Family ....

We have a large branch of the Phang Family in Indonesia and both branches are direct descendents of my great-grand parents. My grandfather, who was the youngest son,  emigrated from China to Sarawak. One of his older brother emigrated to Kalimantan. The remaining brothers and sisters stayed behind in China. 

One of my cousin from our Indonesian branch of our family just paid a visit to my mum. She was happy to see them. He also updated us on our family branches in China.

As for our China branches of the family, due to some nasty issues some eighty years ago, our Sarawak branch of the family refused to be associated with them and none in our family have ever been to visit them in China. I do not supposed the rift will ever be resolved :-)

Queen of Fruits (果后)

The Sarawak fruits season is here again. After the huge deluge of the King of Fruits (durian), the Queen of Fruits (果后) can now be seen everywhere and we are all spoilt for choice! 

Indeed, it is one of my favourite fruits - the mangosteen (山竹).

They are arriving by the lorry loads from various parts of Sarawak and from Kalimantan in Indonesia. The local Sarawak mangosteen is slightly different from that of Indonesia in that the local fruit is more fragrant.

Just look at the delectable snow white flesh of the mangosteen! It is as sweet as honey!

One interesting bit of information courtesy of my brother, Khiong .... just take a look at the base of the mangosteen.

See the remains of the style? See the six or seven petals? I was told that there are also those with five petals but I cannot find one in my batch of mangosteen. 

So what is so interesting about them?

Take a look at the photograph below ....

Well, the number of petals seen in the style indicates the number of segments of the fruits inside.

Enjoy eating the Queen of Fruits!