King of Fruits

James had big plans for Vegas this year.

They included buying and trying the "King of Fruits": Durian

A few weeks before we left, he was watching a show on the travel channel and the host tried Durian for the first time. Apparently the smell was similar to rotten onions and stinky feet. Now doesn't that sound appetizing?

So after this wonderful description James looked up where you could get Durian. The closest place he found to our Colorado home was a Chinese market in Las Vegas. This market also happened to be located only 2 miles from out hotel.

So James and I along with our friend Shannan ventured to this market. It was actually pretty cool, there were tanks of live fish (to buy and cook..or not I guess) and bins of live crabs. I was laughing at a guy who was trying to capture a crab with tongs and put it into a bag to buy... I think it took him about 25 tries to get it in the bag. What can I say, I am easily entertained!

So we walked through the store looking at the interesting mix of normal food we see at the grocery store and unknown stuff with Chinese writing. We ventured to the produce department to find James' Durian. We found all sorts of fruit, but could not find the "King of Fruits" :( So we got some dragon fruit, jujube, star fruit, and a young coconut. Then before hope was lost (also before James would start to cry, although there was a slightly disheartened frown on his face) we found the Durian! It was in a freezer near the produce section. You would think that since the description of the smell was so lovely and the fact that it is kept in a freezer that we might be detered from obtaining this item; nope, not one bit. We decided to ask an employee if they had a suggestion on how to open the Durian, and the response was ".......no" with a slightly scared look on his face. I am not sure if it was due to a lack of understanding of the language or just thinking we were completely stupid to want to open this fruit. So with no assistance in this matter, we chose to purchase a small (cheap) knife so we could cut it open.

We left our purchases in our hotel room since we had the hockey game to go to, besides the Durian needed to thaw.

Late Saturday night when we made it back to the hotel, our tasting was to begin.

James was very excited to have his Durian:



He thought it smell a little like a melon, and even gave it a sweet little kiss:


Ready for dissection! I got volunteered for the honor:


Alas it is open:


It has a custard-like interior with large seed pods:


Shannon takes a whiff...


And a taste....not impressed

We have all tried it at this point, but James just can't throw it away and decides to go for round two...

A nice big piece, can he do it?

He's going for it!!!

And....

Nope, not gonna happen :) I missed getting a good picture of his gagging face (you'll just have to imagine it). By now the smell is very......ummm....potent! The taste is similar to raw onions that have been sitting out for awhile and the smell is a lot worse. We wrapped up the "precious" Durian and threw it in the trash: not in our room, not in the hall, not in the lobby but in the trashcan outside of the hotel. See we do have some common sense!

So if you decide that you need to try the "King of Fruits" do so at your own peril or at least that of your nose and gag reflex. It took a day for the smell to dissipate from our room, but the memories will last.

Vegas Hockey Baby!!!

Frozen Fury XII

This was the reason to go out to Vegas last weekend, not that I would mind going to Vegas pretty much anytime...

We showed up for the morning skate, just like we have the past two years. When we got to the rink the Kings were still on the ice, so we watched the end of their practice. When they started leaving the ice, we were all told by the ushers that we had to leave the rink. We sat down outside the doors waiting to be allowed back in.

An usher announces to everyone waiting that the Av's practice is closed and we will not be allowed in to watch and should leave.

Well, this is a familiar situation since it pretty much went the same way each year.

We remained seated on the floor to wait.

About 10 minutes later a supervisor (or at least someone in charge) comes up to the ushers and tells them that the Av's say to let the fans in to watch in about 15 minutes. So we hang out until they open the doors and let us in :) glad we know not to be too upset when they tell us that practice is closed, it never stays that way!

We watched practice, which was cool as usual! I just like hockey (even had fun watching the Kings practice). They had the front 12 rows or so taped off so we didn't get as close as usual so no pics, but it was still fun!

After practice we waited for the players to come out. We got autographs on another hat and on some pucks as well as some pictures.

James and I with Stastny, he might be sick of us by now since we have a few pictures with him already. Hopefully he can stay healthy this year, it will be exciting to see him play.



James and I with Smyth...It's a bummer to lose him to the Kings, but I hope he does well!



James and I with O'Reilly, he seems to be a good addition to the team from what we've seen so far.

Me with Liles, hoping to see some good strong defense from him this year. I think he's my favorite player right now, maybe I'll even get a jersey this year...

James and I with Koci, he is a big guy with some grit that the Av's need.

Jeremy and James with Weiman. He's been sent back down to Lake Erie, but a great goalie! Jeremy was excited to talk with him for awhile since he knows him from when he played for the Colorado Eagles.

I won't bore you with too many pics of the game, mostly because I didn't get any really good ones. Here is a pic during warm-up before the game.

Koci's fight!

Random pic during the game, but you can see Stastny #26.

It was fun to watch hockey as usual, but the reffing was awful! The Av's gave a good effort, but had to kill several penalties and deal with lame calls including a penalty shot. They ended up losing by one goal :( However, this was just pre-season and I look forward to seeing them kick butt this year!