"It's War!" I declared this weekend. "Time to eradicate all the weeds in the lawn!" I marched out, armed with weapons, an hour or so to kill, and a CAN DO spirit.
After about 30 minutes, when I had filled my bucket three times and covered about 1/1000 of the yard, the enemy started looking stronger than at first. Perhaps I had underestimated the shear force of their numbers. It was time to recruit an army.
"I'm paying a dollar a bucket," I announced to my small mercenaries. Their hearts weren't in the fight, but the $ signs in their eyes were motivation enough. Armed with weed pullers and buckets, we formed a strong battle front.
Equipment malfunctions nearly broke their spirits. First one, and then the other weed puller broke. No fear. I broke out the big guns-- Weed and Seed and a rotary hand spreader. But, alas, our department of defense had cut corners and the spreader was soon in pieces.
And so, as a last resort, I did what I should have done in the first place-- negotiated peace talks. We'll still keep up border patrol, but will stop short of total annihilation. In the meantime, our smallest soldier has discovered she loves to eat fried dandelions dipped in honey. So we might have a secret weapon after all.
2 comments:
I have to ask. How do you fry dandelions? What part do you use? Do you use batter? What do they taste like? And most important, who taught you?
And while I'm asking recipes ... I saw both in your book and in the girl's lists, fufu. I gathered it was some type of yams. I looked it up on the internet so I have a basic idea but I'd like to know more about it.
I first heard of fried dandelions from my older brother's 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Nevers (who was also on our party line). The bright yellow flowers are dipped in batter and fried, then dipped in honey. Mom always said anything tastes good cooked that way. Here's the recipe.
Fried Dandelion Blossoms
1 C. Milk
1/2 t. salt
1 egg
1 C. flour
vegetable oil
Pick dandelion blossoms and rinse in cool water. Cut off stems. Dandelion stems and greens are bitter. Blot excess moisture with paper towel.
Beat egg with milk, flour and salt. Dip blossom in batter, then drop batter-covered blossoms in hot oil (375 degrees). Fry until lightly browned. Drain. Serve immediately. We like to eat them dipped in honey.
I'm still working on a good Americanized fufu recipe. I'll share it when I get it perfected. In fact, we'll have you over for a fufu dinner.
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