Overlord Flower 霸王花

This morning I walked to the backyard to refill the bird/squirrel feeder as I do every day. Seeing two giant overlord flowers I immediately laid a yoga mat close to them. I so love practicing yoga in nature. 

 

The overlords smelled fragrant and looked stunning in the morning sunlight. A wild bee was humming in and out of the flower. A cardinal was chirping and jumping vividly in the crape myrtle tree where I hang the feeder on a branch. A couple of squirrels were fighting over their chance to get to the feeder. Ah, life can be so simple and beautiful. 

 

It is the third time this year the overlords bloomed in our backyard. Usually, the flowers start opening from midnight and last until the next morning. In June we had twenty plus flowers opening up within three days! I remembered Curtis and me lingering among the flowers in the dark with flashlights in our hands. We were blown away! 

 

I shared some flowers with Tina, my yoga student. She told me I could actually eat them, something I never heard before. The overlord flower soup was a traditional dish in the Guangdong province of China, where she was originally from. So I tried cooking it with chicken, mushrooms, dates, wood ear, and some spices. The soup was yummy for me. But Curtis thought it was slimy.  We dried the rest of the overlords and saved them for later cooking. 

 

Tripod Headstand with Overlords

 

Aug.12 updates: These two flowers contributed to my lunch.  Soup ingredients: overlord flowers, purple cabbage, sweet potato, dates, dried mushrooms, dried wood ears, celery, carrots, tangerine peel, unsalted chicken broth. It was delicious. 

 

今早我像每天一样到后院给鸟儿松鼠喂食器加食。看到两朵巨大的霸王花开啦，我立即在它们旁边放了一张瑜伽垫。我很喜欢在自然环境中练习瑜伽。

 

霸王花闻着香气扑鼻，在清晨的阳光下显得格外迷人。一只野蜂在花丛中嗡嗡地进进出出。我把喂食器挂在紫薇树枝上，一只红鸟叽叽喳喳蹦蹦跳跳。好几只松鼠在争抢到喂食器的机会。啊，生活可以如此简单而美好。

 

霸王花今年是第三次在我们家后院开花了。通常花朵从午夜开始开放，一直持续到第二天早上。今年六月份三天内开了二十多朵花！Curtis和我手里拿着手电筒在黑暗中徘徊在花丛中久久不愿离去。太震撼了！

 

我把霸王花分享给了我的瑜伽学生Tina。是她告诉我它们是可以吃的，我以前可是从未听说过。Tina是广东人她说霸王花汤是中国广东省的一道传统菜肴。所以我试着用鸡肉、蘑菇、红枣、木耳和一些香料来做汤，很好吃。但Curtis觉得它很粘乎乎的。我们把剩下的霸王晒干了留着以后做菜用。

 

更新：我把这两朵花做了午餐。 汤料：霸王花、紫甘蓝、红薯、红枣、干香菇、干木耳、芹菜、胡萝卜、陈皮、无盐鸡汤。挺好吃的。

（初稿于2021-08-12）