A trip to the land of strange fruit

What is this fruit? No, it's not a giant elephant garlic that is trying to cocoon and metamorphosize into an anaconda. It's actually a salak or snake fruit from Bali. Yes, this is a little bit off topic from the Khao Soi, but still about delicious Southeast Asian food, noodles, curries, galanga, and blending of cultures. I just wanted to let people know that I will be co-leading a 10-day culinary, medicinal plant, and musical tour of Bali this July with my brilliant ethnomusicologist friend Cathy Silverman. So if you want to know how to bang out a tune with a gamelan orchestra, dance with your eyes, why fried shallots appear on top of most Balinese dishes, finish the analogy Bali is to Thailand as Sambal is to ____, or just find out how the snake fruit can look like garlic yet taste like apples dipped in peanut butter, take a look at the tour and drop us a line if you're interested. I plan to cook an introductory Balinese meal of bregedel jagung (galanga corn fritters), lawar buncis (string beans with coconut), tempeh sambal (curried fermented soy beans) and gado gado (vegetables in peanut sauce) for all the New Yorkers or even New Englanders who can make it here before we set out on the trip.