We've all had sour stomachs around here lately. Some gastrointestinal bug...our latest plague to strike. I went to pick up Vietnamese food for dinner tonight, because it sounded good. Fresh and savory, with veggies and noodles.

While I was looking at the menu, I decided to get one of their snow bubble teas. I like bubble teas. I dig the chewy tapioca balls at the bottom.

They have them in all kinds of strange flavors at our local Viet restaurant. Avocado sounds odd, although I suppose it might be OK.

Here's one that is NOT OK.
Durian

Oh lord.

I've heard that, while it smells quite bad, it tastes good. I wanted to see what it was like, so I ordered a Durian Snow Bubble. What I got was the smell of burning skunk. That acrid skunky smell, at its most nauseating, but with an even more acrid burning hair component thrown in.

It DID taste decent, before the smell hit me, but once the smell hit, that's all I could focus on. Travel and food writer Richard Sterling says:
“... its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away. Despite its great local popularity, the raw fruit is forbidden from some establishments such as hotels, subways and airports, including public transportation in Southeast Asia.”

Other comparisons have been made with the civet, sewage, stale vomit, skunk spray, and used surgical swabs.

Yep. I like trying new and odd foods, but this was beyond me. I gagged as I poured it out in the sink, and had to put a lemon down the garbage disposal afterwards to try to get rid of the smell.

Next time I might try that avocado. Or maybe just play it safe and stick with watermelon.