Durian Flood

Terengganu, Pahang, Melaka and Johor where Johor being hit the worst! Not by durians like the above picture. Many states in Peninsular Malaysia is badly hit by flood. Real water, not durians! The flooding news had flooded the media for the past flooding week. Haha!

Sarawak is not even spared! Especially Sibu. Sibu has been flooded with durians, lorries of durians and more durians. Haha! I mean, Sibu is flooded with water too but only the longkangs are full. But I think Sibu people will be drowned, literally, eating too much durians rather than by water.

But it is hard to buy good durians, as in D24! Foochow folks here say, "Nii may liulian, ai tanggong hoh, nii choh mui neng, uh tanggong pau sang kiang?" *gasp* I couldn't even pronounce that properly. That Foochow proverb means: When you buy durian, you want a good quality guaranteed but if you are a matchmaker, can you guarantee the bride will bear children?

I have no idea what does buying durian got anything to do with bearing children but maybe in Foochow, they rhymes and thus the so-called connection.

This is DABAI. The olive-like fruit (or vegetable?) that always come together with durian. It is actually a local olive. We Sibu people call buah dabai "karang" (in Foochow) because they look like olive.

Dabai is cooked in boiled water. You have to soak the dabai in boiled water for a few minutes. Then after you drain the water, add a few teaspoons of soy sauce and then sprinkle some sugar evenly onto the dabai. Or just sprinkle some salt only. Either way, the dabai is ready to be eaten.

If you boil the dabai in boiling water, it will not cook. Weird, eh? Well, that is one of the uniqueness of Sarawak.