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

Gallimaufry#52

 Just a gallimaufry of photos 📷

FROM THE TRAVEL ARCHIVES

Galeries Lafayette, Paris 2019

Jaya Plum (Syzygium cumini)

Japanese dinner

Gyoza

Hakata chashu rice

Fried rice with chashu and ebiko

Ramen

When eating ramen, it's totally cool to slurp away!

Loud slurping may be rude in western cultures, but in Japan it is considered rude not to slurp!

According to Ippudo, a famous ramen chain in Japan, the key to enjoying ramen is sound. 

"One should slurp the noodles, creating the distinct noise the Japanese describe as zuzutto, which signifies maximum enjoyment of the Ramen, because it is created by simultaneously consuming the noodles and the soup, which allows the complexity of the flavors to spread throughout the mouth, eventually leading to the ultimate experience of Nodogoshi ... the silky sensation of food slipping through one's throat. But do be careful with the hot soup ..." 🍜

 

TIFFIN CARRIERS

Tiffin carriers or dabbas are round, metal, tiered containers used as lunch boxes in Asia. The tiffin culture was adopted by the British from India and brought to Malaya in the mid 1800s.

The colorful tiffins displayed in this restaurant are vintage collectibles that were once used by the *Peranakans. Decorated in enamel paint, these were used to carry food from the kitchen to the workplace.

*Peranakan  — A sub-ethnic community of Malay-Chinese ancestry.

FUN FACT

In the Indian city of Mumbai, there is a complex and efficient delivery system that regularly delivers hot lunches packed in dabbas to city office workers from their suburban homes or from caterers. The empty dabbas are then returned to the homes/caterers on the same day. It uses delivery workers known as dabbawalas whose only modes of transport are trains and bicycles.

It is claimed that dabbawalas make fewer than one mistake in every six million deliveries.

With a population of over 18 million people in Mumbai, nearly 200,000 homemade lunches are delivered by dabbawalas daily. Even amid the chaos, they have an accuracy of 99.9% in their deliveries!

Cissus roots

Cascading roots in a shopping mall

Nature's curtains

Its incredibly long and fast-growing aerial roots, if left undisturbed, can reach more than 10 m in length and grow so densely that they literally form a curtain of roots, hanging from the tree it grows on. It is also known as Millionaire vine, Princess vine, Tropical Grape vine, etc.

Gallimaufry#51

Just a gallimaufry of photos 📷

White buttercup (Turnera subulata)

Brazilian Potato Tree

SKYWATCH FROM MY BALCONY

FROM THE TRAVEL ARCHIVES

Bath 2011

St Michael's Catholic Church — The first church built in my hometown.

With its humble beginnings as a wooden shed in 1890, the present neo-Gothic building was completed in 1924.

The Sanctuary

Sunday brunch — Dim Sum 

Dim Sum in Cantonese literally translates as  'touch the heart'. The small portions are intended to merely touch the heart but not satiate the appetite. 🧡

Little plates of heaven steaming in bamboo baskets.

Traditionally, dim sum is served from wheeled carts on small plates to encourage sampling and sharing.

These small portions enable diners to try a variety of dishes. Dim sum is best enjoyed with a large group of people.

There is always something for everyone.

Oops! Don't mind the hand! The dim sum shop we frequent is always busy, and I had to snap these pictures fast without pissing off the waiters!

Fried snacks

What's your favourite dim sum? 

🥟