Not entirely subversive - but more adventurous: I decided - after how many years of living in Singapore (if I am not wrong, about 5 years) - to have a go at durian kacang at the Kopitiam branch in Novena Square/Velocity Mall.
For those of you who don't know, kacang is a typical Singapore/Malaysian desert - it's got typically red beans and other beans in them, lotus seeds and gingko seeds, and other herbs, and with sugar-water - topped with lots of ice and milk and other sweet flavorings.
Now durian - as you very well know - is the fruit that was once described to me by a friend to be "something that smells like sh*t but tastes like heaven". Durian kacang is essentially the kacang topped with several (a lot!) of durian puree.
Now durian is not my most favorite fruit. In fact, if there was one fruit that I would avoid, durian would be it. When I shop at Cold Storage at Novena Square or at United Square, I purposefully rush past their fruits section not so much because they are expensive - though it is partly because of that - but because of the smell of durian. I just couldn't start it.
But today, I took the plunge - and ordered myself a durian kacang.
First reaction (which came as soon as the auntie handed over to me the kacang) was "Oh my God, it stinks! And everybody will think I stink!"
So I looked for a relatively hidden seat where no one else would be eating. But as soon as I sat down with my smelly dessert, a couple - Singaporeans - sat down beside me. I was on the verge of apologizing - for indeed, my dessert stank like hell!
But they seemed to don't mind.
So I dug in.
I didn't breathe - and I just swallowed my first dollop of durian with ice - lots of ice (with a Coke Light in hand just in case I need to down the flavor real fast).
It tasted - well - great!
It still stank - but somehow, the taste somehow overpowered the smell and the taste made it, well, worth the stink.
Before today, I had been telling my friends in Singapore that "Nope, no durian, no durian flakes, no durian chips, no durian candies, no durian nothing..." But today, something just made me want to try to it out - and voila. I did try it and it wasn't half-bad.
I guess that's what one gets when one breaks out of the box (as Seth Godin once said in his blogs).
And really, there is far more to durian than the stink it creates.
Will I do it again?
Hmm. Not in the next month. Ask me again in 45 days.
