Flowers

Don't you just love seeing those lovely blooms? Well I do, looking at those beautiful flowers just relaxes me. 

Besides planting vegetables, I am also planting some flowers. I was at the market the other day and saw this lady selling this wicked looking rose and decided to buy. I have repotted it and fingers crossed that it will grow well and not die out like my last few roses. 

The funky looking rose from the Market.

This is the rose I got my mum for mother's day... it seems to have mutated...

Besides the roses, I have also planted the lily bulbs I managed to get when I was having my holiday in Australia and they seem to be doing well. 

I put a layer of mulch on top to try and keep the soil cool and less moisture being evaporated as the days gets really hot. So far they seem to be growing well. 

A few days ago I fed them with Blood and Bone Meal fertilisers, hope this will give them a boost, after that I have since moved the plants to a spot where they get more sun but only the morning sun. 

After a few weeks it starts to grow

Gets a little taller

Taller again

One of the plants started to have a bud

Cucumber and Capsicums

Sooooo.... I have not blogged for a year?! Seriously I got that lazy didn't I? Hahaha...

So let's start with my first 2014 blog post with what's in my garden. Before that begins, I reckon my blog now and hopefully onwards will be more on tropical gardening, since I have picked up gardening as my hobby so that will be pretty much it. 

My recent trip to Australia and yielded me with good produce, produce meaning I got heaps and heaps of seeds back to Kuching. I tried to get seeds that might be able to withstand the blaring Malaysian Sun. 

The first post will be pretty much on my cucumbers and capsicums. One of the first seed I planted when I got back was my cucumber telegraph improved type. These are supposedly to have dark green skin colour and not a lot of seeds which is great for salads. 

Cucumber Telegraph Improved

These cucumbers were the fastest to germinate. Took about 3 days for the seed to germinate and now the true leaves are appearing. I planted two of these and will keep you guys updated on the progress. 

Next of are my capsicums or bell peppers. The ones I planted are Californian wonder. I never had much luck with capsicums as they keep getting attack by white flies and aphids which eventually killed the plants. This round I hope that it will make it through. A few plants did die as I over fertilised it by mistake and another few seems to be good (fingers crossed). 

This capsicum looks pretty happy... hopefully it makes it through

They seem to be doing good now and I do find a few annoying white flies underneath the leaves and I just squish it with my thumb. Annoying buggers!!! Will keep you guys posted on the capsicum growth too =)

I will stop here for now. Blessed day peeps =D

Obligation VS Courtesy

Obligations VS. Courtesy, are these two of the same meaning? Actually if we look these two words up in the dictionary they are totally different in meaning. 

Obligation: Something by which a person is bound or obliged to do certain things, which arises out of a sense of duty or result from custom, law and etc.

Courtesy: A courteous, respectful or considerate act or expression. 

I believe between these two, some people are abusing their rights and it really get on my nerves. So what exactly is the issue here? Let's do a recap shall we. 

First and foremost, I did not do anything what-so-ever that was backstabbing this person. But I have no idea why whenever this person comes to work will show that sour face as if we or I owe this person a lot of money. I mean da fuck this is seriously and ATTITUDE problem. If you have issues just say it don't show the fucking face to us. Once or twice is ok but this has been something that has been prolonged and it gets on the nerves.

This person mentioned we have done something that made 'the person' mad but never clarified what. But one questioned asked ticked me off. It was about lunch and that we did not ask the person to join. I explain that I went off with friends but the replied I got was I listen first. I was like wtf.

To me I am not obliged to ask you out for lunch it was basic courtesy to ask you. I am not going to always ask you to join. FYI, when you go out having lunch with your friends you basically shun us aside and we did not say a single thing and we didn't mind. Everyone has their own lives for goodness sake. We are not obligated to keep asking you out for lunch everytime. 

And small issues which can be solved EASILY can tick this person off....I mean honestly it is really annoying when you are off on study leave and questions like these are being asked and last message you get was we make u angry... honestly....I don't find it intriguing nor amusing I think it is down right childish and inconsiderate... 

Gastronomía de Kuching - Singapore Delights @ Lee Coffee Shop (Stutong)

Good Food is all around, you just need to hunt them down. Kuching is a city with a lot of places to pig out but where exactly are the best places to dig in? Well here I am here helping out a bit by seeking out places with good food in Kuching.

Singapore is only an hours plus flight time away from Kuching and the funny thing is we can get all sorts of food down here in Kuching but it is hard to find Singaporean dishes down here, namely 'Mee Siam' and delicious 'Chwee Kueh' (Steamed Rice Flour cakes). The later is more easily found in Kuching but good ones are extremely rare.

Lee's Coffee Shop @ Stutong

What is Mee Siam and Chwee Kueh? Mee Siam is a local dish of Singapore and Malaysia. Basically Mee Siam or "Siamese noodles" is actually a dish consisting of thin rice vermicelli and topped with prawns and eggs and coated with a sweet, sourish and spicy gravy. This dish can be very addictive and appetizing. 

Delicious Mee Siam

Fancy a bite?

'Chwee Kueh' or "steamed rice cake" are basically rice flour mix with water and steamed and it is usually topped with Chinese preserved turnip.

Chwee Kueh!

Really good combination of Sauteed preserved turnips and rice flour base!

So where exactly can we find good Singaporean dishes in Kuching? Well let me bring you guys to this place. Lee Coffee Shop @ Stutong has this stall that sells authentic Singaporean dishes.  Her 'Mee Siam' and 'Chwee Kueh' is out of this world! Her name is Aunt Lucy and she is a Singaporean married to a local here. Her 'Chwee Kueh' is soft and tender and basically it just melts in your mouth, the sauteed preserved turnips are really fragrant and goes really well with the soft steamed rice flour base. Her 'Mee Siam' has really good sourish not sweet and spicy gravy topped with generous amount of prawns and sliced eggs, the vermicelli is not too soft leaving it with a 'springy' texture. The oyster pancake is crispy on the outside and moist on the inside which is really good it tastes somewhat like fried yam cakes that we have down here and the scallions brings the taste of the dish up another notch. 

Oyster pancake

Crispy on the outside, succulent on the inside

Her stall doesn't only sell 'Mee Siam' and 'Chwee Kueh' but there are also oyster pancake (Sg style) and Hokkien Mee. All of the dishes are equally good. But one should take note the 'Chwee Kueh' is only sold during morning and Mondays are off days. Occasionally she is closed, so it depends on luck. 'Mee Siam' are sold on public holidays and weekends only. Oyster pancake are sold evening hours and weekends. 

So wait no more and pop over this weekend to have a taste of it!

View Lee's Coffee Shop @ Stutong (老李) in a larger map

Hooping the veggie patch!

As September is ending, it is also a sign that the Monsoon season is approaching. Usually by this month, Kuching will get quite a fair amount of rain. Rain is really good but it is not good for my babies, any torrential downpour would just flatten them! So after a few search online I decided to invest and make a better home for my 'veggie patch' well it is more like veggie pots...er....heh....

Protection!!

As I was saying the rain will kill my babies and after a good search I decided to make row hoops over the pots to protect them from the Sun and torrential rain. The Sun is really unforgiving, I thought of letting my babies get some sunlight and by noon it has completely dried up the soil and my poor bell pepper babies leaves started to curl so I quickly watered them and brought them into the shade. No more next time!

Happy and snugly! 

I will built a few more as I make my raised bed soon. Hmmm... what to plant... corns maybe?

Marimo~!

Recently there has been this craze on Marimo. Now what exactly is Marimo? Well Marimo is basically moss ball...YES! Moss Balls... but they aren't just any moss ball they are really cute moss balls! 

Basically one can find Marimo in Lake Akan in Japan and also in Greenland if I am not mistaken but the ones in Lake Akan is far more popular. 

Junior and Baby

I was never actually that fascinated with Marimo until one find day, this nifty shop called 100 yen started to sell them in their shop. Initially I didn't give a 2 hoots about em. But the more I look at it the more it melts my heart! It's so round and it looks soooo pretty in the bottle. Next I know I fell for it!

They look so pweety!

I got myself a junior Marimo and a Nano Marimo. Basically Nano Marimo is like baby marimo, mind you they are living organisms! I even name them! Junior is Big M and the small one is called Small M (Literal translation from Chinese). Well I would call them Junior and Baby for English. =P

Keeping Marimo is pretty simple. 

1. Don't put it under direct sunlight
2. For places with hot weather change the water weekly or every fortnightly, or necessary when water is murky
3. Don't squeeze your marimo too hard or you will end up with green fur!

Basically, they are not cheap but they make good 'pets' and it is said they bring luck and wealth too! 

Hearts~!

Noob farmer.

Recently I have been caught in this craze of planting vegetables. I am not sure why or how but I feel happy and excited when I see those seeds germinate into seedlings and from the seedling to their first leaf growing out. 

I would not deny the fact that it does take a lot of patience in taking care of them, like some veg needs at least twice watering on hot days. Always remember to shade them off from the scorching sun. When you have too much seedlings, thinning process is a must. Also the right soil is also pretty much important. 

So what have I sowed. Not much for now, but here is a list of it.

• Leafy lettuce (heat tolerant as I am living quite near to the equator)
• Bell pepper
• Baby Roma Tomatoes 
• Amaranths
• Pumpkin

My next aim is to plant 

• Carrots
• Rounded egg plant
• Corn

The darn thing is I can't get carrot seeds down here in Kuching... Will try and ask my friends to get em from Australia. 

Here are some photos of my Veggies!

Bell peppers and a few lettuce 

Baby Romas Sprouting... with do some thinning soon

Leafy Lettuce .. some died when I added too much mulch =(

I planted all my veggies in a pot as I don't want to plant them on the ground as they are exposed to many enemies and it is easier to take care of them in this way. 

我的害怕

在人生中，我們會經過很多困難的時刻。。。不管是在家庭，或感情上。。。

活在這世上二十多年。。。也經過不少的風雨。。。受過不少的煎熬。。。

說看開。。。也不是一件很容易的事。。。忘掉。。。也還有回憶。。。我中覺得我很失敗。。。感情上。。。生活上都覺得有點失敗。。。

但是。。。我覺得。。。我最失敗的是在感情上。經過了多少的傷害，感覺我的心快麻醉，每次想踏進一段愛情就有害怕和恐懼感。這也許是因為，我每次很用心的去愛，付出一個人，得到的回复是傷害，有的說他們需要朋友而已，有的說在外面孤單。。。這些傷痕都是很難忘掉的。 就像一首歌裡寫著

有些傷痕像場大火 把心燒焦難以復活， 不碰了好像忘了 恐懼卻在腦海住著。。。

這些時間我也許能放掉。。。但是這恐懼還是在我腦海裡。。。實話聽到你想去澳門，我是很開心在同一個時候害怕及捨不得。。。害怕失去，就像以前的感情，心裡很亂。。。但是這種感覺你應該是不知道吧。。。我很怕。。你去了澳門後。。就會把我忘掉。。。拋棄我。。。我很怕再到回一個黑暗。。。悲傷的世界裡。。。一個忘了什麼是笑。。。開心的人。。。有多一次受到很大的傷害。。。

我承認。。。當我付出。。我也求林一方也有個回報。。。就像有一首歌。。。寫著

誰不貪圖 誰不 求回報付出

我只要求，只要求能搞有個長久的感情，能一起走下半生的另一半。。。真不懂是不是要求太高。。。

真的害怕。。。。。。。