Wedding Cake

This is my sort of wedding cake. Nothing says I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you like butchering a big dead animal.

Hungry For

AlwaysHungryNY has an interesting post about what New York chef's are always hungry for. It's interesting to know what the people preparing your food likes to eat on their own time. I like everything. But the two things that I can eat anytime are a bowl of hot steaming Vietnamese pho and crispy salty thin french fries.

edit: I would like to add chicken wings onto that list.

Pierre Herme Macarons

I don't like macarons. I find them overly sweet and flavorless with a texture that is unappealing. But lucky me, my macaron loving friend bought me back a box of these lovelies from Paris hoping to sway my opposition. Oh did she ever! The macarons made in France are of a different animal. Same cookie but the flavor and texture is so much better! Taste and texture of macarons are very important because there's not much going on. It's a very simple cookie that is relatively easy to make but very difficult to make well. There are three components that make a good macaron: 1. Filling 2. Crispy Crust 3. Chewy Texture.

Look at the crust of the PH macaron. You can see that the top has a nice crackly airy crust without being hollow. Underneath that is a chewy toothsome layer.
Now look at all that filling! The ratio of filling to cookie is perfect, there's just enough filling to be on the edge of indulgence without falling off. None of PH's macarons were cloyingly sweet and come in wonderful flavors. Why oh why are we here in the states so cheap with macaron filling when we are so apt to squirt a truck load of jelly filling in a greasy doughnut? Why?
From top to bottom: Rose Lychee, Vanilla, Pistachio, Chocolate Passionfruit, Salted Caramel (there's 3 of these).
They were all delicious but I think my favorite was the pistachio. PH's fillings are so on point. Prevalent yet subtle and definitely not artificial tasting. The whole macaron, filling and outer cookie, just melts together to form something spectacular in your mouth. PH's macarons are definitely sexy.
Thanks JH now I am a convert. I love macarons but specifically I love Pierre Herme macarons. Click on the brochure pictures to see a bigger view of all his flavors and find out where in Paris you can find them.

Welcome Back Mom! Here are some Scallops!

My mom came home from a 3 month business trip yesterday and the first thing she wanted to do was go to the supermarket. Living in New York we take for granted the variety of ingredients we have so easily accessible to us. Walk into our supermarkets and most of the ingredients are fresh and of high quality. Our fruits and vegetables are fattened from fertilizers and steroids. Authentic ethnic ingredients are flown here from all over. Just back from China, my mom said our Chinese supermarkets have more Chinese ingredients than the motherland. That's because we get goods from all of China and not just specific regions like they do there.

My mom was a kid in a candy store picking up items with cool wrappings that she's never tried before. In our cart went tons of meat, some destined for the freezer, bags and bags of fresh veggies and fruit, and some shrimp chips and red bean pops for snacking. Upon walking in my eyes fell upon these beauties:
Fresh Scallops

I don't often see fresh scallops in their shells in the market, let alone still moving! One of these suckers clamped my finger tip! Now I know they are fresh!


I came home and scrubbed the outside with a wire brush. Then I opened the scallops by first sticking a butter knife in and scraping the meat off one side of the shell. After doing this the shell can be opened and the side with no meat cracked off and discarded.


Remove all the weird parts leaving just the scallop behind. Rinse the scallop and shell in cold water to remove any debris and sand. Using your butter knife loosen the scallop from the shell so it will be easier to eat later.


I spooned some thinly chopped garlic, scallions, salt, pepper, and oil on top of each scallop and set it over a steamer. Steam for a minute and a half.

When removing from the steamer make sure not to loose all the juices that are left in the shell because it makes a nice sauce.

Next time I will put some cellophane noodles along with the garlic and scallions before they go in the steamer so it will absorb all of the sweet juices from the scallop.

Let the Ghetto Gourmet teach your Ass how to cook! Shaka!

You must watch this episode of Cookin' With Coolio! Yes Coolio, who sings Gangsta's Paradise! I guess everyone is trying to cash in on the cooking show business. I don't know what is more outrageous, the fact that he keeps his "special seasonings" in dime weed bags or his sous chef/hype man or is it his second rate, big boobied, worn out looking video girls? Nope it's none of these. It's not even him comparing his caprese salad to "your mama's titties". What's outrageous is Coolio now has his own cookbook titled, Cookin' with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price! Hear are a few of the more interesting recipes you can find in the book:
Soul Rolls (deep fried spring rolls wrappers with beef or turkey and seasonings)
Finger-Lickin',Rib-Stickin', Fall-Off-The-Bone-and-into-Your-Mouth Chicken
Crybaby Chicken
Chickena la Jarez Marsalala
Peanut Butter Chicken Love
Grilled Italiano Breasteses
Popcorn Steak
Cat Me If You Can Catfish
Jarez Make-It-Rain Peanut Butter Cookies

You can get it now on Amazon for the low low price of $10.88. Better get your copy now before they all get sold out for Christmas!

Check out his other cooking videos!

Brussel Sprouts on the Stalk

Look what I found! I'm so excited. I love brussel sprouts. These babies are going to taste fabulous roasted!

P.S. My favorite places for roasted brussel sprouts are Alta and Momofuku Ssam Bar. Craft Restaurant's sprouts were disappointingly dissapointing. My friend said I make them better. I expected more from you Tom!

Grilled Eel Japanese Style

I've been making this at home lately because it's so easy, all the ingredients are nonperishable and can be kept for whenever you are hungry with no food, and can be made for one person. I buy the eel at the Chinese supermarket. You can find it in the freezer aisle next to the frozen fish balls. It comes vacuumed sealed already seasoned with the sweet eel sauce. I usually cut myself half a piece and grill it in my toaster oven until the edges get nice and charred. I serve it on top of Korean or Japanese rice with seaweeed and sesame furikake seasoning and sliced avocados. It is delicious and so easy. Today I didn't have any avocados but I had some pickled spicy shiso that I made the other week. Deeeelicious!

Turkish Kitchen

Originally I was going to post this in the What's shakin' and bakin' section of my blog but there was just too much that I wanted to say. Turkish Kitchen is one of my all time favorite restaurants. I just went yesterday and I'm already craving me some more. There hasn't been one thing on their menu that I haven't liked. All the seasonings are well balanced. Meats are cooked perfectly. Every dish is full of flavor. You can tell that care and thoughtfulness was put into everything they make. My Armenian boss took me my first time and we ordered everything on the menu. For apps we had Patlican Salatasi mashed eggplant blended with herbs, Humus chick peas & tahini paste, seasonal with garlic and olive oil, Tarama Salatasi red caviar spread, blended with olive oil and lemon juices, Sigara Boregi phyllo scrolls stuffed with feta cheese pan-fried till golden brown, Mucver pan-fried zucchini pancakes served with garlicky yogurt sauce, Cacik homemade yogurt mixed with chopped cucumber, blended with garlic, mint and dill, and Manti poached beef dumplings served with garlicky yogurt sauce. For entrees we all shared the Döner Kebab vertically grilled lamb sliced very thin, served over rice, Sis Kebab chunks of baby lamb chargrilled on a skewer, served with rice and pan-fried potatoes, Etli Yabrak Dolmasi grape leaves stuffed with ground beef, rice and herbs cooked olive oil, served with rice, Piliç Topkapi boneless cornish hen stuffed with traditional rice, served with zucchini pancakes and baked potato, Akdeniz Levrek Izgara mediterranean whole sea bass, and chargrilled, served with romaine lettuce, a lemon & oil dressing. Seriously, everything was delicious. All the dips are good. The lamb is superb. I was a little afraid that the cornish hen wouldn't be cooked right but it was delicious. I normally don't like grape leaves but Turkish Kitchen makes theirs so good! You have to try it even if you're not a fan.

Last night when I went they were having 20% off because it's their 20th anniversary! Woohoo that means I can eat 20% more. What a great deal! My date and I ordered the Icli Köfte cracked wheat (bulghur) patties stuffed with ground lamb, pinenuts, black currants and walnuts as an app and it was delicious fried goodness filled with really flavorful lamb. Too bad there was only two on the plate. I could have eaten more. For entrees my date's boss, who has been to Turkish Kitchen six times, recommended the Iskender Kebab vertically grilled lamb sliced very thin, served with garlicky yogurt and tomato sauce over pita bread and I'm so glad he did. The lamb was just so damn tasty. Some parts were nicely browned and charred which is how good gyro meat is done. The garlicky yogurt had the texture and taste of ricotta cheese and the pita bread soaked up all the juices from the lamb and the sauces and was more like pasta then bread. The dish is sort of like a turkish lasagna. I ordered the Bildircin Izgara chargrilled boneless quails served with zucchini pancakes and traditional rice. The quail had a nice char to it without being dry. It was well seasoned and flavorful. I loved the rice. It was seasoned with just enough spices to give it a little bit of flavor and had the texture similar to chinese sticky rice which I love. I don't really like my rice dry and loose so it was perfect.

I recommend going to Turkish Kitchen with a big group just so you can try all the dips and apps. But it's also a great place for a romantic date. The next time I go I want to try the Arnavut Cigeri pan-fried calf’s liver served with onion and parsley mix, Ahtapot Salad chargrilled octopus salad tossed with tomatoes and onions, Pirzola baby lamb chops chargrilled and served with traditional rice, Islim Kebab baked lamb shank, wrapped with eggplant slices, served with rice, Hünkar Begendi puree eggplant topped with baked chunks of lamb or chicken marinated in a tomato sauce, and save room for dessert! I'm eying the Keskul almond pudding made with milk and cracked almonds and Revani semolina based pistachio cake soaked in honey syrup. Check out the menu with pictures on their website:

Turkish Kitchen
386 3rd Ave (27th & 28th St)
New York, NY
212-679-6633

Pickled Green Tomatoes

All my pickled cucumbers have been eaten. They brought happiness to a lot of pickle loving people! Those pickles were so good Tasty Good Times planned a potluck around them! His sliders were the perfect accompaniment. Now that my cucumber plant has dried up for the winter it's on to pickled green tomatoes! I used the same brine but instead of dill I threw in some dried oregano. I'll let y'all know how they are in a couple of weeks! You may recognize this jar. I think it has special pickle making powers.

Ramen Setagaya

Good luck getting a seat at Ippudo on Friday night. It doesn't even matter that it was raining. So instead I opted for the next best ramen joint, Ramen setagaya. The wait was only 10 minutes, any more than that for ramen is ridiculous. So what did I think? Not bad, broth was thick and rich with umami flavor, toppings of fatty pork and soft boiled egg were perfect, and the noodles were nice and al dente. How do they make those eggs so good? The yolks had the texture of honey! Too bad the gyoza weren't better.

It's not as good as Ippudo but seriously it's just ramen...why would you wait 2 hours for it? I'll just have to return to Ippudo for lunch on a weekday like Tuesday when it's not busy.

Ramen Setagaya
141 1st Ave
(between 9th St & St Marks Pl)
New York, NY 10009
(212) 529-2740

Momofuku's Spicy Sausage Rice Cakes

I really like David Chang's Momofuku Ssam Bar. However their dishes are hit or miss. Some are phenomenal, like there spicy sausage rice cakes, and some not so much. This is my rendition of his recipe. I don't have his cookbook so I had to improvise and I think it was pretty spot on. First boil some frozen rice cakes until soft, drain and set aside. Boil some brussel sprouts until soft and set aside. In a pan saute half Italian spicy sausage and half ground pork meat. Take meat out and add some extra oil. Pan fry the rice cakes until they get slightly crispy on the bottom. Add a lot of chopped garlic, the cooked sausage and pork meat, brussel sprouts, and some Korean gochujang mixed with some water. Stir and cook until everything gets coated with the sauce. Drizzle in a little sesame oil, stir in. Top with sliced scallions and fried shallots. Ooooh it was good!

my PICKLES are ready!

I made a total of 3 jars from the cucumbers that grew in my backyard and shared them with friends and family. I didn't realize how many people love pickles!

I used this recipe before but this time I changed it up a bit. Here is my new version:

Perfect Pickles
makes 1 jar

1/2 quart of boiled, cooled to room temperature water
1/2 cup white vinegar plus another 1/4 cup
3 1/2 tablespoons salt
1/2 tablespoon pickling spice
1 1/2 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon dill seeds
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 garlic cloves, sliced
half a bunch of dill, slightly chopped
5 persian cucumbers, cut in half lengthwise

1. Boil water, add salt, and allow to cool. Add vinegar.
2. Place all of the spices into the bottom of the jar with the dill.
3. Pack the cucumbers into the jar..
4. Cover the cucumbers with the brining liquid until the jar is filled.
5. Place in refrigerator.
6. Pickles are ready to eat anywhere from 2 days to a week depending on how sour and salty you like them.

Green Tea Mille Crepe Cake

I love the green tea mille crepe cake from Lady M Cake Boutique. I had this one at my favorite local Japanese joint, Momoya, with my favorite foodie!

Lady M® Cake Boutique
41 East 78th Street
(Between Madison Avenue and Park Avenue)
New York, NY 10075
Phone: 212.452.2222

Momoya Chelsea
185 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10011
212-989-4466

Malaysian Hot Sauce

I had an exciting day yesterday. Aside from all the cucumbers that are growing in my garden I also have a nice bounty of chili peppers. I stuck some in the freezer to last me all winter and the rest I used to make my own version of Malaysian hot sauce. This is how I did it:
Soak a handful of dried shrimp in water. Drain and give it a fine chop. Chop up a handful of garlic cloves and shallots. In a pan dry roast the shrimp until it is dry, fragrant, and slightly toasted. Add oil and set flame on low. Add garlic and shallots. You want the shrimp to toast up and the garlic and shallots to slowly caramelize. Once this all happens add finely chopped chili peppers and some sugar and maybe some more oil if needed. Allow to cook on low for 5 more minutes allowing the sugar to caramelize a little and the oils in the chilies to come out. Add some fish sauce to taste and voila you have my version of Malaysian hot sauce that is great used in stir fry or served with dumplings or noodle soups!

I heart my blog

I love my blog. Not because it's fabulous or really interesting, because it's neither, but because it's like a library for all the things I've cooked or eaten. I have the worst memory so this blog remembers it for me! I just watered the garden and have an abundance of cucumbers that I can't finish all by myself so a great idea popped into my head to make PICKLES! I've made them before and they came out AWESOME but I can't remember where I put my recipe or who's blog inspired me to make them. For the past 10 min I've been searching and searching until I realized that I blogged about it and here it is!!!! This is great! No need to rummage through piles of index cards with written recipes or binders filled with recipe print outs, no need to search through every file in my computer because it's all logged right here in my blog! I'm all smiles!

Vosges, let your body move to the music

I'm eating my favorite chocolate bar right now. Vosges Barcelona Bar, deep milk chocolate, hickory smoked almonds, and sea salt. I love Vosges inventive flavors and ideas but yesterday I was having a chocolate craving for something comforting and nothing pairs better than chocolate and nuts. Ever since I started pastry cheffing I can't eat cheap chocolates like snickers and kit kats. The waxy texture and overly sweet taste turns me off. The barcelona bar is perfect. Not as sweet as milk chocolate but not as bitter as dark chocolate and with a touch of salt to open up your taste buds I can't think of anything better. At $7.50 a pop I'm glad I don't crave chocolate that often!
I eyed these Barcelona chocolate covered almonds at the counter but it was too late. My credit card was already rung up. These babies will have to wait until my next chocolate craving!




New York – SoHo
132 Spring Street (between Greene & Wooster)
New York, NY 10012
Ring: 212.625.2929
Hours: Daily 11-8

New York – Upper East Side
1100 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10028
Ring: 212.717.2929
Hours: Mon-Fri. 9:30-8, Sat-Sun. 10-8

Must Haves

Must haves in the kitchen:
1) black sharpie marker
2) paring knife ( I prefer my serrated paring knife from Victorinox)
3) two dry rags
4) some wit to ya

Fat Lazy Cat

I'm Snoopy and I like to eat crab, salmon sashimi, grilled fish, chicken, medium rare steak, scallops, chicken broth, tuna out of a can and yogurt. My all time fave treat are bonito flakes! I don't like to eat cooked salmon, pork, liver, shrimp and any kind of vegetables and fruit.
*Edit: I also like Roomano aged gouda cheese and small bites of cake.

My Mom's Garden

My mom has an amazing green thumb. Last year I posted about all the goodies she grows in her garden. This year because of all the sun and rain we've been getting the crop has been abundant. Look at these beautiful yellow and red tomatoes!

Oh my OMAI

One of my favorite cuisines is Vietnamese . It is my comfort food and I would be more than happy to eat it everyday of my life. I love the balance of clean, fresh, and bold flavors that embodies Vietnamese cuisine.

Recently I had dinner at Omai and oh my was it delicious. This place is a hidden jewel in the city. Most of the Viet places here in NYC are down and dirty neighborhood joints. Don't get me wrong I do LOVE these places but what we need is a restaurant like The Slanted Door in San Fran that offers Vietnamese fine dining. Omai is as close as you can get in NYC. The restaurant itself is quaint with its brick walls and white parchment covered bistro tables. I find that many fancified Asian restaurants in NYC, that are mainstream for the American Folk, lack bold flavors and are not authentic or dumbed down for the masses. Omai has all the wonderful flavors that Vietnamese cooking should have, fish sauce offers that umami flavor, pungent herbs offer freshness and punch, garlic, fried shallots, it's all there. I highly recommend their apps. I had grilled calamari over cucumber, lettuce, tomato with a tamarind vinaigrette. The calamari was grilled perfectly. It was tender and soft unlike many places that serve it chewy. The banh cuon, shrimp ravioli topped with fried shallots and aromatic herbs, is delicious and their banh xeo, crispy rice crepe filled with chicken, shrimp, and bean sprouts, is the best I've ever had. I'm still craving that!

For the entrees I had the grilled prawn and scallop over grilled vegetables, rice noodles, in lime basil sauce and the sauteed chicken in spicy lemongrass sauce. Both were very good, a slight bit salty but delicious over rice. Portions are pretty big here. The two entrees can feed 2-3 people with rice. However I do recommend ordering lots of apps because they are really really tasty. I'm already planning out the apps for my next visit. I want to try the lemongrass beef roll in fresh rice roll, sesame seed and lime dipping sauce, the wok seared monk fish with peanut, chili, basil, served with sesame rice crackers, the grilled baby back ribs with five spices, and I would also get the shrimp ravioli and crispy rice crepe again! Prices are very reasonable too!

Omai
158 9th Ave (btwn 19th & 20th St)
212-633-0550

Breakfast. Brunch at Five Points.

I am having creamy non fat Fage yogurt with just perfectly ripe peaches and a drizzle of chestnut honey. It is divine.

Yesterday I had brunch at Five Points. I thought it was very good. I had the poached egg with hollandaise over homemade fennel sausage and buttermilk biscuit. I asked the server if I could have the yukon gold home fries instead of the buttermilk biscuit but the chef wouldn't allow it. Oh well. I would have liked it with the potatoes since I'm not a big biscuit fan. I did find their biscuit too sweet for my taste. The sausage could have used more fennel, especially since it was advertised as a fennel sausage, but it was still very tasty. The poached egg could have had a runnier yolk but now I'm being too nit picky. Overall the dish was good. The hollandaise was just right. It didn't overpower the whole dish with its fatty self like the way a thick hollandaise can. It was a perfect supporting character to the whole ensemble. I also tried the poached egg with hollandaise over cooked spinach, smoked salmon, and croissant type pastry. This was awesome! Everything was perfect, nothing was overpowering and all the flavors and textures melted in your mouth. I liked the spinach in the dish because it's hard to find veggies for breakfast unless you are having an omelet but that's boring. The spinach was delicious and it didn't take away from the dish at all. And honestly what doesn't taste good on a croissant? Really! The lemon blueberry ricotta pancakes offer a perfect counterpoise to the savory dishes. You can order this dish as your main but I think it is a perfect dessert to the brunch. The pancakes are so light and soft I think I can inhale a whole plate of these babies. They are a bit sweet, it reminded me of doughnuts, so go easy on the maple syrup.

Five Points
31 Great Jones St (btwn Lafayette and Bowery St)
212- 253-5700

Sasa my Bune

Sasabune
401 E 73rd Street
(between 1st Ave & York Ave)
New York, NY 10021
(212) 249-8583

"no spicy tuna
no california roll
TRUST ME"

Go here if you want really fresh sushi without all the frills at an unpretentious spot.

Tonight was my third time here and this time I was served: tuna, white tuna, yellowtail, amberjack, salmon, fluke, bonito, red snapper, scallop, giant clam, orange clam, stripe bass, horse mackerel, toro, black cod, sea urchin, salmon roe, fresh water eel, blue crab roll, toro roll, albacore, kumomoto oysters, abalone, octopus.

The highlights of the evening for me were the kumomoto oysters (always good), stuffed squid (interesting and delicious), scallop (so buttery), horse mackerel (holy cow the only mackerel I have eaten that was this good), black cod (like sex), salmon roe (like little bursts of umami broth), and the blue crab roll (so simple yet so good).

But you know what? You shouldn't go. Because it's so good I don't want everyone to know about my secret spot.

Australia VII: Good Eats in Cairns

If you are ever in the area of Cairns I highly recommend dinner at Bayleaf Restaurant. Bayleaf serves Balinese food which in my opinion is in between Thai and Indian Food. Green leafy plants and tiki torches add an exotic island feel to the restaurant. Perfect for a romantic intimate dinner for two or for large parties. Ask about the al fresco seating when it's not too hot. The food was really really delicious. We had the Lamb Curry with Coriander and Cardamom which was really made perfect, the lamb was tender and the spices and flavors were just right, and the mixed seafood grill which was also grilled and marinated to perfection. The food was good quality and well executed. Service was wonderful. For a fine dining experience and the fantastic food the cost was moderate and the portions were appropriate. I would definitely go there again.

Bayleaf Restaurant
corner of Lake and Gatton Street
Cairns, Queensland, Australia 4870
Ph: +61 7 4051 4622

Australia Part VI: Cairns' Rusty's Market

Fitzroy Island in Cairns, Australia

A few weeks before I was leaving to Australia I caught an episode of Bizzare Foods with Andrew Zimmern about Australia. In the episode he explored the world of exotic fruits at Cairns' famous Rusty's Market. Lucky me, that's just where I was going! And if you know me then you know I looOooooOoooOoove me some outdoor markets! Initially I thought I was going to miss this awesome market because it's only open on the weekends but then I looked it up online and found out it was open on Friday too! Hallelujah my flight isn't until 7pm Friday!

I woke up on Friday really excited. With a list of all the fruits I wanted to try in hand I was off to the market. Rusty's Market not only has fruits they have a bunch of stalls that offer food. This is what I had for breakfast along with a bowl of Pho:



Samoan Tasting Plate- I have no idea the names of the different foods on the plate but it was really tasty.


Philipino Lechon- If you don't know what lechon is then you better go and find out, right now! This might have pushed this meal to win "The Most Gluttonous Breakfast While in Australia" award. Fatty, crunchy, fall off the bone meat, this was delicious! After this I was ready for some fruit. All of the fruit and produce at the market are picked fresh that morning. You can also find stands selling sugar cane juice, flowers, ready made food, coffee, smoothies, and jewelry.

Paw Paw- very similar to papapa

Unlike the States where we only have one type of banana, the markets in Australia have several varieties. These are called Sugar Bananas. I love bananas!

Cabbage bigger then a basketball

Carambola, also known as starfruit

Lettuce so fresh, every leaf was green, bright, and crisp!

The aromas from this coffee stand was intoxicating. When you order the man asks if you want it ground. If so he then asks if you are using a filter, coffee machine, or press.

A selection of asian greens

Passion Fruit- tangy, floral, tropical, slimy with crunchy seeds

This is the bounty that I came home with. I think it's the ugliest bunch of fruits I've ever seen but didn't your mama teach you not to judge a book by it's cover! These exotic fruits were amazingly delicious and also very interesting. I didn't know fruit can taste like this! Chocolate and caramel oh my! I had a long list of fruits but couldn't find most of them. When I asked one of the vendors she said to come back January to February when it's summertime and all the really exotic fruits are available. From the top left going clockwise: Black Sapote (Chocolate Custard Fruit), Dragon Fruit, Sapodilla, Apple Custard Fruit, Sugar Bananas, Passion fruit.

Apple Custard Fruit is also known as bullock's heart or bull's heart. It has a soft custardy inside similar to a very ripe pear and taste like mango/pear more then apple. This was delicious and my favorite of the bunch.

Black Sapote is also known as chocolate pudding fruit. I saw this on Bizzare Foods and knew I had to try it. How can a fruit taste like chocolate pudding? Indeed the inside is the texture of pudding. Imagine being one of the first people to discover this fruit. After opening it what in the world would make you want to eat it. It's so dark in color it stains everything it touches. I think I cut it open before it was fully ripe and fully mature in flavor because it didn't taste anything like chocolate to me.

Sapodilla - taste like caramel!

Dragon Fruit - I first had this fruit when I was living in China. It comes in two varieties, one has brightly red colored meat like the I bought at Rusty's shown above and the other white. Imagine eating a watermelon with the seeds of a kiwi and that's exactly the texture of this fruit. The flavor is very mellow and indistinctive but fun to eat.

Sugar Bananas - are small bananas with a meaty, dense, and slightly slimey texture.

Not shown is a picture of the miracle berries I scored! The lady sold them to me 3 for $1 aud which is about 83 cents usd. I bought 6 and she threw in one extra. She must have thought I was a sucker but little does she know they sell them for more then $5 a pop here in the States. I bought them back to Sydney to miracle trip with my mates and indeed lemon slices do taste like lemonade, Guinness like a malty smoothie, lime juice like sugar syrup, and goat cheese like cheesecake!

Rusty's Market

OPENING TIMES

Friday Saturday Sunday

5am to 6pm 6am to 3pm 6am to 2pm