Gallimaufry#55

Just a gallimaufry of photos 📷

 Turmeric — Curcuma longa

SKYWATCH FROM MY BALCONY

MALAYSIAN STREET FOOD

Lor Bak 

Essentially, Lor Bak is just meat rolled in beancurd skin and deep fried. The star ingredient is the Chinese five-spice powder, which consists of a mixture of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, sichuan peppercorn and fennel seeds. Lor bak is usually sold at stalls together with other deep-fried goodies such as prawn fritters, sausages, fish cakes, tofu, etc.

My mom-in-law makes the best Lor Bak.

Kolam 

Kolam is an ancient Indian art of drawing using colored rice grains or powdered rice to form symmetrical geometric patterns on the floor. The Hindus believe that a kolam at the entrance of a house will usher prosperity and harmony into the home. It is also believed that a kolam wards off evil spirits and diseases. 🪔

 

Sharing this year's most beautiful kolam created by Malaysia's talented kolam artist Ruben Prakash. The following photos are from his FB photo gallery.

This stunner at the concourse of a local shopping mall measures approximately 600 sq ft and is painstakingly created using coloured rice, rice flour, lentils and white rock powder in bold colours.

Do visit his FB page and be bowled over by his jaw-dropping creations — https://www.facebook.com/s4skyrangolikolammalaysia

Gallimaufry#54

Just a gallimaufry of photos 📷

Xiphidium caeruleum aubl.

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

The Lone Cypress 1990

Still standing solitary today on a granite headland over the Pacific, and estimated at 250 years old, the Lone Cypress is the most photographed tree in America.

DINNER 

Enoki mushroom stir-fry

🦑 Salt and pepper calamari 

Salted-egg crab🦀

I thought these were some kind of berries.

Turned out, they were actually fruits of the duranta!

Duranta

HOMETOWN VIEWS FROM MY AIRBNB RENTAL 

Green, green grass of home ...

Our iconic limestone hills

The hills are reputed to be between 250 and 350 million years old, with the oldest being over 400 million years old. Sadly, they are disappearing due to quarry activities. Even more heartbreaking, two of Malaysia's snail species are being quarried to extinction as these limestone hills are their only habitat. In fact, a paper reports that one species, P. sciaphilum, which was first discovered in 1952, is now extinct.

These micro gems (a mere millimetre or two in width) live only in limestone hills 

Rare Plectostoma sciaphilum snails are being driven extinct by a cement company at their limestone home in Pahang. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Cement factory

Skywatch from the Airbnb

Gallimaufry#53

Just a gallimaufry of photos 📷 

Ranong (Asystasia intrusa)

Candelabra tree

Lethal beauty

If a drop of the white sap from the inner tree comes into contact with the skin, a blister will form. Even breathing in the fumes causes burns, and if it gets in your eyes, it will make you blind. The poisonous sap and sharp spines are its defences against herbivores. Interestingly, the tree's milky sap can be an important source of water for Africa’s black rhinos. 🌵

Lunch — Bibimbap

Bibim in Korean translates as mixed, and bap means cooked rice.

So bibimbap literally means mixed rice.  Before eating it you’re supposed to mix everything all together.

FROM THE TRAVEL ARCHIVES

Engelberg 2019

WHEN A ROSE IS NOT A ROSE ...

I was taking an evening stroll in the park in my neck of the woods when I stumbled upon this curious beauty that resembled a rose. Just as I was about to zoom in on the bloom with my phone, it started to drizzle. I sprinted home just in time to escape the full fury of the monsoon rain.

When I returned to the park the next morning, I found a white flower on the shrub instead!

Hmmm, was I more demented than I thought, or was the shrub messing with me?

I had no idea what the flower was, so Google Lens to the rescue! Turned out, it was a Confederate rose (hibiscus mutabillis), technically a species of hibiscus with the unique property of changing color throughout the day. The bloom opens in the morning as a beautiful white or a subtle pink, and gradually darkens during the course of the day. By evening, the petals of the Confederate rose typically achieve a deep red appearance.

Time-lapse photos by Vinayaraj @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Vinayaraj

9:52AM

11:11 AM

11:47AM

Its name is steeped in legend. As the story goes, a wounded Confederate soldier laid bleeding upon  a white-flowering bush for two days and stained its blossoms red, or dark pink, with his blood before dying.

4:27 PM

5:03 PM

5:51 PM

 Over a period of two days, the Confederate rose gradually turned from white to a purplish pink before wilting.

The Drop" Be the drop that freely falls and becomes one with water ...

  You might not be able to perceive the ripples you have created right away,

  but water will allow you to feel how their love

  comes back to you again and again."                                   Author unknown