Monday, January 11, 2010

How to rescue a spider, and yellow beans

He has been lurking around the home for days. I have seen bigger, but still, they are often in the bush, or in the shed, or somewhere where we can leave them alone. Instead this 'little' Avondale Spider (I don't know if it is a he or she, so I keep referring to 'him' as a he...and not it!) was walking around like he owned the place, and not in corners or against the wall, but straight in the middle of the corridor path, in the living room, office, kitchen...in full daylight. The French doors are open for most of the day now, I thought that he could leave on his own accord, especially after been almost stepped on a few times. I tried screaming, but he just stood there looking at me, and waited for me to step aside (me walking against the wall). But he didn't leave. My husband is away so I couldn't ask him to put him out, I kind of liked the creature, Avondale spiders are not dangerous, and they are quite cute, in an arachnid sort of way, that is. Mostly I was afraid of the cats finding him...he could not stay! So, what is a 'domestic goddess' to do? I put a plastic jar over it, and slid a piece of paper underneath, showed him to the kids, and then took him out into the garden. Bye bye Avi, please don't come back!




And then in the garden I saw my first yellow beans!!!



I picked them immediately, the more you pick them and the more they seem to grow, and the plants still have so many flowers on!



Initially I thought of cooking them with a tomato sauce, but then I changed my mind: they are so fresh, and the first, so I just sautéed a shallot with olive oil, added the beans (washed and top and tailed, of course) and sautéed them gently for a little. Then I added a pinch of salt, put the lid on, lowered the heat, and let them cook in their own steam for about 10 minutes (checking and stirring from time to time). I didn't need to add any water, probably because they were so fresh, and they tasted perfect!


Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

9 comments:

  1. My mother in law grew yellow beans. They were fabulous. I haven't seen any over here.

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  2. yum :) the beans I mean...

    I prefer our arachnid friends outside too. :-)

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  3. We have got a lot of spiders in and outside our house hehehe... We always clean it every fortnight but you know how spiders are, once they got one ball of egg, the next thing you will have a troop of them! We grow butter beans, too. So far we just like them steamed. Do you grow peas? They grow like mad this year.

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  4. I had little luck with peas this year, very little luck :-(

    Do you call these butter beans? Or do you mean that you also grow butter beans (which I call Bianchi di Spagna, and are very big)?

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  5. fichissimo il ragno e da morire il racconto con te schiacciata contro il muro e lui al centro del corridoio.
    i fagiolini gialli come il fagiolo magico? se vuoi riscrivo anche in inglese.

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  6. beh in effetti son color burro

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  7. Ciao Enza, come stai?

    Questi sono i ragni che hanno usato per filmare aracnofobia, e c'e' chi li tiene come pets perche' ti stanno vivino (e fanno le fusa??? boh). Insomma, ancora un po' e me lo trovavo sulla scrivania che mi accarezzava la mano con la zampina (blea!!!)

    Bellissimo il tuo post sull'allattamento, ma dove trovi tutto il tempo!!!

    XX
    A.

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