THIS WEEK AT MY PLACE

I have some big, beautiful boysenberries in the garden, ripening from a rich red to a glossy black every few days. I picked a bowlful to photograph.....but we ate them...... sorry.....Now you will have to wait a few more days so I can gather some more.

But I did find a couple of things to photograph. First is an attempt by this rather small garlic head to produce another little garlic half way up the stem. I have noticed that Tony Scarfo's garlics sometimes do this but I have not seen it before on other varieties I have grown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next thing is the water spinach (kang kong). I bought 2 bunches of this delicious Asian vegetable at the market last Friday so I could grow it myself, in one of my tubs of water, during summer. I cut all the leaves off (to eat) and put the stems in vases and already they are beginning to get white roots. The photo on the right is from a Singapore site called www.goorganic.com.sg . which will deliver fresh, organic vegetables to you either picked or in this farm-in-a-box idea. Anyway, I am going to grow it in a tub, partially filled with soil and then topped up with water.....as per water chestnuts. I think it is one of the nicest of the Asian greens and has pleasant, crisp, hollow stems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

......I interrupt this blog to bring you a human interest story....all this writing about garlic and water spinach and boysenberries made me hungry so I made some lunch.....chicken, beetroot and a green salad with avocado....and as I was eating it, without my glasses on, I thought "Oh, I have dropped a bit of avocado on the table..." and was about to stick my fork into the lovely lime-green morsel when it hunched up its back and moved forward....it was a caterpillar, I realised, after putting my glasses back on....I have eaten lots of unusual things, including a millipede inside a strawberry, but as yet I have, as far as I know, avoided caterpillars!....

Now....where were we....Water spinach can be eaten raw or stir fried for just a few seconds. Last night I cooked it like this, and served it as a bed for grilled chicken:

Into a wide pan on very low place a dash of peanut oil or other oil and some thinly sliced spring onion or other mild onion or garlic stems, a couple of teaspoons of minced ginger and a couple of chopped garlic cloves. Cover and leave a while and have a glass of limoncello....or go outside and pick some Vietnamese mint .....and chop up a bunch of water spinach a bit....and find some home-made plum sauce...just a teaspoon or two and some mirin.....just a tablespoon or so .....and add them to the pan with a little bit of Thai fish sauce. When you are nearly ready to serve the rest of the meal, turn up the heat to medium and add the water spinach and Vietnamese mint to the pan and turn it all into the juices...... cooking only for a few seconds to heat and wilt. I grilled some chicken and basted that with peanut oil and soy sauce as it was cooking.

The whole meal took less than 1/2 hour to prepare and was scrumptious.

Serves 2.