For Health Nuts

Spotted in a local mall ...

Gallimaufry#14

Just a gallimaufry of photos ...

Rangoon Creeper

Skywatch from my balcony

Kedondong

Noodles for dinner

Duranta Geisha Girl

The name has a nice ring to it, agree?

FROM THE SHOEBOX — PHOTOS THAT RARELY SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY

Sydney 1992

Chinese herbal tea shop

In ancient China, traditional doctors used to always carry medicines in calabashes aka bottle gourds when treating their patients. Over time, the bottle gourd became a symbol of doctors and healing. And since Chinese herbal teas are consumed for their curative effects, calabashes have become symbols of Chinese herbal tea shops. In the 1940s, each herbal tea shop had two to three golden calabash-shaped vats with taps to store the herbal tea.

Green calabash growing on its vine

image source - wikipedia

Alley Cat

 Spotted this beautiful kitty while I was walking in an alley behind a coffee shop.

PERSIAN PUSSY FROM OVER THE SEA

DEMURE AND LAZY AND SMUG AND FAT

NONE OF YOUR RIBBONS AND BELLS FOR ME

OURS IS THE ZEST OF THE ALLEY CAT

- Don Marquis -

Gallimaufry#13

Just a gallimaufry of photos ....

Round bottle brush

 

Skywatch from my balcony

Gobi Pakora — Cauliflower fritters

Recipe here — http://chefinyou.com/2012/02/cauliflower-bhajji-pakora

I was walking with my friend, Mei, when we stumbled upon this curious papaya tree with a gaping hole in its trunk. Mei explained that it was probably a male papaya tree that had been staked to change it into female so that it would bear fruits.  A transsexual tree?!!  I thought Mei was pulling my leg but when I googled, I learned that driving a nail/stake into the base of the trunk of a male papaya tree does indeed give it trauma and tricks it into thinking that it would die. So the tree changes its sex to procreate before it meets its demise!

Mexican creeper

ONE FROM THE TRAVEL ARCHIVES

Louvre Museum 2019

It is said that the Louvre Museum is haunted and spooky tales of 2 ghosts keep cropping up — an Egyptian mummy called Belphegor  and a butcher!

The butcher, Jean l’Ecorcheur , was an assassin who acted at the behest of Catherine de Medici . He was strangled on the order of the French Queen because he knew too many unsavoury secrets about the royal family.

Tourists have reportedly seen him at the museum and the adjacent Tuileries Garden. Since he is dressed in red, he is also known as the ‘Red Man of the Tuileries.’

MALAYSIAN STREET FOOD

Apam Balik

Apam Balik in Malay translates as turnover pancake. 

Flour, eggs, sugar, baking soda, coconut milk, and water are used to make the batter. To prevent the batter from sticking to the pan, it is cooked in a generous amount of margarine. Traditionally, coarsely ground peanuts, sugar granules and sweetcorn kernels straight out of the can are sprinkled as filling before the pancake is folded over, hence the name. Modern innovations such as grated coconut, banana, chocolate sprinkles, nutella, marshmallow, ham and cheddar cheese are also available.

Perfect Timing

I can hear and see the *LRT train in the distance from my balcony and kitchen window as it rumbles along the track on its scheduled runs. 

 *Light Rail Transit

At around dinner time, I listen for the sound of the train and I know that my son is riding in one on his way home from the office.

And by the time he arrives home, the table is set and a warm meal awaits him.

Gallimaufry#12

Just a confused jumble of photos ...

Star of the monsoon

I was told that rain lilies are nature's weathercocks to forecast monsoon rains.

Skywatch from my balcony

MALAYSIAN STREET FOOD

Putu Piring

Putu piring — India-originated round, steamed rice cakes filled with molten palm sugar on a bed of freshly grated coconut. 

Made of ground rice flour, putu piring cakes are shaped by special moulds into circular mounds. The moulds are first filled with a layer of rice flour. Next is a layer of palm sugar followed by another layer of rice flour. The moulds are then covered with pieces of cloth and placed upside down into funnel-like steamers When cooked, the moulds are removed and the cloth packages are collected from the steamers and unwrapped. The cakes are topped with freshly grated coconut and  banana leaf squares before they are peeled from the cloths and turned over.

How putu piring is made 

Lipstick palm

Lunch —Taiwanese Pork Chops

Recipe here — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT1fyJPdq7k

ONE FROM THE TRAVEL ARCHIVES

Stonehenge 2011

... more about our visit to the stones here ...

From our condo's community vegetable patch

Bird's eye chili aka Thai Pepper

Don't be deceived by its size! It may be small (about half the size of your pinkie) but it packs a punch, registering between 50,000 to 100,000 heat units on the Scoville Scale.

The Malay name for it is Cili Padi.  Interestingly, Cili Padi is an idiom for someone petite with a feisty attitude, particularly a female.

Kapok

I was at the park in my neck of the woods when I spotted patches of white fluff on the grass.

At first, I thought these were the sheddings of some white dog.

On closer inspection, I noticed a couple of weird red bugs on them. 

One even had a 'face' on its back!

A jogger at the park pointed to the tree above us and explained that the white fluff came from seed pods dangling from the tree.

I googled and look what I found!

Turned out, that huge tree was a kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra).

Fluffy fiber from the seed pod

Kapok is used as stuffing for pillows, mattresses, and upholstery, as insulation material, and as a substitute for absorbent cotton in surgery.

And the Hitler bug was actually a red cotton stainer.