Macro Garden

Duck Eggs

For the last couple of days, I've been driving up and down the Dorset and Wiltshire countryside.  My route takes me past several places selling free range eggs direct.

I'd asked my partner a while ago if she'd like to try duck eggs.  I've never had them and wondered what they'd be like.  She said she didn't fancy the idea so I didn't push it.  However, today the farm shop I stopped at also had duck eggs so I decided to try them.  They were pretty huge with very white delicate looking shells.

I'd forgotten to take anything out of the freezer for tea so had the perfect reason to experiment with the eggs.  A bit of internet research revealed that the taste was a little richer than hens' eggs because both the white and the yolk are higher in protein.  Apparently they're excellent for baking really light sponges as they're able to hold a lot of air bubbles when beaten.  Also, their richness works especially well with home-baked biscuits.

Anyway, baking wasn't on the cards tonight as time was limited and what I was short of was a main course.

I had some chorizo in the fridge, and some fresh local asparagus.  So, one chopped onion, one chopped red pepper, thickly diced chorizo, asparagus cut into inch long segments, all lightly fried together with a bit of olive oil.  I added in one oxo cube, a bit of salt, a sprinkle of smoked paprika and a pinch or two of dried red chilli.  When all that was cooked, I poured in the beaten egg and kept the whole thing moving (I wanted the egg scrambled rather than set).  The duck eggs cooked much more quickly than hen eggs.

The result?  Yum!  The egg was nice and yellow, and stood up very well to the rich flavours I'd teamed them with.  Even my step-son, who isn't at all keen on eggs, was enthusiastic.

I didn't dare mention that they were eating duck eggs or they would have probably made a fuss!  It'll be a good test of whether or not they read my blog!

Beautiful Beads

Last summer I spied a necklace on someone that I really liked the look of.  I took a mental picture of it and decided that it couldn't be beyond my wit to make my own version of it.  I did a bit of internet research and discovered that I could buy a beginners' bead making kit on eBay for less than £15.  This included a booklet, the necessary tools, and a variety of equipment (including beads) to get me on my way.

I had a go and found that it wasn't too difficult to make a pair of simple drop earrings.  However, I didn't like the beads in the kit enough to want to try and make a necklace out of them.  Luckily for me, there's a bead shop on Poole High Street near The Quay, so I hot-footed it to there one lunchtime and had great fun choosing lots of colourful glass beads.  I took the kit and the beads on holiday with me and came up with my first creation.

 More recently, I bought a black and red dress which I didn't have any jewellery to go with.  I wanted something a bit lighter than my first piece, so decided to create a more 'floating' design.  The beads for this one cost me just over £5 (and I have lots of the smaller ones left over for something else). 

There are lots of bead suppliers online if there isn't a shop near you, and the designs are limited only by your imagination.  You can make something that goes perfectly with your outfit, and at a length to suit you.  It really is quite easy to make something eye-catching and unique.

Yard Long Beans or Barbati

Yard Long Beans

I wanted this week's culinary adventure to yield something I could bear to eat after the bitter melon disappointment.  So I opted for something a lot less alien looking - in fact, just a very long version of the french beans I cook with quite often anyway.  My research showed that these are an Asian favourite (China, Thailand, India, Malaysia, etc.) and several of the recipes I found teamed them up with sweet combinations such as coconut or jaggery (essentially block sugar).

Heart-shaped Bean Slices

I decided to go for something with coconut and followed Smitha's Spicy Foods recipe also known as Barbati Kobari Koora.  Urid (or urad) Dal are black lentils that have been peeled and split.  I used nowhere near as much as a tablespoon of red chilli powder - I sprinkled it carefully!  I used coconut powder and I added the turmeric at the same time as the ginger garlic paste.

Barbati Kobari Koora

The smell of the kitchen when I stirred in the coconut powder was delicious, as was the finished dish.  I'd definitely recommend this recipe to anyone fancying a new twist on beans.

Bitter Melon or Karela

Slice through the bitter melon

Have you ever passed an exotic grocery shop and seen all sorts of weird and wonderful fruit and veg that you have no idea what you'd do with?  It can't just be me!  We're lucky to have one of these shops just round the corner so I decided to investigate some of the ingredients a bit further.  They do such a variety in there and if they don't have it, no matter where its origin, they'll try and get it for you if you ask.

Close up of the bitter melon skin



You may have noticed a green vegetable that looks like really warty-skinned cucumbers.  They look very alien to me. I looked them up on Wikipedia and found out they're called Bitter Melon (amongst other things) and do indeed come from the cucumber family. They pop up in all sorts of cultures' cookery including Indian, Chinese and South Asian. It's used for all sorts of medicinal purposes including diabetes and malaria.

As its name suggests, it's very bitter.  The lighter it is (it goes from green to yellow when ripe), the more bitter the flesh and the sweeter the pulp around the seeds inside.  Having tried it quite green today, I wouldn't dream of tasting it when it's yellow.

I found an Indian recipe for a vegetable dish courtesy of Vah Reh Vah . There's a video with the recipe and his face when he tastes the juice (albeit the bitterest ... but most medicinal part) says it all. 

However, it was an interesting experiment and finally satisfied my curiosity about this weird looking vegetable.

A selection of the ingredients

The bitter melon cooking

The finished dish

I'm wondering whether I didn't pick the vegetables very well as I didn't really know what I was looking for in terms of the right level of ripeness.  I think I need to track somebody down who knows how to do it properly before I swear never to buy it again ...