Kickin' Around Chinatown

It was a gorgeous day in the T-dot, and since my parkaholic Pimm's in the Park was off, I met up with Joel to wander Kensington Market and check out the tenth annual Chinatown Festival. Kensington is always good for people watching, but especially so during Pedestrian Sundays. In addition to the musicians and dancers performing throughout the market's streets, there was lots of food to be had, including some hot, fresh, yummy churros. After checking the sights in Kensington, we followed our noses to neighbouring Chinatown.

I say follow my nose because one of the stalls had the aptly named stinky tofu on offer. Honestly, I thought durian was putrid, but this was a whole other level of funk. I described it as sweaty feet, swaddled in blue cheese, running through a cow field full of patties. On a windy day.

Thankfully there were other things available. Like the pineapple smoothie above. Never mind the cool ass presentation. This was nothing but the pure pineapple core puréed with a bit of water and poured back into that from whence it came. It would only have been better if the fruit was a bit sweeter, but as it was, it was great refreshment for the scorching day.

At one of the many fruit stores up and down Spadina, we saw some mangosteen. When I confessed to never having tasted it, Joel insisted today was the day to do so. Now I wish we'd gotten more than one! The soft, creamy, sweet pods of flesh inside were delicious. I really need to try more Asian fruits. Like, I've never had rambutan or dragon fruit, either. Given my love for Caribbean tropical fruit, I bet there's a lot from Asia I could fall for too. What's your favourite exotic fruit?