<snip>
>
> Dao Miu is on of my favorites! When we eat out with the wife's family, we
always
> order this. They charge about $12 for this dish.. kind of pricey for a
plate of
> greens.
>

My favourite too but once you know how difficult it is to grow & find
DaoMiu, you'll appreaciate it! Firstly it's harvested from young pea shoots,
i.e green peas & not every variety of peas have edible shoots or young
leaves. Secondly it's only grown during the colder months just before
Spring. But if the winter is too cold, you'll lose the crop. It's def. not
grown in Summer or Autumn. Hence it's seasonal. Thirdly..... for a plate
full of DaoMiu, you need to pluck lots of young emerging shoots that have
not grown or developed into full leaves. Each shoot is about an inch long.
Finally.... if your restaurant insists on using the best shoots, that makes
it even more expensive as they are very hard to get. The other varieties are
not as nice or 'sweet' even though they can be grown out of season. I once
ordered some that were grown in slightly warmer climates & were larger in
size. They were distinctly more 'bitter' or 'green' tasting. I even tried
growing some myself in desperation..... after all the hard work put into it,
all of it ended up in my wok & eaten in less than 5 mins...... that's the
whole bleedin' crop!! Now i just save up & make sure to ring my favurite
chinese rest. & ask if they have any in season & if the answer is yes, i'll
ask them to put a bundle aside for me which often requires me to take my
card out! This is green GOLD ! LOL.

DC