently throughout the day)
LAUREN: It’s not my flavor.
LAUREN: It tastes like a sweet rainbow.
ME: That sounds like the most amazing thing ever.
SAM: This is delicious.
ME: This tastes a little bit like a banana to me.
EMMA: I don’t wike it.
ME: Oh my God that is so good. Oh my God. That was amazing. Oh my God. (Although that reaction sounds vaguely sexual in nature, for the sake of authenticity, I transcribed word for word. And I swear on my life itself that it actually was that good.)
