Tasting The Rainbow - Or - Miracle Fruit Tablets, Ho!

A couple of weeks ago, when the Australian dollar was incredibly strong against the US market, some friends and I decided that we were going to make a bulk order from ThinkGeek. I say incredibly strong, I mean that we were up to around $1.10 US (which is much better than we were when I was younger, when I can recall being at around 70c per dollar...But, like an ageing gentleman who has nothing better to do than ramble uncontrollably and incoherently, I digress.) Kylie bought a couple of bits of clothing (including the "Meh" hoodie, and a "Soft Kitty" t-shirt), Encey got herself a crazy USB robot owl, and I got a couple of things including a Caanoo (which you can read more about on Monday.)

The thing that I was most excited about in this order was not, however, the prospect of a new handheld toy. It was, instead, the reason the package took so long to get to us in the first place. That's right - I ordered something that caused my parcel to not only get flagged as a risk by Customs, but also by Quarantine. After a rather lengthy (and somewhat worrying) couple of days, which involved many calls back and forth to various areas of the country, attempting to get everything cleared without being burnt "for safety" (because fire is the cleanser, after all) I arrived home to discover a rather sizeable package had arrived for me. I tore open the box with fevered anticipation, and discovered that yes, my quarry had made it through the "parcel immigration" process just fine. The Miracle Fruit Tablets were mine.

They Don't Really Taste Of Anything...It's Like Semi-Sweet Chalk

Quickly I jumped onto MSN to ask Spud if he could take me shopping for a variety of foods. He whipped around in his car with Encey, and the three of us went on the most magical of adventures. We bought three types of cheese (feta, goat's cheese, and a double brie), some vegetables (including, but not limited to: carrots, pickles, capsicum, and brussels sprouts), fruits (apples, limes, strawberries, lemons...), and various other things that I can't exactly recall right now (I know there was maple syrup, and some juice of some variety...and an onion! Can't forget the onion!!)

Our Selection Of Food, After We'd Been Chowing Down For A Bit

Before I go any further with this, I should let you know what Miracle Fruit Tablets are. Basically they are a small pill, roughly the size of an ibuprofen tablet, that you dissolve in your mouth. Once your tongue is sufficiently coated, the tablets dull your ability to taste various things (such as sour or bitter) leaving many foods tasting quite sweet. The tablets reportedly work at varying levels depending on the person, which is something we definitely noticed, however I'm pretty sure if we were doing it with the actual fruit (called the Miracle Berry, funnily enough) or if the tablets were slightly fresher (I mean, they did take about a week to get to us - and who knows what Customs did...) it would have been slightly more profound.

Encey Demonstrates The Correct Way To Eat The Tablet (As Well As The Taste...)

Oh well - the evening was fun, nonetheless, with myself, Spud, Encey, X-Man, Elmo, Kylie, Squiggles, and Emma chowing down on foods that we might normally have avoided. The highlights of the night were most definitely the lemon (which we were actually taking bites of - no sourness at all, it was like eating lemonade) and the goat's cheese (which tasted like one of the nicest cheesecakes I've eaten.) Notable mentions should also go out to maple syrup, granny smith apples, strawberries, pomegranate juice (which I normally despise), and limes. We noticed that some foods changed for certain people, whilst for other people they stayed the same. All in all, it was quite a strange experience, and something that (money permitting) I might do again...But really only if I could get my hands on some of the actual fruit.

So here are some pictures from the night, captioned for your pleasure. If anybody out there has tasted the tablets I'd love to hear about what foods you guys liked whilst eating them, and any ideas for things to nom nom down on next time we try this crazy venture would also be greatly appreciated.

X-Man Tripped Out Slightly

Every Takes Their First Bites

Emma Was Kind Of Scared, But Squiggles Protected Her

While I Ate A Raspberry, X-Man Was Throwing Down The Wasabi Challenge

Encey, Having Just Eaten Half A Birds-Eye Chilli, Agrees To The Wasabi

Hello Again, Old Friend

The Strawberries Turned Squiggles Into "Seductro" (His Alter-Ego)

Elmo Enjoyed The Granny Smith

Onions...Still Tasted Like Onions...

Spud Agreed With X-Man. Onions Remain Very Oniony

Nothing Would Ever Make Pomegranate Juice Palatable For Encey

"I Feel Like Maybe This Whole Thing Was A Giant Trap..."