Mangii & rumbutan (mangosteen &..rumbutan)

I learn the Indonesian names of fruit as I eat them. Watermelon, papaya, and mangoes give way to salak - with a hard, brown, snake-like-skin that peels back to reveal strange, white, effervescent fruit. Football sized durian (my least favorite) with the spiked yellow shell that opens to layers of large seed pods, wrapped in a damp, stringy husk you eat that tastes both sweet and like the most pungent garlic. I think it would be a great additive to a meal, eating it straight, in the morning – the mushy, intensely savory taste I don’t associate with fruit is overwhelming.

It’s the first thing I’ve had here that I have a hard time eating. But I keep trying. Rambutan (there is no English name for these) come in purple, spiked shells that peel back to golf ball sized sweet, slightly sour, white fruit, that tastes something like a sweet-tart, big peeled grape. I love these. But my favorite are mangiis (mangosteens). Chartreuse stems and purple-brown, 1” thick “husks” of ripe mangiis peel back surprisingly easy to reveal supple, bright white fruit, surrounding small pits. The consistency of an extra soft, soft orange, but with a taste 100 times more intense and sweet than anything I’ve known. Each bite of mangii disintegrates in your mouth.

As my Indonesian fruit-tastic smorgasboard winds down, a tired & thin dog finds its way through the rain, to lay in the shelter of the open villa. I call her Anjing (which means "dog" :). She has the best of manners. Sitting far away as we eat, never venturing to whine or beg or even bother the Annie’s cats (Peter and Kitty) who whip at her tail. Docile but hungry, she seems pleased to simply rest and observe in our presence. Annie and I give her bits of leftover egg and bread, which she eagerly devours, then returns to the entrance to lazily guard the villa as I type.