Tiesa

One hot afternoon, I walked past my chubby Chinese neighbor's house and I noticed the sun-kissed golden colors of the tiesa fruits hanging like left-over decors hugging one corner of his yard. Apparently, no one, not even the kids in the neighborhood, craved for tiesa: the ripe fruits remain unharvested and a lot of these littered the ground floor that reminds one of... never mind.

Tiesa is an indigenous fruit which I suspect belongs to the mango family. The fruit is shaped like one but the flesh tastes like camote (sweet potato) mixed with chalk and cardboard.

Acting impulsively, I sent Raul a message, "Would you like tiesa for your birthday?"

I got a prompt reply, "No."

Well, why not, I wanted to ask.

Anyway, during his birthday dinner, he kept asking me why I wanted to give him tiesa, when the fruits weren't even mine to begin with, it belonged to my neighbor.

You know what, I do not know as well.

Jun had an interesting theory, "If tiesa were the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, then probably the "original sin" wouldn't have taken place."

We all agreed with him.

"I like tiesa. It tastes like camote," insists Helga, la Capitana.

Are you serious, I wanted to tell her, "Then I'll give you a bagful of tiesa", I offered.

All these talk about tiesa made us want to look for a suitable dessert to cap the evening, and so we headed for Coffee Bean and I ordered double vanilla latte to erase any thoughts associated with tiesa.