Day 96-Friendship & Fragrance

A heart is like a bottle of perfume
If you do not open it,

The world will not know its fragrance
---A Corny SMS Love Message

These perfume bottles were part of a parcel I received from Helene on 23 Sept 2009. I have admired and love Helene's creations since I met her in blogland and I have told her so , many times. She does not make many but when she does and shows them on her blog, I am always a little surprised at how good she really is and wonder why she does not make more . You will see what I mean when you look at the close up of her creations.

Flanell No. 6 is the No.1 seller of Cocco Flanell, a very talented designer in Paris. Now tell me, does it look like it is only 5/8" high? If I tell you this is a life-size knock off from India, will you believe me?

When I first saw her creations in Nora's bathroom, I emailed Helene and told her that I would eventually copy her crystal range (which I mistook for silver in her pic) because they really reminded me of vintage perfume bottles of India.

Not only did Helene make me the "crystal range", she gave me these beautiful silver ones as well. I call them my "silver holders" which I will eventually use to hold some ingredients needed to make perfume.

Here is the "vintage" range which are made from beads that do not blind you with their shine. I really love them. The littlest one on the left is barely 1/2" with the top. If only I have kept my mother's nail polish (she has immaculately painted nails which impressed even her very geeky heart doctor) from when I was 5 years old, I would be able to take the "Big & Small" pictures that miniaturists love.

If I have to pick a favourite though (at knife point), I will have to reluctantly choose the one with the speckled bottom which with the other 2 shown in the picture, will form part of my "quaint range", the vials for fragrance with a tinge of magic.

So dear Helene, thank you for your lovely gifts
and as Snoopy says to Woodstock
"thanks for being my friend."

Day 96 & A Moon-Kreativ Dreams

"YIKES!" by Kiva Atkinson

In a bid to rescue me from my stupor in the accursed moon I was "bewitched", some of my blogger friends threw me lifelines back to blog land.

Ironically, my 1st ones came from another witch, Tessie from Spiderwort Manor who gave me not one but two awards, the Kreativ Blogger Award and the Blog and A Dream Award. How apt, I thought. Wake up! Dreams' Over. I can just hear Tessie screeching over my head with her dragon. Then there's the darling and ever talented Jean Day (who herself had been recalled with the same award) and sweet Roberta, who despite the foreign language, struggles through my long posts of nightmares. Of course, there is also my dear dear friend, Rosanna and then Kiva, who gave this award to my other blog with an impossible long name. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.

I love awards but not always the rules. So no rules today, just a celebration. Tonight, I want to celebrate the wonderful worlds of Kiva, Eva, Ara and Rosanna, who are also the miniaturists and the recipients of both the awards from me. I picked them not because their names rhyme, but because their work fulfil both the creative and dreamlike elements of both the awards.

So here they are, the incredible Kiva, Eva, Ara and Rosanna and the 7 THINGS YOU DON'T KNOW and which I have made up about them:

"The Poisoner In The Box"-Kiva Atkinson

No.1 - It is clear from her miniatures that Kiva has been making minis for a loooooooong time (that's why she is soooooooo good). In fact, I understand it was since Obama was a teenager running in a tank top around her neighbourhood. This explains Kiva's penchant for tank tops and why she's never made her minis without them.

"Root People At Play"-Kiva Atkinson

"Mr Witchy Tree For a Bookcase"- Eva Perendreu Mata
(pic fresh off the press!)

"Pumpkin Man"- Ara Bentley

"Pumpkin Man T-Cosy" -Rosanna Rolla

No.2 - Our girls often make images of men in vegetation. They in fact believe that the 1st human beings are plants and not amoebas. They therefore do not eat vegetables.

"Fairies' Picnic"- Eva Perendreu Mata

No.3 -So strict a non-non vegan is Eva that she absolutely does not depict vegetables as food in her mini picnics.

"Addams Family Picnic" -Rosanna Rolla

No. 4 And where Rosanna's work is concerned, the ideal picnic scene should be one without food so that noone will be distracted from her beautiful embroidery.

"Octopus In A Bucket"- Kiva Atkinson

"Aristotle The Octopus In An Organ"- Ara Bentley

No.5 No guessing what Kiva and Ara's favourite seafood is and how they like it prepared.

"A Tudor Boar's Head"-Kiva Atkinson

No. 6 Kiva is a household name with the Singapore loan sharks. Over here, when you don't pay up, they hang pig's head over your front door as a warning.

No. 7: Our girls never sleep.

Kiva churns out commission work overnight and only perfect ones, make some more for her virtual shop in ebay, updates her website and then blogs and writes 55 posts just in October.

Eva holds a full time job, mothers and then make room boxes after room boxes to give away to hardworking doctors and little girls while posting regularly for her 2 blogs.

Ara drafts plans for houses into the night, have 2 mini mansions in the works, makes complicated minis, runs her photo studio , organises swaps and owns 2 blogs which she updates faithfully.

Rosanna works, washes, cooks, irons, replies to emails, nurses her sick child and still make tens of cushions and tea cosies to give to friends and admirers while building her casa rossa. She also owns 2 blogs and is running a swap for Christmas.

So put your hands together please, for Kiva, Eva, Ara, Rosanna, the wonder girls!

"Thing/Hand-(work in progress)"-Ara Bentley

I am so proud that a bit of their artistry will eventually lie in My Maharajah's Palace and even prouder that they have become my friends.

All pics click through to the website or blog where they are taken. Go and feast your eyes but be prepared for a long and plentiful feast.

Day 96 & A Moon-Up From The Basement-Pt 2

Oh my, Oh my! There should be anger management classes for irate witches because let me tell you, they really over-react!

Mdm K+T was fuming even more as she would be flying to WHC with a huge plaster on her face. I thought it gave her character and when I told her so, she added 2 weeks to my misery.

Yes, I was the one who was punished because lying head first inside the cauldron, she didn't see all the flying around or knew what hit her . She only heard me screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOO".

But, but it was the Tabla! I insisted and pointed to Mdm Golden Messy Hair, hoping she would back me up. She shrugged and looked away.

When I turned to Mdm Red Pink and Awful, she just shook her stick at me, daring me to say anything about them flying away.

And so it was with some mumbo jumbo about toil and tumble that they laid a curse on me.

No more mini making
until our broth is brewing
For YOU with the evil scream,
to the basement, damp and dim
No light, no day, no muse, no play
No blogging, no friends
till our journey to Canada ends!
oh
+ 2 weeks for that plaster comment!

And so my misery began. 1st thing they did was to dump the cauldron on me. "Cinder it", she commanded. Huh? What in the world is "cinder it?" I felt like Cinderella with the evil Sisters. I even broke into a song and birds and mice started scrambling down to the basement to help me.

After much scrambling, these were the ingredients found and properly laid out for the "cinder it":

Firstly, a plastic translucent ball removed from a spent deodorant bottle. This is the part which you used against the armpits. It is very easy to remove. Just a pen knife and a few jiggle and its off. Word of caution: Resist the temptation to smell it for it is pungent.

Then a small plate of bony hands which you will need to colour brown with acrylic paint.

The 3rd ingredient is a bit unusual. They were from the preserve pack that comes with raw fish bought from super market. The packet says "DO NOT CONSUME" and then give some instructions on what to do if you consume it anyway.

Last but not least, a handful of Grade C snakes since Grade A has escaped. Pick 2 with the best colour and worst grimaces.

The steps are fairly straightforward. Paint the cauldron brown. I "dirtied" it using dried tea leaves and coffee powder (glued on cauldron). I then placed the ball inside the cauldron so that all the other ingredients can "float" on the surface. Quite by chance, I found out that the inedible "peas" can be smeared and so with more glue I did that on the side of the cauldron to simulate the bubbling over of a yukky brew. This is my 1st "cinder it" attempt:
I think I would have been able to live with that if I am a boy. I was sharing with Helene on how there is such a thing as "too realistic" and how that is NOT a good thing.

Anyway, I squeezed 2 snakes into the pot, painted the hands and then placed them on the ball and smeared more peas . I also added glue onto the snake to make it seem as if it was dripping in goo broth. Not sure if you can see the hands but there were 3 in the pot, one of them quite smeared.
I then took the pot down to my favourite electric man because I wanted to "build a fire". This was to be the "killer ap" of my piece, the fire effect. Regretfully, Ithe electrical system in Canada was so different that there was no point sending the lights over . This is how you can do it, Karin , with LED lights.

I am proud to say that I have "designed" the light with Mr. Electric because he had never done one before. I told him it must have a "burning" look and the lights must flicker (like Christmas lights) but at slower rate. He told me we would need a controller (see the box with the masking tape?). The "timer" for the flicker was set to dim slow but brighten fast to make it seem more like fire burning. It would have been more realistic if you have more than 1 set of controller (which is very expensive) so that the lights do not go completely off. Nonetheless, this one is quite close. You can see from the picture that there are 5 LED bulbs. The 4 outer ones are orange and the centre one is red. This is the combination that gives you the colour of amber fire.

It was such a coincidence. I saw Mr Electric right in the smack of The Hungry Ghost Month. I remembered how the lady at the shop actually shrunk back when I held out the cauldron to her. She asked me if I was making this for the Hungry Ghosts. That was when I knew I had to modify the cauldron.

Took me weeks before I was satisfied at last . I added dried moss over the peas, and created a smoke effect over the pot with cotton wool. I also scattered transparent beads for vapour, peppered some glitter and the broth actually looked more palatable after that. Logs were glued to the bottom of the pot and I hope they will glow again someday.

The smoke must have gone to my head because I actually gave the girls farewell presents. I fixed their hats with vintage flowers I kept in my stash. They were from some old lady's estate. Helene said they sweetened the ladies up.

Something Old

Something New, Something Borrowed
She had some pink roses at her neck too. Mdm Red Pink & Awful also held in her arms a bouquet of herbs and dried moss and another snake similar to the ingredients in the pot.
Something Blue

These are the last pictures I have of the sisters hovering under the basement of the Emperor's Emporium stewing the perfect poison.

And then just as suddenly as they flew in, the HalloWitches left. And it was almost as if the incident never happened.

Was it a dream? I wondered as I stared at the Emperor's Emporium on Halloween. And as the clock struck 12 and Halloween's finally over, I heaved a sigh of relief. My blogger beeped. Hey! The witches are now safely away in Canada and cursing poor Karin, phew! Sorry Karin but....haha, they are off my back!

Time for bed and as I leaned over to switch off the lights at the tent, I saw a flash of red at its basement.

IT AIN'T OVER, MY FRIEND! IT'S STILL HALLOWEEN IN AMERICA! SO MINIKAT SENDS HER LOVE!

I screamed. For the 2nd time in a moon.

Day 96 & A Moon-Up From The Basement-Pt 1

I HAVE LIVED the last moon in a daze. It was as if someone had brewed a curse, blew the smoke my way and vhooooooom, my muses disappeared and could not return. I was at a creative low, blocked and uninspired, my mind trapped in a dark dingy basement.

The dark, dingy basement of The Emperor's Emporium- THEN

The dark, dingy basement of The Emperor's Emporium- NOW

My memories are not clear (it was a daze, remember?) but I believed it all started the day the HalloWitch Sisters flew in, as early as Early September, right into the"Jai Ho" celebrations of Rolla n Ro (originals only).

In their dull, drab dresses and wind-blown hair, the Sisters stood out like sore thumbs at our fashionable Bazaar. But the Bazaar was the reason why they have flown the many light years. They have heard that this is where you can find the best pot and the best ingredients.

No, no, no, the witches are not junkies. You see, the HalloWitch Sisters are preparing for the 2009 World Horror Convention ("WHC") in Canada on Halloween. A big deal because all the who's who will be there to showcase their latest poison. The WHC is a BYOB (Bring Your Own Brew) P-A-R-T-E-A. The Sisters will NEED the best if they are to stand a chance against the likes of Tessie of Spiderwort Manor or The Addamses of their Mini Mansion or The Ghost of Haunted San Fran.

But 1st thing 1st:

a makeover for our girls so that they could blend in with the chic and trendy Chandni Chowk crowd. Out went the drab and in came the satin and lace, made in the same HalloWitch signature style i.e.:

A conservative neckline for the bodice
with an unmatching but shimmering kerchief at the neck for "drama" effect when flying.
Plain long sleeves with plenty of room for swinging brooms and stirring sticks.
Clashing aprons trimmed with inappropriate black laces along the hem.
No underskirt but a plastic black cone instead,
perfect for sticking the bustle skirt onto with clear scotch tapes so that
the girls don't have their overskirts over their ubiquitous pointy hats when flying in the winds.

The Sisters love their new dresses so much, they never took them off again.

I first spotted them, shaking their bums with their plastic cones showing, at the Rolla's opening acts. It must be just after they have found their claypot/ cauldron (details later). They were standing right at the back and gesticulating excitedly. No one else saw them then despite their garish fashion sense. Well, nothing unusual about the excitement, I thought, everyone was dancing to the music and the performances have gotten better now that Jai has his own Eva's Tabla.

And then, slowly and surreptitiously, I saw Mdm Khaki+Turquoise wriggled and wangled toward the stage. Nothing unusual still, I guess.

She shimmied "seductively" towards Jai..hmmm, well, ok, understandable, which girl wouldn't be attracted to him, right? On hind sight, my alarm bells should have rung then because face-down-flat-on -the -floor was a sure funny way to shimmy.

As if she could read my mind, Mdm Khaki+Turquoise immediately turned around and started to limbo rock! Wow, IMPRESSIVE! Her body was just 1 inch above the floor, completely parallel and levitating(?), heaving towards Jai's feet.

These are the close up shots I took for proof to see if she was indeed levitating or maybe she was just a great limbo rocker:

By the time I realised what she was really up to, like some of you now, the deed was done. Mdm Khaki+Turquoise was using her pointy hat to hook Sissy's basket so that she can steal her!!

And look! The Sisters are stealing away

with their claypot on their head, Indian Style!

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO", I screamed! And they promptly dropped their pot!

Note To Audience: If you can, read the next part in slow mo ..

Upon hearing my scream, the Rollas sprung into cinematic action. In the art and magic of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", the pair leaped into the air and landed

on the turban of an unsuspecting dancer with Ro still strumming and singing so that the dancing continued and the enjoyment of the crowd went uninterrupted. And while they gracefully leaped and landed and danced through the air towards the HalloWitch Sisters, Jai leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath and threw with one hand (and this one, you must really imagine in slow motion)

the Eva Tabla toward Mdm Khaki+Turquoise

The tabla flew silently,
over the shoulders of the Rollas who were themselves
stepping over the heads of more dancers,
All of them,
zeroing in towards Mdm Khaki+Turquoise

And while the other 2 witches panicked and flew too

Madam was not so lucky.

For Eva's Tabla was right on target
hitting the back of Madam's head

And as you can see,
she has toppled over
right into her very own cauldron,
in complete humiliation and pain.
The bag dropped from her hand
and dear Sissy has escaped.

What a relief !
For this was to be Sissy's fate if our heroes and heroine had not reacted in time:

So round of applause for our brave men and woman please, ladies and gentlemen. I dare say though, and I am sure everyone will agree, that the real hero has to be Eva's Tabla. And that is why till today, it remains Jai's best friend and constant companion.

Now the story has not ended but for now, here is an excerpt of the relevant scene, for those of you who have not seen the Academy Award Winner, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (in case you want to know, Chow Yun Fatt is my all time favourite actor):

Day 95-Palace's 1st Lottery Win

An e-messenger from "Diva Eva" on 4/9/09 brought news of my 1st ever lucky draw win. 10 days later, the wonderful array of finely crafted mini-wares arrived. They are all treasures but I must confess I have my favourites.

I love the sail boat. The little red boat which bore my name "Susan" beautifully handwritten in "miniscript" red . An amazing feat especially as I cannot write legibly.

I love the plate. An unusual decagon-al "antique"china with a "tree of life" decoration. So exquisite I can't bear to put anything on it.

But mostly I love the drum because I know Eva made this specially for my palace project.

It appears that I am not alone in my affection.

Watch out, my dear Maya. I think Eva's Tabla may very well end up as Jai's constant companion. And there is a very good reason why. I will of course reveal the reason when the time is right.

Here's a clue and I am whispering this to you *looking behind to make sure there are no evesdroppers: The reason why I was absent for a month and the reason why I am back has quite a lot to do with Eva's Tabla. I can't wait to tell you all about it.....

Between Day 78 & 79- Jodhaa Akbar

The world's your inspiration,

Anything you see,
No matter what it means to you,
It means the same to me,

The world's a stage for actors,
Hitched up for a show,
It's a canvas to an artist,
Tells a story blow by blow,

Excerpt from the poem "The World's Your Inspiration" by Abby Wall.

WHAT IS YOUR INSPIRATION?

Mine is truly from the real "stage for actors", movies.
Epics, romance, tragedies, fantasies,

if they have an Indian palace in it, I'll watch it.
Movies I love have great stories but movies I'll never forget, have great scenes.

My all time favourite, like Katie's, is still Mira Nair's Kama Sutra- A Tale of Love. I watched the heart-wrenching, hauntingly beautiful and mythic tragedy in 1996 when it first came out,
And there I found my Jai, Raj, Maya, Tara.
Since then, I have been searching for another epic romance, majestic setting, larger than life tale.

On 21st June 2009, 4am in the morning, I came home with the DVD of Jodhaa Akbar from the ever reliable Mustapha and found my fix.

I love this movie on many levels.
Not least of all the sumptuous settings.
Be it

The Maharajah's Chamber
where the saga of a historical romance begins and ends

or
The Royal Tent
when a Rajput princess awaits her fate

and the Emperor begins the conquest for the heart of his queen

Beyond the tale of love is also a miraculous union of religions.
And I love how in
The Queen's Palace
this is symbolised by the housing of her Hindu temple (top pic)
under the grandeur of Islamic Mughal splendour

I even love
The Simple Courtyard
which became a grand platform
when the Sufi dervishes dance in divine celebration





and then transforms again into
The Playground For Courtship


And who can resist the most beautiful woman in the world (1994)
portraying the fiery yet graceful
Rajput Princess

Her glimmering costumes

Those ostentatious ornaments

And finally, the awe-inpiring, perfection personified and swoon worthy

Mughal Emperor

a warrior and a philosopher, a visionary and a ruler

at once, powerful and unflinching

yet compassionate and romantic

And with that, may I share with you the final song of the movie mainly for the setting which I hope to recreate in my palace. For those of you, who may want to watch the movie and don't like to know the endings before hand, well, this is a spoiler. But really, this movie is not about endings, it is all about the journey.

Day 94- Thai Artisans- Fruit For Thought

I can't really believe that I was back in Bangkok again, so soon after the last trip but work and duty called, lucky me. I was there for 4 days, 28th- 31st Aug, Friday to Monday.

I had some free time on Friday and right after I checked in, I headed straight to JJ aka Jatujak/Chatuchak. Many shops do not open on Fridays at the "weekend market" but that was good because it meant no crowd. It was drizzling a little too that afternoon and the experience of meandering through the maze of stalls with the sound of rain on the zinc roof was pleasant beyond words.

As things turned out, it was to be the best 2 hours spent at JJ because I met Laiad, a Thai artisan. It was a little surreal as I have fallen in love with Laiad's mini rambutans months ago when I saw them in a Singapore shop. Due to some unfortunate incident, I could not buy them then and so, when opportunity knocks the 2nd time, you don't ask too many questions. You just buy 50 crates of these fruits and then promise to be back for more!

It is 5 days after my return, my 4th session at this post (see I started this post since 2/9)..too many things on my crate (1" wide, 5/8"high, 1 5/8" long)..well, I can't wait to show these off so ladies, and maybe one or two gentlemen, may I present....

EXOTIC FRUITS FROM ASIA

Rambutans

The rambutan is cousin to the longan and the lychee. Rambutans are grown mainly in Malaysia and Thailand. Sometimes known as Hairy Lychees, there was limited planting in India. In '04, India banned the import of exotic fruits like rambutans and melons. Thanks to the prohibition, this forbidden fruit is now sweeter than ever and is the favourite contraband of our palace.

Lychees

Now these are the real lychees, no hair! India is one of the top five world producing countries although the best lychees are from China. Few can resist the sweet juiciness of fresh lychees but personally, I love them chilled. All you have to do is to throw peeled lychees into the freezer and then wait 3 hours before serving. For other great Indian lychee recipes , check out "Live To Eat" .

Longans

Closely allied to the glamorous lychee, longan is often regarded as its poor cousin with nicknames like mamoncillo chino in Cuba ("little brother of the lychee"), or li-chihnu, ("slave of the lychee"). Longan means "dragon eyes" in Mandarin and is so named because of the fruit's resemblance to an eyeball when it is shelled (the black seed shows through the translucent flesh like a pupil/iris).

Longkong/Langsat

A somewhat less edible fruit of the family Meliaceae.

Small, white or pale-yellow, fleshy, mostly bisexual.

--Julia F. Morton, Fruits of warm climates, pp. 201-3.

A puzzling and rather scandalous description of a fruit that has launched national campaigns (Thailand) and caused mass hysteria (India). Just last year, the Thai Government has proclaimed “Longkong: A fruit of friendship” because the bunching of the fruits signify tight relationships. This campaign has backfired as in April this year, Thai teenagers in the South were caught using the leaves of the longkong tree to concoct a new illicit drug, giving new meaning to the phrase "high on friendship". You may mistake longkongs for longans but the latter has scaly skin while longkongs' are smooth and mildly poisonous.

Melons
(Honeydews, Cantaloupes and Water Melons)

These melons need no introduction surely, except to say that they can be made into hats and shoes (click on pics to see where you can find them). ALSO, if they are from Peru, they are banned, banned, banned in India. You can read this 56 page report for the reasons why. By the way, a Japanese farmer has invented square watermelons and although these are not banned, they are prohibitively expensive. I remembered water melon being my 1st ever favourite fruit. Can you remember which one is yours?

Pomelos

Ancestor of the common grapefruit, pomelo is the largest citrus fruit in the world. It is precisely this size that makes it a perfect fruit gift . As nothing is more moving than the sight of someone's shoulder sloping while he/she heaves and pants toward your house carrying a heavy load of pomelo from their hometown. That's why FaiZ brings back to Singapore car trunk load of them (the best, he claims) everytime he visits his hometown in Ipoh and seriously, FaiZ is one of the most popular guys I know. I am not a fan of pomelos but I do love the skin as it smells like a flower bath PLUS it too can be made into ridiculous clothes.

Mangoes

In India, the first mangoes of the year make newspaper headlines and herald the coming of summer. "Mango Mania March-May" happens once a year when mango frenzy is in full swing. This is a country where people know better than anyone how to reincarnate a mango: street vendors squeezing mango juice; fashionable bars mix mango martinis; and restaurants at five-star hotels launch mango minifestivals featuring expensive avant-garde mango curiosities while loving mothers pickle the green mangoes so their kids can have them all year round.

Mangosteens

This “queen of fruits” is widely considered the most luscious and delicious delicacy in all fruitdom, One of my favourite fruits, sadly for some of you, countries prohibit their imports as these ambrosial fruits may carry asian fruit flies, also known as lucky-ass bastards. When imbibing, do take care that the purple skins do not touch your clothes for nothing can remove the stain it caused. It is precisely this indelible quality that makes it one of the best weapon for vengeful harem girls.

Dragon Fruits

I know many people have not seen this fruit, not to mention taste it. I believe it did not become popular in Singapore until my nephew was 3 and I see them in mum's house all the time. Nathaniel is fed dragonfruit everyday for its laxative quality. I have tasted it the grand total of 1 mouthful and it is disappointingly tasteless, like paper (yes, I have tasted paper, couple of times). I'd buy them though because they are so beautiful. In fact if there is a beauty pageant for fruits, this one will be crowned Miss Universe, the Longkong, Miss Friendship. Here is a funny story of an Indian family's 1st encounter with this fruit.

Fragrant Pears, Mandarins and Star Fruits

Fragrant Pears- A misnomer as there is hardly any fragrant but the taste is superb. In contrast, regular pears smells good but taste like sawdust. Originates from China, this pear made headline news on New York Times when it was first imported into America in 2006. The Chinese have cultivated pears for so long that producing delicious pears is no longer a challenge. Now, they are into art shaped pears, like little babies hanging from trees.

Mandarin Orange-Another 3000 year old fruit which is so much easier to peel, its nicknamed "kid glove orange" or "honey pixie", By the way, just so you know, all tangerines are mandarin orange but not the other way around. I hope to grow a lot of these blooming trees in my palace's backyard because they are a symbol of abundance in gold (very popular during Chinese New Year).

Star fruit-This is one tree I cannot miniaturise because in India, it grows to 4000 feet high (333 ft in 1:12!!). Best used in salads unless you have kidney problem for a mere 100ml of its juice will kill. Symptoms of starfruit poisoning includes confusion, nauseousness, agitation and epileptic fits. Oh yes, hiccups too.

Bananas & Papayas

These 2 fruits are featured together for their diametrically opposite qualities. On the one hand, we have the shapely and nutritious banana which contains chelating minerals and the bromelain enzyme, said to enhance the male libido. Central Americans drink the sap of the red banana as an aphrodisiac, while Hindus regard it as a symbol of fertility. A banana left on a doorstep indicates that a marriage is about to take place. Bananas made an early appearance in the Garden of Eden; according to Islamic myth, Adam and Eve covered themselves not with fig but banana leaves.

On the other hand, women in India have long used green papaya for contraception and abortion. Enslaved women in the West Indies are also noted for consuming papaya to prevent pregnancies and thus preventing their children from being born into slavery. Medical research in animals has confirmed the contraceptive and abortifacient capability of papaya, and also found that papaya seeds have contraceptive effects in adult male langur monkeys, possibly in adult male humans as well, since they are considered quite similar.

Pineapples

Now, I did not know that peculiar quality about papaya until today. I have heard however about pineapples being used that way. Apparently it was the Europeans (probably English) who gave it the name "pine apple" because they thought the fruit resembled pine cones. Pineapples are used quite a lot in Kerala Ayuvedic treatments for their digestive quality.

By now, if you can understand what I am writing, you are in better shape than me, so thank goodness we are now coming to

EXPENSIVE TEMPERATE FRUITS FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD
(which many of you probably know more about than me)

Grapes & Sugar Apples

I just want to say that of all the fruits here, sugar apple is the only one I have never tasted. It is expensive here, 1 fruit cost about S$3 at the economical food mall! Fafa loves it and told me it taste like milk. Just as well, I hate the taste of milk.

Strawberries and Apricots

I am trying to remember if I have ever tasted fresh apricots. Dried ones, zillion times but I am not sure if the fresh ones are even sold here. Time to go grocery shopping..

Persimmons

Another fruit I am not fond of. As you can guess by now, I avoid fruits that taste like you are chewing sawdust OR

Avocados
milk.