Roviyas

Eating Fresh Durian

Eating Fresh Durian
As a durian approaches ripeness, the tough rind with its previously intimidating thorny spikes will now naturally, easily, and graciously unzip along hidden suture lines between the inner sections (or locules). Looking at a durian that has not naturally begun to split open, it can be puzzling to guess where these lines actually might be, zigzagging among the spikes—and surprising to find out where they actually are. Left to itself, as ripeness progresses, the a durian naturally starts cracking open from the bottom end, revealing and offering its inner fruit bounty to creatures large and small.

Malaysian durians (and other similar Southeast Asian varieties that are closer to the wild) are always allowed to naturally ripen and drop from the tree. They are always considered a little past their prime if they have any crack showing at all.
Thai varieties of durians are a different story; they are always cut from the tree while still green and allowed to ripen off the tree. (A Thai durian allowed to drop naturally from the tree is probably already past its prime). In my early experiences with Thai durians, I would look for the first slight sign of a crack along one of these lines at the bottom of the fruit, as an indication of ripeness. My inclination was to wait for the fruit to give a natural sign that it’s ready for eaters by making it easy to enter. I still tend to think that if you have to engage in a difficult wrestling or knifing match with a durian to get in, it’s too early. However, as I gained more experience, I discovered that Thai durians opened earlier than that (possible only with a knife), before any natural crack appeared, were usually more exquisite than the naturally-cracked fruits.

Early-ripe Thai durians like this usually have a bright freshness, more of a flavor complexity, and an intriguing and tasty succulent-crunchy component surrounding the custardy part, all of which is gone from the very creamy completely-ripe pulp. This cutting into durians, though, is a very tricky business (not to mention the hazard of the fruit’s sharp spikes). I have ruined more than a few Thai durians, or parts of them, that I estimated were at that special stage mentioned above, before they cracked, by cutting into them only to find that they were much too green. I’ve found that some Thai-variety durians may be at their prime when just a tiny first crack has appeared, but more often it’s a little before that.

(For another writers perspective and experience with this, read Bill Stimsons delightful essay "Opening a Durian" here.)

In Asia, durian is said to have "heaty" properties—eating very much will give your body a heated sensation for a brief period thereafter. I have found this to be true from my own experience. It’s not necessarily unpleasant, it just happens, and is part of the overall durian-eating experience (along with classic satisfied durian-scented burps!). Durian is not recommended eating if you have a high temperature from some illness, though. It follows that durian’s heatiness contributes a subtle paradoxical appeal and delight to durian ice cream.

I’ve noticed that durians wrapped in a newspaper and plastic bag for awhile do emit actual heat — the fruit and wrapping and air inside all get heated up. A pity durians aren’t common in cold climates, and that their heat is wasted on tropical residents who already have a lavish abundance of it! Certain other fruits such as mangosteen and citrus are said to have "cooling" properties and are recommended as an antidote to a feeling of having eaten too much durian (and it can be hard to stop!) A different kind of remedy (from Bao Sheng Durian Farm) is to pour water into an empty durian shell, sprinkle table salt into it, mix well and drink; something in the shell walls, combined with salt, makes an effective antidote to excessive durian heatiness.

More useful eating tips from Bao Sheng Farm:

• If eating several varieties of durian at the same time, eat the best last because the best’s aroma and flavor will cover all the others, and if you eat the best first, you won’t be able to experience the others.
• If faced with the pleasant task of eating several varieties, the preferred order of eating is the more moist varieties first, ending with the more "gummy" varieties (which are regarded in Malaysia as the best). (This is more a Malaysian-style durian situation, as Thai varieties of durians are generally larger, people tend to eat only one Thai variety at a time, and there are fewer choices of variety in the marketplace.)
• To remove the odor of durian from your hands, wash your hands with durian seeds; amazing, but it works (thanks again to T.S. Chang at Bao Sheng Durian Farm in Malaysia).
  Durian is not recommended for consuming with alcoholic beverages, as the combination of natural substances is a powerful producer of internal gas.
  Sound durian fruit will store satisfactorily in refrigeration for up to 3 weeks at 59º F. [15º C.].

Durian is not only exquisitely delicious but richly nutritious, a complete natural meal in itself high in carbohydrate, proteins, fat, minerals, and vitamins. The exact nutritional composition of a ripe durian can vary greatly, depending on soil richness, growing methods, climate conditions, and variety. The range of nutritional values for 100 grams [about 3 ½ ounces] of the fresh pulp (aril) reported from seven different sources are:

Durian Nutritional Characteristics (average per 100 grams)
calories	134-153	carotene (Vit. A)	20-30 IU
moisture	58-70 g	thiamin (Vit. B1)	0.20-0.28 mg
protein	2.0-3.3 g	riboflavin (Vit. B2)	0.10-0.28 mg
carbohydrates	30.0-36.1 g	niacin	0 .68-1.1 mg
fat	1.2-4.3 g	Vitamin C	23-62 mg
calcium	7.4-18 mg	Vitamin E	"high"
phosphorus	27-56 mg	trace minerals	"many"
iron	0.73-2.0 mg	mana (intangible life energy)	"powerful"

CREDIT BY :http://www.durianpalace.com

Available link for download

ELN ALT Webinar A Fresh Look at Instructional Design

These are live-blogged notes from a very interesting webinar with Cathy Moore and Patrick Dunn, where they were talking about new approaches to Instructional Design. It was a pretty cool session where Cathy and Patrick talked about how old approaches towards design cease to be meaningful and how instructional designers need to make an effort to create experiences over architecting information.

Cathys talk

For more than 25 years, Cathys used technology to help people learn. These days, she helps people strengthen their instructional design skills, and designs and writes elearning for businesses.

We as instructional designers have jobs because organisations have problems. They have useful information and we have to get it into peoples heads. We decide to make this information interesting, so we chunk it or add interest by adding narrators. Sometimes we play games to make it fun. We tell stories with a character who need help.

Weve got into the business of putting lipstick on a pig through these approaches. Information isnt bad -- getting information into peoples heads doesnt change behaviour. Knowing that smoking is bad for you doesnt make you stop smoking?

So we need to start over.

Cathy is a great proponent of instructional design using action mapping. Its a simple process:

1. Start with a measurable goal.
2. State job behaviours to help people reach the goal. These are real world behaviours. A useful question to ask, is "Why arent people doing it?" Is it really a lack of skill?
   
3. Brainstorm realistic practice activities for each job behaviour.
4. We then identify the bare minimum information people will need to complete these activities.

The information is on the fringes -- its not in the center. We need to limit the amount of information in our courses and place it in the spots where people will find it in their real jobs and teach people to find and use this information.

Our job is not to design information -- it is to design an experience.

As we do this, we start to solve performance problems and stop converting information into interactive presentations.

Patricks Talk

Patrick Dunn has been designing, producing and thinking about various forms of learning technology for more than twenty years. 
According to Patrick, instructional systems design is perhaps an outdated, heavy process. On a pragmatic basis, what really happens in instructional design is the ADDIE process - analyse, design, develop, implement and evaluate. 

In this world of gaming, social media, twitter, etc, is our old approach to instructional design still appropriate? Earlier, our options were few. Constraints were few and clear. Learning challenges were structured, well understood. As against that today, we have many options, many and unclear constraints and very chaotic learning challenges.

Patrick is looking a cheap, quick and effective design that combines:

• Rapidisation
• Gaming
• Social Learning

The question is -- does the old approach still make sense? Is it still fresh? For the current business climate its neither fresh nor does it really make sense for the high impact solutions were looking for.

So here are the ways to move to fresh approach.

Think experience, not content

• Think about experiences in the real world that are changing people.
• Get emotional!
• Whats the tone?

Nobody learns from content, people learn from experience. You cannot know something until you do something with that knowledge. Research shows that using information supports long-term recall more than studying information. As I always say, its not enough to just look at a lake and read about swimming -- you have to dive into the lake and actually swim!

Design bottom-up and top-down

We dont design from business objectives to performance objectives to strategies, etc. We should have Lean design, where we start with learning tactics and trust our hunches. If our strategy doesnt work, we should be flexible to change. Everything should be flexible to change.

Use multi-role teams

Subway subs are great because they get created by people in sharply defined roles. If people switch roles, then the subs can be awful. We dont want this in our teams. We need few people overlapping in roles and generalising deeply. Writers should be able to build, builders should be able to do graphic design, etc.

Use users

• We need more contact with learners.
• We need the right kind of contact with learners

Thats because people are now more into creating digital media than before. They can help us in a big way.

Prototype and Iterate

A working prototype gets more feedback than scripts, etc. A prototype forms a placeholder for discussion, so its really important to get it wrong the first time and iterate from there. Its continuous improvement in design.

Play!

Designers take themselves a bit too seriously. We need to play, laugh, sing, dance a little more and thatll allow us to experiment and do things in a truer designer like fashion.

Available link for download