An edible bouquet for International Women's Day. Because flowers are lovely, but breakfast is lovely too.
March 8. International Women's Day.
Traditionally, you give women flowers. Tulips are particularly popular.
And I have nothing against tulips.
But I also like cooking.
So one year, I decided to combine the two.
I boiled some eggs, peeled them and carefully carved elongated, petal-shaped openings into the whites, exposing just enough golden yolk to resemble the inside of a tulip.
The eggs became white flower buds.
For the stems and leaves, I used spring onions and leek greens.
Then I arranged everything on a plate.
And there it was.
A bouquet of white tulips. Entirely edible.
The resemblance was surprisingly convincing. Even looking at the photograph now, I think they could almost pass for actual flowers.
My wife was delighted.
Of course, my son and I gave her real tulips afterwards. I'm not quite eccentric enough to suggest that boiled eggs should permanently replace flowers.
But ordinary tulips are easy to buy.
An unexpected bouquet that you can eat afterwards?
That's a rather different sort of present.
No expensive ingredients. No elaborate recipe. Just a few eggs, some green onions, a knife and a little imagination.
And perhaps that's one of my favourite things about cooking.
Sometimes you don't even need to make a dish.
You can just make somebody smile.