Mangosteen

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, that is so good.  Wow. Just wow. That was amazing.  (Although that reaction sounds a little over the top, for the sake of authenticity, I transcribed word for word.  And I swear on my life itself that it actually was that good.)