What have we here…gifts from Bali (not cheap dresses and rattan bags😊), a virtual magazine, chocolates and an investment idea. Let’s dive into them…

First up are Snake fruits from Bali🙃, sounds venomous and exotic; called so because of their brown scaly skin. Peel away the skin to reveal the firm white edible flesh – tastes like a hard pineapple as per the kid. You can have a taste, but it’s not something I would eat everyday. More than the taste, I liked the feel of the hard scaly skin, gives me goosebumps 😊.

Next is coffee- Kopi Luwak – coffee from partially digested coffee cherries eaten and defecated by a civet. Fermentation occurs as the cherries pass through the civet’s intestines and after being defecated with other faecal matter, they are collected. I don’t drink coffee and am definitely not going to try this one😬.

Last from Bali is a box of wooden puzzles – they are a challenge esp. since the instructions on the small leaflet that came with the puzzle were not in English.

The wood pieces are tightly wedged together and you have to find the key piece, dislodge that piece and the whole assembly falls apart. No screws, only wood pieces with wedges. Here’s one…

Next is a brand of premium chocolates from ITC – Fabelle. We received the same as a gift. ITC’s FMCG division has overtaken their cigarette business as the largest revenue contributor. Though their Ashirwad atta (wheat flour) is our household staple, we have not tried their chocolates. I like chocolates with nuts inside and this one is exactly that. But not as sweet as Cadbury Silk though.

The next is an online magazine called Medium. It started in 2012, I am very very late in getting to know about it !! The titles of the articles are such that, they urge and tempt you to click and read😇. Well written pieces and they also have the time of read mentioned. I stick to the articles that can be read in 5 minutes as that is my attention span online. For lengthier reads, I prefer the books.

Last is an investment idea called smallcase. The investors buy a portfolio of stocks and ETFs based on certain themes. The major difference between a small case and a MF is that the stocks bought through small case portfolio are directly credited to the investors demat account unlike in a MF where you get units of the fund.

Hence in smallcase, you also receive the dividends declared by the companies as you are a shareholder. I have not yet made an investment in them, looks interesting though. Please do not forget to do your due diligence before any investments (equity investments are subject to market risks).

Hope you liked the picks. That’s all for today.

Till next post, take care !!