Rose Pose #2

I sometime like to take the photo of a flower stage from bud to full bloom even to fade. I enjoy the transformation and try to keep the memory. This pink rose begins to set the bud on July, fully blooms on early August and in the middle of August, the petals fall down.

Feeding The Baby Catterpillar

I grow caisim 'toksakan' from seeds. They grow well in bags untill I find babies catterpillar eating the leaves. I pick the 'infected' leaves, but the babies just come over and over. Well, it is so nice to feed the babies, I do not mind.. And I just need to plant the seeds again, :)

Spicy Sauted Kangkung Gardener Style

 

Already imagined a yummy spicy sauted kangkung and delicious fried tempe ....mmmm ...   

 

Suddenly, eyes fixed on something.. Manding seeds or Huntersville (Leucaena glauca).

 Local people usually consume  green manding seeds  as raw vegetables, salad or 'bothok' ( manding seed mixed with grated coconut, garlic, chilli and seasoning). Dried manding seeds customarily used to make tempe and sprouts. 

And long story short, taraaaa ... ... ... ... ! Sauted kangkung, fried tempe and manding with spicy tomato sauce, yummy....

 

I place tomato seeds onto a towel paper, dry and keep it. The seeds are ready to be sown whenever I want, :)

I use kangkung stems to mulch the gladiolus, kitchen garbage is a good organic matter.  

August Flower

1. Pink Rose, 2. Sunflower, 3 & 4. Red Dahlia,  5. Dinnerplate Dahlia, 6. Zephyranthes, 7. Morning Glory 'Grandpa Otts', 8. Kangkung (Ipomoea aquatica), 9. Another pink rose bud, 10. Eggplant's flower.

Since July, my gardening time slightly reduced due to some activities. Not much is blooming and I also didn't do a lot of planting. But there are still some flowers that bloom and color the garden.

My everblooming red dahlia pops up again in this post. This time, two colors appear in one bud: red and white! 

I enjoy the dark blue color of the Granpa Otts. Its sister, Kangkung (Ipomea aquatica) or water morning glory gives me her white flower. 

Remember the eggplant's leaf eaten by the snail? It is now setting flowers! I am waiting for the fruit. 

I have more than two different pink roses, two of them are blooming and one other is setting bud. 

 

Another pink (or light peach?) rose is blooming. The left is from the morning and the right is from the afternoon.

I am linking up to Garden Blogger's Bloom Day. Enjoy flowers from around the world and have a great weekend!

The Garden New Member

Last week, I went to 'Pasty' and bought some plants. Some roses and orchid seedlings, hybrid Phalaenopsis.

 

A few days after, the rose buds are in bloom.

I hope they will grow well in my garden.

Rose Pose

 I was going through my laptop and found these photos. They come from the April file I haven't uploaded. 

I was going to a florist and bought some roses. I feel good every time I look at these photos.

 

 

 I tried to root the stem, but it didn't succes due to the stem's age. It should not be too young or too old to root, and they were too young. But I was having such an experiment though. :)

Traditional Cake: Apem

Apem, a traditional cake which almost every Idul Fitri we make at home.  Apem is made of rice flour, palm sugar, water and rest the dough over night until it looks up.

Rest the dough overnight.

 The next day,  add grated coconut, eggs, panili, sliced Kaffir lime leaves. Stir well. 

 

 After added coconut grated, eggs, sliced kaffir leaves and panili. jackfruit or pandan leaves also can be added, but we don't have ones that time and we just add panili.

The dough is ready to cook with special mold placed on coir fire furnace. The heat should be medium. This can be the most difficult part to do.

Apem mold is heated on a coir furnace.

Smear each hole with cooking oil and pour the dough. Cook until the side turns brown. 

Turn the other side and cook until it turns brown.

This is it... Hm.... Yummy....

 Once cooked, this cake taste sweet, tender and fragrant. Unfortunately we can't taste when it is still warm, we're still fasting when frying the cake. 

I used to don't like this cake. I wonder why my mother  always make a cake which I think is quite a bother  to make when Idul Fitri comes. The process of frying over the coir fire was the one which most made me dislike. It is hot, long, and the smoke could poignant the eyes if embers do not remain stable. I lately understand, apem which is made by my mother is different in taste with the ones  commonly found on the market. That is why our relatives always ask for apem when they visit our house in Idul Fitri, then it's why my mother almost always serves these cakes. We make it with a very traditional recipe, using no additional ingredients. No yeast or baking powder added, we just rest the dough overnight. Panili and sliced Kaffir lime leaves make delicious flavorful apem ... I think I can't wait to taste it again, :)

What is the traditional food do you like?

Pulang Kampung

First,  HAPPY EID MUBARAK 1435 H. May the blessings be with you today, tomorrow and always. Taqabbalallaahu minna wa minkum, shiyamana wa shiyamakum. 

Last Saturday I went to my home village to visit my parents and celebrate Idul Fitri. My home village is approximately one hundred kilometers away from where I live. I leave the house at 3 pm and it takes around two an a half hours to get to my home village. I arrive at the bridge of Progo River at 5.30, it is only 2 kilometers more to home! I stop by and enjoy the twilight. The sun begin to sink. I am glad to see the west horizon. The sky is turning orange but gray clouds cover it and I can't take the best spot, but it is wonderful though.

It is very great to get home.. My mother has several collections of plants, one of them is Puring (Codiaeum variegatum). 

The pumpkin has impressed me most. It grows lush and flowers.

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The pumpkin shoots climb up the roof. The coconut trees appear at the back and want to say hallo!

These two, I don't know the name. But the far left from the first photo is Aglaonema. 

I arrive at home just a few minutes to Maghrib. We are fasting and it means we are going to have the time of breaking the fast or 'Iftar' when Maghrib comes. Alhamdulillah... Yay..!

After Taraaweeh, my mom prepares to make a special traditional cake. What is it? Next, we will talk about it. :)