Saturday, January 30, 2010

Sunday Stills: Texture


pawpaw or papaya, has a smooth skin, a soft but firm fruit, and the little peppery hard seeds. When I was growing up in Borneo, Dad always have a tree or two. We had papaya everyday.

If you are not Chinese, chances are you have never seen or heard of this egg, unless you watch the Fear Factor when the participants say this is the most vile thing they have ever tasted. The Chinese call this the BI TAN, to many, it is the century old egg. Someone says they use horse urine to preserve the duck egg. The texture of the exterior of this egg is rough as it is coated by the husk of rice.

You don't have to cook the century old egg, it is preserved by the chemicals that it becomes a firm jelly. You eat it with pickle ginger and mustard. My Aussie nieces refused to eat it. My brother Charles bought it knowing the water engineer won't let me eat it.

This metallic mobile phone holder is smooth and cold to touch. It reminds me of another metallic article in the family. My youngest sister Grace made a black metallic number for D's Prom nite. It was the most beautiful gown worn by the most beautiful belle of the night.(ahem!!!) I should tell her to send me a photo of the gown.

Among the ficus leaves is an ants nest. I did not touch the nest, but my eyes tell me that it has the texture similar to the century old egg.
Sunday Stills, the next challenge: Textures
Posted in Sunday Stills Challenge of the Week, the next challenge with tags Sunday Stills on January 24, 2010 by Ed

I think someone requested this challenge awhile ago, so here it is…:-)

http://sundaystills.wordpress.com/

13 comments:

Reader Wil said...

wonderful to see all those familiar photos! The papaya: we had it often in Indonesia, where I grew up. The ants nest: I wrote a post about it in Camera Critters. The duck's egg is new to me! Very interesting Ann! I wouldn't eat it!!!

Anonymous said...

Really great choices Anna. I really liked the papaya. :)

Brenda said...

oh, I don't watch fear factor very often, but I think I saw something like that egg on that show or Survivor. It was disgusting to watch, and I couldn't watch it! lol The ant's nest is interesting, too.

Thomas Lee/Lee Lip Pang said...

nice textures,we still eat the eggs over here.

VioletSky said...

so that is what the century old egg looks like!
I like the idea of the cell phone cover - in summer, right now it sends chills through me to think of holding something cold!
Enjoyed your interesting selections of textures.

Shirley said...

An interesting selection Ann; I think I'd stick to the papaya as far as culinary delights go!

wenn said...

interesting texture! i love papayas!

dennisthemennis.co.uk said...

Love the ants nest!!!

Ensurai said...

Preserved duck egg or pi dan and any other preserved food is a part of Chinese food culture and eaten in winter when nothing grows.

In the equatorial climes we eat these because of our ancestry and reckon them as delicacies.

Pi dan and salted duck eggs are now too costly for most families. A pity. I like the latter better.

Papayas are really nice.

Regular Guy said...

Nice pics, like the egg and ant nest. Thanks for telling the story behind each photo.

allhorsestuff said...

Very Nice shots and really cool~

KK

Ruth said...

Papaya is so good in the tropics, but so poor when imported to our northern grocery stores. I think I will pass on the egg :-(

gtyyup said...

Very interesting photos for this week's challenge! I would also pass on eating the egg ;~)