95. Healthy recipe: bitter gourd omelette (V)

Chinese bitter gourd omelette

We are really starting tasting winter now -- it is getting cold. My parents told me that back in my hometown, they are getting heavy snow, the first heavy snow for this winter. On the way back from city centre this afternoon, I even wished if I had a pair of gloves on, but you know, I never really liked gloves, even in the deep cold winter, my fingers got too frozen to move -- I could bear with that, but never liked to put the gloves on.

Do you know in Chinese there is a funny saying of that if you have cold hands it means that there are not enough people caring for you? :)) My grandma did not like that, she always prepared some good thick winter gloves for me, and used a ‘string’ to make the two gloves attach together, then I could just ‘hang’ the gloves over my neck, so I couldn’t lose them. She always made sure that I was cared for… I began to miss northeast Chinese winter.

When I say how much I miss the winter in northeast China, everyone, who knows how cold it could get, think that I am crazy. But it is not the coldness I really miss, it is the beautiful white snow -- under the moon light, the whole world turns to pinkish / orangish, I could just watch outside through the window forever; under the sun light, the whole world then becomes shining white.

Read more »

Heathy ingredient: Bitter gourd

Bitter gourd

Couple of weeks ago, when we were shopping in the market where we normally go, I saw bitter gourds. Since they are difficult to find, I decided to buy some, and make a few healthy dishes with them. Before sharing the recipes here, I thought it would be good to talk about the benefits of bitter gourds; then, we can probably try to persuade ourselves to bear with their bitterness. :))

When I told my parents that I was going to prepare a bitter gourd dish, they were so happy - they have been pushing me to have them for years, and always trying to cook them for me whenever I am back to China, but I was put down by their bitter taste each and every time. --- My parents were quite disappointed, but they did try to give me some time to get used to the bitterness.

And now, I am trying to have them again -- you know what, I think it is because of the nostalgia, rather than a change in my heart. --- Well, probably, not totally true, I do want to benefit from their rare properties.

Bitter gourd comes in different varieties regionally, the function and taste is all the same though. For example,

Read more »