Hiromi is the consummate food adventurer.  Since he works in a store that sells groceries, he notices when new fruits and vegetables are offered for sale, usually only seasonally.  This week he brought home Rambutan, a fruit that is related to the Lychee and Longan. It's native to Indonesia and Malaysia, according to Wikipedia.  Mexico was the supplier for the fruit available at Walmart.

Rambutan one of the strangest fruits I've ever seen.  The outside of the golf-ball-sized fruit is covered with long but very soft spines.  The color is dark red, with touches of green. When the outer shell is broken or cut off, a layer of edible white fruit is revealed, surrounding a hard seed which must be discarded.  The fruit is perhaps best described as having a very firm gel-like consistency.  It is mildly flavored and slightly sweet.

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If I hadn't married Hiromi I might never have tasted many foods that I enjoy:

Fruits:
Rambutan
Kumquats (tiny "oranges")
Asian persimmons (larger and sweeter than the American version)
Asian pears (round and firm like an apple)
Pomelo (looks like a giant grapefruit)
Goumi (tiny fruit that grows on Autumn-Olive-like shrubs)

Vegetables:
Several different kinds of sea vegetables, kelp among them
Greens:  shungiku, smooth leaf mustard, garlic chives
Daikon (Long Japanese radish)
Snow peas
Lotus
Fiddle head ferns
Horsetail
Artichokes (fresh)
White sweet potatoes
Baby corn
Shishito peppers
Gobo (related to salsify)
Kanpyo (dried gourd)
Bamboo shoots

Mushrooms
Portobello
Shiitake
Cremini
Oyster
Wood Ear
Others that I never learned the names of

Sea Food
Sashimi (raw fish of various kinds--e. g. salmon, tuna, yellowtail)
Octopus (very chewy)
Eel (the barbecued version is good)
Lobster (still alive when we walked into the restaurant)
Bonito (harvested when small and dried whole--used to flavor soup broth)

Miscellaneous:
Fresh ginger root
Natto (fermented soybeans)
Tofu (soybean curd--like a bland soft cheese)
Miso (fermented soybean paste)
Oil made from toasted sesame seeds
Sansho (spice)
Wasabi (like green horseradish)
Chestnuts
Konyaku (the noodle-like form is called shirataki--both made from the konjac potato or voodoo lily bulb--the plant Lizzie Irene used to grow in her garden)
Macha (green tea--powdered and drunk with the steeping water--used for tea ceremony)
Genmaicha (green tea mixed in its dry state with roasted rice grains, some of which pop, hence called popcorn tea--my favorite version of green tea)
Calpis (or Calpico, essentially a yogurt drink that I have been able to duplicate for the first time just recently)
Amazaki (cultured drink made from sweet rice)

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I tasted guava and tamarind first in Bangladesh and papaya and mango first in Central America when Hiromi was not with me.

I also enjoyed nigella seed as a flavoring in Bangladesh and plantains as a fried vegetable in Central America.  I ate vegetable amaranth in Bangladesh, and another vegetable that I can't remember the name of.  The cook for the river cruise prepared it because the person who arranged the tour requested it.  That was also the first time that I drank coconut water through a straw stuck straight into the cavity of a green coconut.

I'm sure that  I'm not remembering everything right now that fits into these categories, but recalling them has been fun.

Remind me if you know of something I should have mentioned?