Kids love asking questions. They are curious about the world and they fear missing out. As far as I can remember, I was once a curious boy and I am pretty sure my teacher thought so as well. When I was in primary school in Hong Kong, I once asked my teacher where did strawberries get their name? For your information, strawberry in Chinese is simply the transcription of the word. Of course, before my teacher could tell me the simple reason I have already asked a bunch of questions, which I am sure he probably would have thought they were quite lame and annoying.

When people grow old, they start losing interest in many things. They even gain the ability of accepting how things are and not even asking “why” anymore. Of course, I was one of them, until the day I first saw “spiced poached pineapple with ice cream” on a menu. As a person who still did not know how to cook back then, the idea of poaching pineapple had never appeared in my head. Asians are used to consuming fresh fruits directly without any cooking or seasoning. There were only a few exceptions I could think of.

Asians are used to consuming fresh fruits directly without any cooking or seasoning. There were only a few exceptions I could think of. However, when you breaking down the dish into words like “pineapple”, “poaching” and “cinnamon”, they are all familiar. But why the combination made it unusual? At the end, I realized I was shocked simply because I have not asked “why” and “why not” for too long, which restrained my creativity and inquisitiveness.

Although it was just a small incidence, the dish really changed my way of thinking. Now when I want to create a new dish, I try to remind myself to think out of the box, because food is an evolving art influenced by different cultures and ideas at the end.

Method:

1. Peel and trim the pineapple and divide it into 16 equal pieces.

2. Put the pineapple pieces, water, sugar, salt and all spices into one pot. Bring it to a boil and simmer at low heat for 2 hours.

3. Take the pineapple out. Reduce the liquid to syrup.

4. Heat up a pan. Add butter in and sauté the pineapple until caramelized. Finish off with some rum.

5. Place one piece of the pineapple and ice cream on a plate. Drizzle some syrup on top. Done!

After braising the pineapple with all the spices, its tartness is mellowed and it is much more suitable to be a dessert. Before serving, the heat from the pan caramelize the pineapple and perfume the flesh with rum. The combination of a scoop of ice cream and a piece of hot, buttery, fragrant pineapple evokes my inquisitiveness, once again.

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