Katuray (Sesbania Grandiflora)

The thing with funerals is that it brings many relatives whom you have not seen for ages--- aunts, uncles, and cousins. Then you meet new faces of nephews and nieces you would otherwise not see if not for the wake. So it is a bittersweet reunion brought together by a death in the family. Updates of what's going on with our lives, reminiscences of the past were shared, gifts were exchanged, and laughter pealed.

Of the many gifts exchanged and offered, the lowly bag of the beautiful and humble katuray flowers were my favorite as well as the bag of sampaloc. I have not seen katuray in a long time...and in fact I forgot how katuray flowers taste. So we talked about what to do with them (steamed for salad or sauteed with butter and garlic).

fresh katuray flowers

steamed katuray flowers dipped in vinegar and anchovy sauce vinaigrette

Katuray blooms  from Corkwood tree also called Scarlett Wisteria tree and Vegetable Hummingbird tree are edible and come in different shades of white or red. They are said to belong to the legume family (Fabacea). The roots and the leaves of this katuray tree are also used for medicinal purposes. The flowers are excellent source of calcium, traces of iron and vitamin B. They are also considered as  cancer inhibitor. 

I was happy to rediscover this floral salad. It has some crunch and a  little bitterness to it. Katuray flowers are fun to eat. I hope to have more of this in the future.

Same Beans

On days when my job brings me to Richmond Hill, I browse through the West Indies vegetable stores on my lunchbreak.I keep my eyes peeled for greens or any item that are not familiar to me. I also look for indigenous items that I might know from home. I would hope to see my favorite winged bean that I grew up eating stewed or  steamed. And so today I came across a kind of bean that I have never seen before. So gorgeous waiting in the box to be bought for $2.99 a pound. My heart thumped as I felt with my fingers its flatness and width and contours. I sniffed it's bean smell and my mouth easily watered. I was reminded of steamed veggies  that we ate with grilled fish, both dipped in liquid sauces that accompany our meals. Funny, it's labeled "Same Beans".  I don't get it. Same is it's name?
I scooped up a pound worth of the flat beans and asked the lady behind the register how they cook it. She said they slice them in pieces and cook them with their curry dish. I shall cook them tonight, but simply sauteed in garlic and ginger and miso.  It will be the side dish to baked chicken drumsticks and brown rice.  Finding this beautiful flat beans to me, is a serendipitous thrill.

As long as my hand  half as wide.

 

The Makings of a Peach-Habanero Hot Sauce

Habaneros

Add Peaches

                                                              Add Lime

                                                                 Add Onion

                                                               and Vinegar

then SALT to your  taste.

Voila! Peach-Habanero
Hot Sauce!YEEOOOWWW!!!!

I went out for a walk this morning and here's what I saw on one of my neighbor's (down the block) fence. Clusters of grapes that looked to me like Concord grapes. I reached out for one and popped it in my mouth. Yep, sweet ashen blue concord grapes.

I looked down and saw overripe fallen grapes scattered on the cement floor.

I realized these grapes are being ignored. Perhaps the owner is tired of them. My heart went pitter-patter. 

this is the outside part of the fence. There are more clusters of grapes on the other (inner) side

oh my foraging heart wants to help myself to my neighbor's grapevine............................perhaps, I'll just plant my own next spring....sigh...

I did not grow these in my garden. I picked these up at the beach as Zach and I frolicked  among the waves. I am enamored by its mossy-sagey and contrasting textures. I could not wonder enough if they are edible. I smelled them and immediately, my mouth watered. I miss eating a variety of seaweeds available in wet markets displayed mound after mound. Such delicious  salad ingredient. I could not help myself so I took a small bite of both seaweeds. They taste just as how I expected them to taste. For a while there in that small bite, I tasted the ocean, fresh and salty, just like the seaweed salads I used to eat back home. The green one was spongy and quite delicious. Just my type of seagreens. The brown one was equally wonderful and crunchy.  I could easily make salads out of these two, but I restrained myself. I cannot consume  plants that I  have not confirmed to be edible, no matter how tasty and scrumptuous looking. I decided to give these to my plants instead. Perhaps they will make good fertilizers like fish are.

I could imagine and almost taste these with diced tomatoes and red onions with strips of ginger and a drizzle of vinegar and anchovy sauce

I have yet to find out their names and "edibility" (if there is such a word)
Do you know?

Coming home from a two-week vacation, the first thing I noticed were my pots of tomatoes having only stems standing upright. I knew some kind of caterpillar ate the leaves up. As I approached the pots I saw the most hideous....ahhh blood-curdling caterpillar crawling up the tomato stem. One that is encumbered with wasp eggs. My annoyance for it having eaten the tomato leaves turned to pity. Poor caterpillar.  Ugh...I have goosebumps looking at it. So I poked it off the stem till it fell unto the deck floor. If the poor caterpillar did not have those parasite eggs on its body, I would have squished it with a vengeance. I studied it a little longer as it crawled on the floor and  every wavy movement it made causing the eggs to wave with the motion, I grew more goosebumps. Finnally, I squished it with a stem but this time doing so like I was giving it a favor to end its misery.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Hello SUNFLOWER....

sunflower petals unfolding one at a time

Goodbye Sunflower....