Something's strange about the Lady's Fingers

I only discovered that Lady's Fingers are also called Okra recently. (Yes... I was always wondering what the Okra plant mentioned on the GCS forum was.)

But I have a few seeds of the lady's fingers given to me by a fellow forummer and so I decided to try germinate one. For some reason, it "looked" like an easy seed to germinate so I germinated it in a large pot vs the small germinating pots I usually use.

The seed started off well and grew into a strong seedling in no time.

But then, something strange started happening.

There were lots of clear little balls on the underside of the leaves. Almost every leaf had those clear little balls.. which looked like very small clear beads actually.

They are a bit hard and pop if you squash them.

I was quite freaked out. Could they be eggs of some strange insect lurking in my balcony? I searched high and low and found no new or unknown insects in my balcony. I waited a few days to see if they'd "hatch"..

They didn't.. there were just more of them popping up all over the leaves.

I sprayed insecticide on them.. They seemed quite immune.

Maybe they are some sort of fungal growth, I thought..

Though that seemed unlikely, I sprayed fungicide on them. Again, nothing happened, just more and more balls.

Finally, I took some soapy water and washed all the leaves of my Okra plant and was finally satisfied when there were no more little balls..

But the next day, they reappeared.

Oh these pesky little things!

Frustrated, I took a picture of them and posted a question on GCS forum.

Turns out that these clear little balls are normal for an Okra plant (or a Lady's fingers plant if you, like me, prefer the more feminine name).

In fact, they are a sign of a healthy plant. According to a learned fellow forummer, these are sap produced by the plant to attract beneficial bacteria to the leaves for better disease resistance and plant nutrition.

What a reflief to know that these strange and rather creepy looking balls are actually Nature's creative and wonderful way of taking care of herself.

Fiery Cuisine

I think Sichuan food can only be described as fiery.

The Chinese would describe Sichuan food as 麻辣 (mala), which means spicy hot in a numbing manner. You will understand why "numbing" if you try Sichuan food. They often contain an ingredient called 麻椒 (majiao), which is sometimes also called Sichuan pepper. It is not spicy hot actually.. but gives a numbing feeling to the tongue. In English, I find no good word that explains 麻辣 in a more appropriate way than "fiery"

2 Sichuan dishes that I like have interesting names.

The first is 水煮鱼 (shuizhuyu), which literally translates to "Water-boiled Fish". You won't see any water when the dish is served though. It is actually fish boiled in water and drowned in a LOT of chilli oil. The chillis are usually removed at your table by the staff. If you like it even spicier, you can request for the chillis to be removed later... (Not advised)

The fish is very tender because of the way it is cooked and even though it may seem very oily, because you kind of have to "fish" it out of the chilli oil, it's actually okay. Just avoid the odd Sichuan pepper still in the dish.

The second dish is 口水鸡 (koushuiji), which literally means "Saliva Chicken". Doesn't sound good but it is really just steamed chicken with a really spicy mix of chillis, peanuts and assorted spices. Very simple but good. It is usually served as a cold dish.. although there is nothing "cold" about it.

Sichuan food is gaining popularity all across China now.. and even though I didn't really appreciate it as much in the beginning, but over time, I'm really getting quite hooked on it and would request to go to a Sichuan restaurant whenever I visit Beijing.

This last trip, we went to a popular restaurant to satisfy my cravings.

渝信川菜(长安店)
Address: 东城区建国门内大街7号长安大戏院1楼
Telephone: +86-10-65171012

"Water-boiled fish" - No water in sight.. 

Delicious cold dishes.

Any dish you see with chilli will be spicy hot and numbing.

The "Saliva Chicken" is the one at the bottom right.

Prawns in chilli oil - can't see the prawns, right?

They are under the chillis. Surprisingly, this dish is not as spicy as it looks.

Super spicy frogs. I tried one and stopped at that.

Not just because it's frogs.. but it's so so spicy!

One of the few non-spicy dishes at the table. Home-made tofu.

Goes really well with spicy food. It kind of "relieves" your tongue a bit from all that spiciness

The Roselle flowers

I've never seen the flowers of a roselle.. I've only seen roselle buds.. and I used to think the flowers look just like a bud - which looks a bit like a rose bud, and that is why it is called "Roselle".

The buds have been growing on my roselle plant for a long time now.. They start really tiny.. and then just grow bigger and bigger and bigger..

For the last few days, one of the flower buds started looking a little strange.. and today, a nice pink flower sits on my roselle plant.

This roselle plant of mine has been through a lot - Red spider mites... severe underwatering... too small pot... assorted anphids... etc. It looks a bit lopsided now because the bottom leaves are very small but the top leaves are huge..

But I'm just glad it's doing fine now.

The roselle flower and buds