Please read the label on Sevin very carefully, and consider the consequences of using a non discriminant pesticide in your garden. Sevin kills many types of insects including bees. I personally know of a local apple farmer that lost all of his bee hives. We think due to his use of Sevin on his apple trees to control gypsy moths. He did not heed the warning, and treated the trees, then found the hives were dead the same year! Now he has nice trees, but his pollinators are all gone, so the net result is less fruit produced. I would recommend finding a natural, organic, and especially bee safe product, as bees are required to pollinate the Eggplant.

I've seen that happen several times, definitely not too unusual. Like anything that needs pollinated, the blossom was pollinated twice at the same time. You can also see some more unusual double that have 2 stems instead of 1, which are 2 fruits that grow together. We had a tomato this last week, wish I had taken a pic, that was 4 with only 1 stem. First quadruple I've even seen.

Ping Tang is very thin. I perfer Ichiban for size. The one I really like and grows well here is Shikou... and Ichiban type also from China.

I married into an Italian/American family and after seeing them fry those endless eggplant cutlets in buckets of oil and make such a big frying mess, I decided to do them in the oven, instead. Those pans of resulting eggplant parm were heavy and they were filled with oil. So, I found a way to do almost any cutlet in the oven. Simple thing taht I do is to render it into slices howver it pleases you, about 1/2" thick, or so. Dunk them into a dunk of beaten egg and a bit of buttemilk then dredge them into a plate with good quality breadcrumbs, some organo and a good dose of grated cheese and I love black pepper. Lay them on a baking sheet drizzled with olive oil and shake more olive oil across the top and bake for about 20 minutes, or so until the breading is nice and baked. The entire vegetalbe may still be a bit underdone, depending, but it will cook when you assemble it with the sauce and whatever it is that you are going to do with it. It is good just as it is without the sauce and the baking, if you want. I do the same with any vegetable or meat cutlet .Pork chops done this way are so nicley cooked because the breading keeps all of the moist in the meat and the breading adds a nice tooth and taste. I make bread crumbs from my home made bread, but if you dont have that, use a good non sweet bread such as the grocery bakery baguette. Those crumbs in a can are just awful, in my opinion. I make my own crumbs, some large and soft and some fine. Both textures have thier best use. I prefer to use a larger and softer crumb for thick cutlets. My preference. When I have left over dunk and dredge, I cut up onions, mix it all up and layer it beside the cutlets. Drizzle it with olive oil. This way you can us a good quality olive oil because, unlike the frying method, you are using less and it is more upfront as a flavor delight. It is more delicate than the utility oil that may have been used for frying. Anyone who has ever fried eggplant knows what an oil sponge it can be!