Today I went to Pittsburgh’s Strip District, which, as anyone who’s ever been there knows, is the height of culture near the downtown area. This is good for us fruitsies, as this means there’s produce markets and Asian stores galore. Which offer many wonderful things such as:

(2 bags of rambutans, 2 bags of a bok choy-type Asian green, 2 leeks, 4 packages of Kumato tomatoes, 1 package of yellow cherry tomatoes, 1 package of green zebra tomatoes, 2 heads of broccoli, 1 bunch of cilantro, basil, sage, and rosemary, a crapload of dill, a bag of mangosteens, a package of nori sheets, and a jicama root. And this was me being somewhat restrained.)

Though I was generally pleased with everything (that dill, front and center was $1. One freaking dollar) what I was most excited about were the rambutans and mangosteens.

We have rambutans in Hawaii, and they quickly became one of my favorite fruits. They’re just so pretty, you know? And yummy to boot. They’re in the longon/lychee family (but the best of the bunch, in my opinion). They’re very sweet and juicy, but not as sticky as a longon. My mom even tried one, though she only took a little bite (and looked somewhat grossed out afterwards, for reasons unknown) because she said it reminded her of an eyeball. Well, hey, more for me!

And then there are mangosteens.

O mangosteen, how I love to devour thee. Commonly known as the “queen of fruits”, these expensive little suckers are supercalifragilistically awesome. I paid (or rather, my mom paid) $9 a pound for them, but ohmygod are they worth it. I can’t even describe it to you…just get some. I hadn’t had one for about a year, and tasting it was like tasting heaven. (Well, I’m an atheist, so it was more like tasting a really fantastic mangosteen. But you get the point.)

Shopping as a fruitarian is so much fun.