Purple Fingers

I have purple fingers. We grew purple podded peas in our garden and today I picked a little crop. We have been shelling them and eating them raw, they are yummy and sweet. We have cooked a very yummy dinner, but apart from a few bites to taste that it was good we aren't eating it. It's going into the freezer for another night, as we are going to someone's house for pizza (a bit of a last minute plan). The peas have just been a little snack to tide us over.

Tonight's Dinner
Sweet-sour Duck with Mango
Ingredients:
350g of duck breasts (if you don't like duck, or it's too expensive the recipe works really well with pork as well, tonight we used chicken because we already had some but personally I think pork is a better substitute for duck)
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dry sherry or chinese rice wine
1 tsp sesame oil (we use olive oil instead of all the various oils the recipe calls for)
1 tsp chinese five-spice powder
1 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp corn flour
3 tbsp chinese rice vinegar
1 tsp tomato ketchup (we used tomato paste as we don't have tomato sauce)
1 mango, not too ripe (due to the fact that mangoes are $8 here at the moment, we used tinned mangoes this time - they aren't really as flavoursome, better to cook this in mango season, but it is still quite yummy with tinned mangoes if you are feeling poor)
3 baby eggplants (baby as in 2-3 inches, so otherwise buy the smallest ones you can find, and you'll probably only need 1 of any other sized eggplant)
1 red onion
1 carrot
4 tbsp groundnut oil (once again we used olive oil)
1 garlic clove, sliced
2.5cm fresh root ginger cut into shreds
75g sugar snap peas (we had a bumper crop from our garden, so I put in about double that)

Instructions:
1. thinly slice duck breasts and place in bowl, mix together with 1 tbsp of the soy sauce, sherry, sesame oil and five spice powder. Marinate for 1-2 hours if able.
2. mix together sugar, cornflour, rice vinegar, tomato ketchup and remaining soy sauce in a bowl, put aside.
3. peel mango slice flesh from stone then cut into thick strips. Slice aubergines, onion and carrot into similar size pieces
4. heat wok until hot. add some olive oil, swirl it around. drain the duck (reserving remaining marinade for later) and cook until fat is crisp and golden. remove and keep warm. Add oil to wok and stir fry eggplants until golden (approx 3mins)
5. add oil if needed and add onion, garlic, ginger and carrot, stir fry for 2-3 mins then add sugarsnap peas and stir fry for 2 more minutes.
6. add mango, duck, remaining marinade and preprepared sauce to wok. cook, stirring until sauce thickens.
7. serve with rice.
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Today was a lazy day. I slept in late. I got up and ate breakfast. I went back to bed with a cup of tea and a book. I got up and we walked to the shops and got a coffee and did some grocery shopping, walked home again, then ate lunch. Went for a drive to a local little art display and looked at some pretty paintings, and got ourselves invited to the opening night. It's Friday, and I'm thinking I might go. Did some more shopping, came home and wasted the rest of the day before cooking dinner. I love days like these. The more unproductive the better!

This week work has been frustrating. I had to let someone sign out against medical advice, and I felt like crying. It was someone who needed surgery for a self inflicted injury. They seemed to already be developing signs of sepsis to me - mottled skin, temperature rising. And I felt quite worried for them. But they were competent to make the decision, disagreeing with what a doctor tells you, doesn't make you incompetent. They were quieter and more polite then other patients who have psych issues and more then anything I felt really sad and worried for them. Normally patients like that would leave me feeling frustrated and not much else... Don't know why it's gotten to me. Everybody's free. It's a good thing. I know it is. I'm sure it is. I wonder though, seatbelts and helmets are mandatory because they save lives. Are we free? Never mind. I shall leave my rambling behind and get ready to go out for pizza.