Discovering Bitter Melon
Weekends are always so busy! Not much time to blog. As I do every Saturday, I went to the Farmers' Market this morning.

It was a mixed day at the market for me. My favorite vendor, who sells beautiful fresh organic lettuce, wasn't there today! Neighboring vendors speculated the farm took the day off, which seems a reasonable theory. I am going to have to find another source of greens this week. On the other hand, I did find some nice baby onions, some beautiful heirloom tomatoes, and some fabulous peaches and nectarines. I love summer!

I also kept a promise to myself to buy some bitter melon. I took this gorgeous photo last week, and then became curious about bitter melon. Was it really bitter? How is it used? When I came home I googled it, and discovered bitter melon has a legion of fans out there. People make extravagant health claims for it. It even has its own National Council. Kitchens from Thailand, India and the Philippines have dozens of dishes that feature it. It reportedly is very bitter. Bitter is one of the most intriging notes on the flavor palette. I like bitter things like chococolate, coffee, and Belgian endive. So I've picked out a couple of recipes to try, culled from fellow food bloggers. First, I have to pick up a few ingredients missing from my kitchen, and tomorrow I will spend my kitchen time trying one or more of those recipes.

More bitter melon to come.