ahkee72

Pineapple Tarts making 6Feb2010

2010-02-07T09:48:00.004+08:00

we gathered together at Yoke Li's place to make the CNY favourite - Pineapple Tarts. she cooked the pineapple into paste ...

we roll them into balls

first batch to sample the quality of the pastry

lunch was provided while the first batch was baking in the oven ... yummy chicken porridge with lots of extra ingredients

result of the first batch ... nice

and we went into mass production mode

baking in the oven

the end result ... nice?

Rose - New Blooms! 15Jan2010

2010-01-15T21:39:00.005+08:00

many friends have asked me how I manage to grow roses in our weather. it is definitely not an easy task. our hot weather will cause pest issue and the blooms are small as they do not enough coldness to recover.

this is quite unique as the blooms are light green

white rose is one of the easiest and they are so pure and sweet. look at the buds ... expecting more blooms next week

yellow rose is one of the more difficult types and I m glad this guy is giving out new blooms, after a tough fight with red spider mites. those leaves that are reddish are new growth.

dark red ones gives a totally different kind of feel, so elegant

like them?

Air Plants Dec 2009

2010-01-03T11:35:00.004+08:00

on the last day of 2009, I got my first Tillandsia aka airplants ... they dont need soil/media, no need to water daily, no need to hv pest control ....

these are the 5 to start my small collection

capitata peach (top), velutina (bottom)
caput medusae (top 2), ionantha rubra (bottom)

now is to decide where to hang them ... and hope they grow big big and bloom soon ...

Melaka Dec2009

2010-01-03T11:01:00.006+08:00

It has been a long time since the gang goes on a trip, so on xmas day, we woke up early and depart at 5pm to Melaka. 3 cars departed separately, using different customs but we managed to arrive at the Machap restpoint at the same time!

After bread and coffee/tea, we arrived in Melaka, just in time for morning break. What's a trip without trying the famous chicken riceballs. But most of us are not impressed with the chicken nor the riceballs, except little XinYue since she ate the most.

Look at the queue under the hot sun. We definitely will not queue for it. Not worth the effort.

need to digest some food, so we climb the hill and get some nice scenary

It's LUNCH time! we try this pernarakan restaurant and some of the dishes were good. like the otak (but Scatterseed's homemade ones are much nicer)

and the chicken ...

and the chap-cai ....

dinner was not fantastic but what is Melaka without going to Jonker Street. Look at the crowd!

and the famous Chendol ... with lots of thick thick gula melaka ... yummy ...

before we left Melaka the next day, we had to have Bak Ku Teh for breakfast ... we love the non-peppery type with lots of ingredients in it ... mushrooms, meat, vege, etc etc ... really good ...It was a good trip. and we promised each other that we should do this more often.

Rose updates Jan2010

2010-01-03T10:23:00.003+08:00

my roses blooming for the new year! these are all re-blooms, not new plants hor ...

I love this ... so sweet and so english-like

some of us were crazy over a green rose. the re-blooms are not exactly green but they are so pretty

Fishing

2009-12-06T00:48:00.004+08:00

my hubby loves to go fishing, so I went once with them to sea fishing in March 2005 ....

this is the island which we stayed during the nights
freshly caught fishes are very yummy

caught by the boat man

a small shark ... shark meat is quite nice but they were quite cruel to kill it ... you wouldnt want to know

dinner ... freshly caught fishes again ... simple cooking but very yummy

our catch for 2 days of hardwork

it was a good trip ... filled our ice boxes to full

but I was badly sea sick ... the waves were strong and it was too tough for me to stay out in the sea for 8hrs .... once is enough ...

Bangkok Food

2009-12-05T23:42:00.008+08:00

thought I could write abt some of the food places I have tried in Bangkok

before I start, this is my favourite store in MBK to stock up the tid-bits

only been to this place once ... Shelter ... slightly far from BKK centre ... food is not fantastic but there is live music, so make the whole experience quite fun

what a trip without ice cream, esp BKK is hot and humid ... this is terpanyaki style ice cream at hagan daaz

I have also been to this place once ... Anna's cafe ... not able to find it anymore and the website is not working so I assume it is not in operation anymore. They serve fusion style thai food, nice and service is good ... we only remb to take pics halfway thr ...

Japanese buffet ... although quality is not that good, but it is quite cheap, esp good for big eater

street food along khao san road, where backpackers stay. this pork porridge stall was just outside swenson's so quite easy to find. Dont know if it is still there

Episcia Collection - Nov 09

2009-12-05T22:53:00.004+08:00

I kept a couple of episcia in office and this is one of them when it blooms

I hv this mug but hv never used it ... so decided to pot my episcia in it ... but cant remb what is the ID of this episcia

this should be a fanny haague ... dark green leaves with lime green veins and lilac flowers

this is blue heaven ... light green furry leaves and the blooms have edges ... it is so cute

this is 1 of my latest collection: chocolate velor ... the dark leaves have green veins and lilac flowers ... so so pretty

Macau & Hong Kong Nov2007

2009-11-29T11:58:00.011+08:00

this was the first time we travelled together as a family, except for my hubby who cant join us as it was not school holiday, me, mother, 2 brothers and sis in law went to Macau and did a day trip to HK.

the hotel that we stayed Venetian Macau

we secretly took a few photos of the casino (well, it is not allowed)

this is the exterior of the hotel

Macau city centre, where the govt buildings are and where all the tourists come

this is some ancient horse head that costs millions of dollars, displayed outside a casino, guarded by a few guards

the famous 大三巴

I climbed up to take a look at the view of the streets

then I walked up to the hill top to view the city

must try their famous pork cutlet bun and tea with milk

and we travelled all the way to the seaside to find this Lord Stow's Bakery and eat the egg tarts ... it is a must!

Chengdu, China Dec2008

2009-11-29T10:51:00.010+08:00

due to work, I had the chance to travel to Chengdu 成都 for a week during their winter time. although I didnt hv much time to visit all the sights but still managed to squeeze in some time to sample some food.

their famous szechuan spicy hotpot

rabbit meat - taste like chickenthe hotel I stayed in - Hiltonover the weekend, I followed the Chengdu colleagues to Er Mei Shan 峨嵋山 for a night stay and we went for a walk in the morning

the famous Bao Guo Shi 报国寺

I also visited the panda centre. the big panda eating his favorite apple, waiting to take pictures with tourist. It costs around S$90 to take a pic with him ... whoh, so expensive.

the baby ones are so so cute

Rose Collection - Nov09

2009-11-29T09:37:00.004+08:00

a good friend helped me get these for me ... they are so so pretty ...

pink with extreme big blooms

this has green petals ... special hor?

soft pink ... so cute blooms

African Violet Collection - Updates Nov09

2009-11-24T21:34:00.004+08:00

my AV collection grows massively in my office as they doing very well in the aircon environment.

This is Robs Lilli Pilli, given to me by a GCS member.

I simply love the purple flowers with white trim ... ya, they are purple, not blue

This one has been doing very well. re-bloomed a few times already.

I waited many months for its re-bloom, luckily I did not give up. the purple pots are so cute, right?

This was a white with purple trim, but dont know why the re-blooms are more purple than white ... the blooms started 1 mth ago and the flowers are still there ...

Yam Cake Nov 2009

2009-11-24T20:56:00.002+08:00

I have been making yam cake for a long time base on my mum's recipe, but her recipe has no much standard to follow, always base on gut feel.

during May 09 GCS gathering, a member's mother made this and I asked for recipe. This is the 3rd time I made this since then and hv been giving away. This time, another GCS member Whyee and her boyfriend Soren were so 'unfortunate' to get a piece from me because I happened to visit them on the same day :P

hubby says it was sweet ... hmm ... I guess could be due to the sausages. maybe I should change another brand.

or maybe I should try to make pumpkin cake next time ...

Pork Cutlet Nov09

2009-11-21T22:56:00.003+08:00

My dear dear loves to eat pork ... see his size and you will know ... lol ....

so what to do, must learn how to make nice pork related dishes ... and this is pork cutlet. very easy to make, just need to follow a few simple steps:

1) ensure the meat is properly pounded so that the meat will not be tough
2) marinate overnight will be good. just need simple soya sauce and pepper
3) after coat the bread crumbs, put into fridge again so that crumbs will not drop off easily during frying
4) fry with low heat until 70-80% cooked
5) fry again with high heat so that the meat will still be tender inside and will not be oily

yummy!

Bangkok Sep2009

2009-11-15T20:46:00.009+08:00

It has been a long time since we go bangkok. finally we found some time and did a very short trip in Sep 09.

we arrived very late as there was a flight delay. hungry, we found this "bugs and bees" near our hotel. it serves fusion type of food. not fantastic but the place seems very popular with youngsters.

breakfast: wanton noodles
and the luxury version with crab meat and roast pork
we had steamboat at MK Gold, which is just 1 street away from our hotel

our favorite Greyhound cafe

there were much more food, but too busy eating to take pictures :P

Baking Cream Scones 7Nov2009

2009-11-15T19:50:00.004+08:00

I invited some friends over for a get-together session on 8 Nov and decided to make the scones again, since they are quite easy. This time I used self-raising flour (instead of plain flour) so the scones look like rock buns ...

but they are tasty! My friends pack all them home for their kids! Next time I will make again :)

Baking Cream Scones 31Oct2009

2009-11-01T00:23:00.003+08:00

I got this cream scones recipe from a forum friend so decided to give it a try as it looks relatively simple.

in the oven:
I was too lazy to roll out and cut into circles, so they look like rock buns.

the inside is soft ... not too bad :)

Bags collection

2009-10-27T23:50:00.004+08:00

not trying to show off the bags I have, I believe my collection is much smaller than many pple. But I got all these at a good deal as they are either bought during a sale or from some outlet mall.

I simply love this prada. easy to clean and size is good to carry lots of stuff.

this should be the most expensive bag I have. but it is so cute.

I got this from the shop itself and at 50% discount! really a good buy.

I love the bright pink at first sight. I left the shop in bicester village without buying but decided to go back to the shop and get it. really did not regret.

I bought this online as they were having sale. that is the advantage of someone staying in london.

got this from the outlet at bicester village. I like the simple design.

my sis in law and I got crazy at the furla outlet and we bought so many. we got so many of this "weekend shopping bag" back to give away as present because they are so reasonably priced.

Home Cooked Food - Sushi

2009-10-27T23:09:00.004+08:00

we decided to make our own sushi for dinner and bought some simple ingredients such as unagi, tamago (egg), spam and crab meat stick.

hubby tried to put in all the ingredients and realised they could not fit ... hahaaa ... lol

this is my creation - small and cute

and after a few rolls, we finally managed to do it properly. looks good?

normally the 3 of us only eat 1 cup of rice for dinner, but we used up 2 cups of rice to make these sushi and finished up everything! yummy ... will try again since it is quite easy.

Home Cooked Food

2009-10-19T22:42:00.002+08:00

I started cooking when I was very young, always follow my mum in the kitchen when she cooked lunch on Sunday mornings. Then I started cooking for the family when I was in Sec 4 (ie 16 yrs old) after my grandma passed away.

I am never a good cook. Can only prepare very normal food. I cant do fanciful dishes but they are still edible :P

like this ... this is angel hair tossed in olive oil and herbs
with leftover pork cubes and silverfish in egg ... totally werid combination but it still tastes good .... to my standard :)

Food Tasting Oct 09

2009-10-15T16:37:00.003+08:00

brother is getting married and we had a food tasting session at the hotel. first time we get to comment on each and every dish

starter: quite nice although can still be improved

shark fins

the vinegar bottle design is extremely bad. I spill lots onto the table

and finally after some testing, we chose the one on the right, which at least can pour decently

roast chicken with sweet and sour sauce

baked cod fish - yummy

scallop in XO sauce

mushroom and abalone

my brother skip the rice / noodle dish as we feel most of the time it is not eaten and very wasteful

yam paste with ginko nuts

Rose collection - Oct 09

2009-10-15T15:46:00.006+08:00

I went into a rose shopping craze recently and got these 5 roses

1) this is called a kampung rose, nice smelling, big blooms

2 & 3) small plants but healthy looking. blooms are quite big too

4) the blooms are cupped and have a red fringe ... interesting

5) see the number of blooms! there are 18 ... so cool

Rose collection - new blooms Sep2009

2009-09-24T22:24:00.002+08:00

my 7-sister rose has bloomed! the flowers are fragrant with a sweet smell ... *swee* or not

and the mini rose ... see the number of blooms? there are 14! whoh ...

Tiramisu Sep2009

2009-09-24T22:12:00.004+08:00

My sis in law and I decided to try to make tiramisu, so I got a recipe from a forum friend Scatterseed. The recipe is very simple and my sis in law was so amazed we manage to do it so easily.

the result? not too bad, except the base ladyfingers were a little too wet (we thought they are not soft enough and added extra coffee to soften them).

and next time, we will try to use kahlua instead of baileys and see if the taste will be better.

Episcia collection

2009-09-13T10:16:00.006+08:00

I also collect several types of episcia ... their leaves are nice and recently, they gave lots of blooms. easy plants that need little attention

Tropical Topaz - light green shiny leaves with yellow flowers

Warpaint - leaves with purple shade and red flowers

suomi - dark green leaves with yellow flowers

lil lemon - light green fury leaves with pink flowers

cute or not?

Rose collection - update (Sep 09)

2009-09-13T09:59:00.005+08:00

my best performer rose. This lilac / purple one has been doing very well.

this is the pot with dark red flowers, but dont know why the new bloom is more pinkish. see the long stem? that comes from the original stem and not the grafted one, so I had to cut it away.

I killed my 1st pot of 7-sister rose and this is the 2nd pot. still a baby one but still doing well with new shoots and new buds.

this is the stripe one. I attended a talk on roses and was advised to trim away all the flower buds and some leaves. and now, they are growing really good! so many flower buds leh.

some tips for growing roses in Spore:

- need at least 4hrs of sun

- soil must be well drained and will not cause roots to rot

- pest control is impt. common pests are red spider mites and thrips.

African Violet collection - new ones

2009-08-21T22:02:00.001+08:00

I had this AV since april and it has been the best performer. the blooms are continuous and extremely pretty.

as most of my AVs are in their greens only, decided to get a new pot so as to get some flowers. this is a common pinkish purple one.

this is the first time I seen a pin-wheel colored one! it is known as "chimera" and they say if too hot, the blooms might revert back to the normal purple. so I kept it in office to enjoy aircon.

Rose collection - update Aug 09

2009-08-21T21:57:00.002+08:00

I got myself another 2 new pots of roses recently. 1 pot with dark red flowers

and the other with mini bloom of red stripe

My Rose Collection

2009-06-21T01:00:00.002+08:00

Remb my lilac rose? It has not died on me yet. Although the weather has been very hot recently, it managed to re-bloom 2 days ago ... swee bo?

Then I got this very special 7-sister rose. Why it is called "7-sis"? actually I also not too sure. But look at the roses, arent they sweet?

close up of the flowers. If you stick the roses close to your nose, the faint fragance is heaven!

London Food

2009-05-30T15:44:00.007+08:00

After a day of outlet shopping, we had fish and chip for dinner. the fish is very fresh and thick.

we made a day trip to Oxford and had lunch at this BLANC ... the set meal is quite valued for money and very tasty too

we decided to have a change and have parkistan food for dinner. the restuarant is messy and dark and noisy but food is good and cheap. but to go again ... will consider twice

we made breakfast at the apartment ... luncheon meat, something bro & sis in law have not had for a while

we also cooked chicken rice for 1 of the dinners using the pre-mixed pack

bro brought us to this restuarant which serves nice set meals. service is really good too.

we also bought this frozen peking duck from the supermarket and grilled some mushrooms for dinner. the duck is really good

decided to hv chinese dim sum for lunch ... long time never eat chilli ... and I think we took a lot ... :P

before watching the muscial The Lion King, we had an early dinner nearby. The set is also quite good but serving was extremely slow.

Spain Food - Seville / Cordoba

2009-05-10T11:29:00.004+08:00

Seville, being a small town, food is not as pretty as those in big cities. they tend to be on the salty side

Lunch - Hosteria del Laurel

for dinner, we were at a restaurant in a hotel (Taberna del Alabardero). very nice design, like old english style, even the toilet is very interesting

we spent a day in Cordoba and lunched at La Almudaina. Soup was salty but luckily the salad was refreshing.

We could not reach the restaurant which we wanted to have dinner, roads in the town are closed and no taxi is willing to bring us there. so we had no choice but to return to hotel and ate some italian food for dinner, just to fill up the stomach.

the last day in Seville, we made our way into town early in the morning before roads are closed. Found this restaurant which we wanted to try the previous day. The food were good, although many dishes which we wanted are not available.

I saw in a magazine that morning where it featured a bakery with the famous spain dessert ... some bread soaked in honey (cant remb the name) - the 2 squares on top left corner. so after lunch, we made our way and ordered lots dessert!

Spain Food - Madrid

2009-05-10T10:05:00.005+08:00

we spent 2 days in madrid and the food there are good! yum yum

this is the world's oldest restaurant, Sobrino de Botin.

fish / seafood soup

the famous, must try roast suckling pig!

wood-roast pig
dinner was at El Amparo. setting is nice but no english menu, so hv to rely on the waiter to interpret the menu to us

I had fish (oops, cant remb what type)
yum yum

bro/sis inlaw had been to this restaurant (La Manduca de Azagra) in their previous Madrid trip.

The white asparagus is soft and delicious
I had roast pig again but this is different style... very nice too
we had too much for lunch and decided to eat Tapas for dinner. this cafe alike (Cerveceria Alemania) is crowded with locals but luckily they have english menu

Scones 09May2009

2009-05-09T22:43:00.002+08:00

I know nice scones are not easy to make but who cares. the recipe is simple enough

this is cherry & sultana scones. ok, I know they do not look exactly like scones ... realise I dont hv round cutter, so I just rolled them into balls and flattened. I did brush some milk on top but seems not enough to brown the top ...

taste ... ok lah, not fantastic but reasonable lah

African Violet collection

2009-05-09T21:16:00.005+08:00

being bitten by the AV bug, I started collecting AV but mostly no ID (ie they do not have a name). I started with 1 ... white with purple trim ... in Feb. The flowers has since all drop but recently, it re-blooms. I am so delighted becos this is the first time I managed to get it re-bloom

in feb - original blooms

re-blooms in May 09

then my friend maggie, knows that I like AVs, saw these 2 double-petal ones and help me bought them

this is pink with purple dots

this is purple with white trim ... I love the leaves, which is quite unusual for AV

maggie then saw this white one with green trim ... very unique and yes, it landed in my office :)

and although I already hv 4, I could not resist the temptation and bought another 2

ya, I hv 6 in total now :)

My Balcony - Update 09May2009

2009-05-09T12:40:00.006+08:00

the number of plants I have has grown a lot since I started gardening.
many were given to me by friends. Some I grow them from seeds. Some have died along the way but some has manage to re-bloomed ..

My first ROSE 09May2009

2009-05-09T12:31:00.004+08:00

could not resist the temptation and decide to start growing a rose, even though I know it will not be an easy journey

so, with help from friends, I got this lilac rose ... the photos are not able to show the actual color well ...

there are 10 blooms!

Spain Food - Barcelona

2009-04-18T17:09:00.013+08:00

it has been 10+ years since I went Europe. This trip, we did London and Spain, which includes Barcelona, Madrid and Seville.

Spain is popular for its Tapas ... basically small plate of food to satisfy hunger inbetween lunch and dinner (which is extremely late at 9pm)

Restaurant=Cervecería Catalana

a bakery shop near our hotel has these on display and should be for sale. They have all sorts of designs / cartoons, including Japanese cartoons.

It was raining in Barcelona so it was cold and wet. We walked a long way to find this restaurant (Via Veneto) and the service was excellent.

lamb steak

the white cubes are marsmallow, where you can pick up with a fork but melt into your mouth immediately ... very interesting

this restaurant (Cafe de l’Academia) where we had lunch has value for money set meals. The place is very small with only 28 tables but the food is good.

Duck

for dinner, we were at this place (Botafumeiro) where the king of Spain had his meal there before. but frankly, the food is so-so and service is not really fantastic.

baked crab with cheese

We travelled all the way to the harbour and some deserted corner by the sea and found this restaurant (Can Majo) which serves nice seafood. price is cheap as well. but they can only speak limited english.

paellas

final meal at Barcelona is at this fusion restaurant (Gaig) ... red and black deco ... good service but a little pricy.

starter

Morning Glory 12Apr2009

2009-04-12T08:47:00.003+08:00

These are the pink morning glory which have bloomed beautifully every morning ... I sowed the seeds around 2 mths ago ... now waiting to see if there are any blue ones

Moonvine 11Apr2009

2009-04-12T08:09:00.004+08:00

after nearly 2 months, my moonvine has bloomed! the white flower is quite huge (compare to my hand) and has a baby powder smell ... nice

Adenium babies 10Mar2009

2009-03-13T02:14:00.003+08:00

It is time to re-pot my 12 Adenium babies from the paper pots into their own pots. with help from a forum friend, I managed to get some square pots at very cheap price. It was mentioned that square pots are good for the Adenium.

I took a photo for each and these 2 are samples:

all 12 of them

into the famous square pots

some of them have a 3rd set of leaves. I pluck away the 2nd set of leaves as they say engergy will not be wasted in supporting the leaves. but I will not pluck anymore ... skinny also very cute

Moonvines update 7Mar2009

2009-03-07T20:45:00.003+08:00

an update to my moonvines. They have grown strong and I have re-potted them, place them near the grilles so that they can slowly climb up the grilles. They managed to survive the few thunderstorms recently.

this is taken on 6 March.

within 1 day, see how fast 1 of them has climbed up the pole.

hope I will be able to show some flowers in the next update.

Baking Muffins 7Mar2009

2009-03-07T17:37:00.003+08:00

there is an oven which comes with my new place, so decided to try baking. I tried to bake some muffins on 11 Feb but they were not v nice ... taste like cupcakes

a friend Marlyne gave me some tips on making muffins (and gave me some that she made ... yummy) so I decided to try again.

although the M&M's still have color-runs, but at least this time, the muffins do taste more like muffins ... so happy

closer look at the plants

2009-03-06T22:14:00.006+08:00

murraya ... very nice smell esp at night.

chiku

plumeria (aka frangipani)

Shui Mei with star flower ... but no smell

Begonia and Episcia 6Mar2009

2009-03-06T22:01:00.006+08:00

these leaves are begonia or episcia I do not know their exact names but does not matter. They were given to me by a friend, some came with roots, some I managed to get them rooted after 3 weeks

Balcony - finally completed! 6Mar2009

2009-03-06T21:46:00.005+08:00

we bought some plants from a nursery and today they delivered to us. They also help to plant them into the planter boxes

this is the sunny corner which has afternoon sun. So I thought of putting some bamboo to block off some of the sun. A friend says the sun will be good for a fruit tree, so I decided to get a chiku (left). It already has 11 fruits but all too small to be eaten yet.

this is the corner where there is morning sun but sheltered from strong wind and rain. So it is suitable for my adeniums and smaller seedlings. I bought a 5th adenium (right most) which is a double petal one. 2 of the adeniums have been attacked by mealy bugs ... sigh, hv to keep killing them.

this corner also enjoys late morning sun and sheltered from strong wind.

this corner has good morning sun, but also has to bear strong wind and rain. So can only put plants which are stronger.

The setup is as at 6 March morning as I have re-arranged and re-potted some plants in the evening.

Balcony - decking

2009-03-06T21:30:00.004+08:00

after a month and toying with different ideas, we finally decided to deck the planter boxes and cover them up

first they do up the support

and then cover up with the wood

nice?

SGB 01Mar2009

2009-03-01T23:37:00.006+08:00

Spore Botanic Garden holds a orchid sale every 1st Sunday of the month, so we went to take a look today. Some of the orchids are quite special. I like this one ... it has a 'smiling face', 2 'eyes' and 'eyebrows' and a 'hat'. so cute

if you are interested to view all the photos, click on this link
http://s698.photobucket.com/albums/vv347/tanahkee/SBG%2001032009/

my plant collection (part 2) @Feb09

2009-02-24T10:31:00.004+08:00

I know I am 'poisoned' ... I got these 3 when we did a short visit to far east flora

Pomegranate

African Violet

Allamanda Purple

still have many more ... now waiting to deck the sunken planter and once the plants are re-arranged, I can post more pictures

my plant collection @ Feb09

2009-02-24T10:19:00.004+08:00

I asked for some plants for housewarming presents and these are what they gave ... all so pretty

Mandevilla

Hoya

Pachystachys lutea

Exacum affine - a GCS forum member told me the pollen could cause allergic reaction, so ask me to be careful ...

Gerberas ...

growing moonvine Feb09

2009-02-24T09:21:00.006+08:00

Moonvine or sometimes call Moonflower is a kind of climber, like morning glory. It is called 'moon' because the flowers will bloom in the evening and not during the day.

I got some seeds from Wisteria (know her thr GCS forum). seeds are relatively big. I soak them overnight before sowing them into soil (13Feb09)

1 of them grew quite fast. within 4 days (17Feb09), it is 1cm tall. the other 2 have no sign of sprouting.

after a week (22Feb), the other 2 also sprout and catch up in height ... now I cant differentiate which is the first which sprout.

growing Adenium from seeds

2009-02-24T09:11:00.003+08:00

I never know that Adenium can be grown from seeds until I read about it in the GCS forum.
A member Kenric was very kind to give me some to try and this is the progress:

1) soak the seeds in water for 2-4hrs
the seeds do not really look like the usual kind of seeds
sow 12 into soil on 11Jan09

2) after 4 days (15Jan), I could see the tiny roots

3) by 17Jan (1 week), they are already 1-2cm tall and can see the 1st set of leaves

4) in 2 weeks' time (24Jan09), can see signs of the true leaves (2nd set) coming out

dinner with colleagues 31Jan2009

2009-02-24T00:58:00.004+08:00

Invited some colleagues and ex-colleagues over for a simple order-in dinner (including pizza and sushi). Star of the night is Julian's bb girl

Dinner with cousin 27Jan2009

2009-02-24T00:48:00.004+08:00

On CNY 2nd day, we invited Nik's cousin and nephews over for dinner
I cooked some bee hoon, grilled chicken wings, wu xiang, teriyaki salmon, etc

CNY dinner 24Jan2009

2009-02-24T00:33:00.003+08:00

have been extremely busy, so back-date some activities which have taken place over the last 1 month

we ordered pen-cai set from Tung Lok, which inclues a pot of 盆菜, yu-sheng, a roast chicken and rice. Good enough for the 6 of us (baby nephew is still too young to eat)

this is the first CNY reunion dinner we had at the new flat

Azalea 31Jan2009

2009-01-31T16:43:00.003+08:00

I guess I dont have green fingers afterall ... my Azalea died after a week ....

Azalea (Rhododendron indicum) 杜鹃花 24Jan2009

2009-01-26T17:02:00.005+08:00

I also bought a pot of Azalea (Rhododendron indicum) in pink. Both mother and mum-in-law thought it is a plastic flower. Kind of regret I didn't buy the dark red pot as well. They are all so pretty.

PS someone told me this is not Peony but it is Azalea. thanks boonboon

Desert Rose 26Jan2009 (1st day CNY)

2009-01-26T16:46:00.006+08:00

today is the first day of lunar new year and all the flowers have bloomed beautifully :)

this is the special type where there are 2 layers of petals, compared to the usual ones which only have 1 layer. It only bloomed this morning.

Desert Rose 20Jan2009

2009-01-20T18:12:00.001+08:00

after 2 weeks, most of the leaves have turned yellow and dropped off, except for 1, which is still yellowing. 2 have bloomed quite nicely and now waiting for the other 2 to bloom.

Desert Rose 8Jan2009

2009-01-20T18:08:00.003+08:00

after a few days, although the flowers started to bloom, the leaves also started to turn yellow ... oh no ...

Desert Rose 4Jan2009

2009-01-04T17:48:00.003+08:00

My first 4 plants: desert rose 富贵花.

My aunt is crazy over desert rose and assure me that little effort is required to look after them. Only need to water them twice a week and give them plenty of sunlight, which my balcony has.

will update again after they bloom, hopefully by Chinese New Year.

Balcony at new flat

2009-01-03T23:22:00.003+08:00

I will be moving to a new flat with a big balcony soon.

View from living room:

View from master bedroom:

the sunken planters: