Mountain Bamboo Fruit

On Tuesday, we celebrated Dana's birthday with a surprise vegetarian potluck. I, of course, brought brownies :). One of our Chinese families brought "mountain bamboo" fruit, or "shan zhu" (and be proud, I know how to write both of those Chinese characters!) So my friend Chen handed me one, then started at me expectantly, waiting for me to eat it. Shoot ... This thing is funny looking. And I know many of you have seen my famous face when I try something new. But it seemed rude not to eat it, since Chen was very anxiously waiting for my opinion of the fruit. And ... I was successful! It was very sweet, and it had the look and consistency of a very white grapefruit. But here is proof, I ate the darn thing!