Green Orange Beauty

One of the beauty living in the country-side is that I can see many plants and insects.
I found this cute fella yesterday when I was checking my snake-skin fruit plants.
She was happily munching its leaves there.
Isn't it odd? The leaves are hard and doesn't seems juicy at all, but she loves it.
Munch munch munch...
Anyone know what kind of caterpillar is this?

Mr. Eunuch?

Could this be just an error made by computer-generated-translation service?
This article from our national airline magazine has translated the-unnecessary-to-be-translated word: one's name ( He happened to be a Vice Governor!)
The name is Muslim Kasim, and translated in to English as: Muslim Eunuch.  EUNUCH???!!!

This could be just an innocent mistranslation by machine.
But then why the village's name: Dusun Gajah Mati is not translated as The Village of Dead Elephants?
^_^ Maybe the interpreter took extra effort to explicate one's sexual state? Hahaha

Passionfruit - Acidity and Sugar Content

There are a few kinds of passionfruit in Indonesia: orange-skinned and purple-skinned.

Usually the purple-skinned ones are unsuitable for table-fruit due to its extreme acidity; usually it's mixed with sugar to make syrup.

But what we have here is a purple-skinned passionfruit, with the aromatic smell, orange/red flesh, but still with high sugar content (ard 20 Brix). Making this variety to be a perfect table fruit. Just cut it, and enjoy :)

The picture below is to show how to check the acidity on our passionfruit. Just dip the indicator-paper in the juice, wait around 30seconds, see the colour changes, and check against the colour on the indicator box. Here my passionfruit's acidity is around pH 3-4 :)

Universal pH indicator

Bought another toy :) - Universal pH indicator to check the acidity of my fruits.

The combination of sugar and acid in a fruit is very very important.

Spider and a Lotus Bloom

Yesterday was the first day of Lotus Bloom, I saw a tiny green spider hiding inside the almost-bloomed lotus flower.
Took my camera, and he gave me a few cute poses.

This is the first lotus bloom at my garden. I planted it from a seed a year ago, finally, she gave me some flowers (see the video slide!!!)

And the Spider says "Good night, I wanna stay inside the bloom tonight"

KumQuats

Here is the picture of our garden's kumquat.
It's funny, it has more rind rather than the juice vesicles; yet still quite sweet (10 Brix) with a bit of citrus oil zing.
Mostly people preserve in heavy sugar syrup, but we like to eat it as it is
They look pretty, don't they?

Lotus Seeds

My quest for hunting lotus seeds been going very slow... All I got is the ones that I collected nearby here. And they have been growing well, but I want more varieties!!! Hahahha

I really want the Thai version which are more plump and fleshy-er than what I currently have.

Ling has been helping me by asking some monks to get me some seeds. 

Here they are, the monk got me 5 packages of lotus (no clue about variety and colour)... seems like all are "still" pink ones. They are now being soaked. We'll see how it sprouts :)

Kids' Report Card :)

I've been supporting 5 needy kids for their education needs since last year.
2 days ago, a friend sent me one of the kids' report card.
He is still in playschool, only 5 years old. I hope I'll be able to support him to higher education level.
Here is his picture and his report card :)

Btw, I pixalated his picture and name to protect his ID and innocence. Thanks to AD for reminding me :)

How to eat Mangosteen / Manggis

Some people cut with a knife, 

Some people squeeze it hard 'til it stained their hands, 

Some people use spoon to scoop the flesh out

But, here it is the easiest-tool-free way to eat mangosteen (without any stains and the flesh will be bruise free too)

Remember, practice makes perfect

The Secret of "a Dad, an Auntie and an Uncle"

Budi, me, and Edwin

I know it sounds like abit too lavish... But I flew all the way to Surabaya just to attend Budi's baby - Darren's 1st Bday was on 8th Jan. His parents made a real party bash for this handsome baby.

And for me, it's quite a reunion with my old uni friends :)

"Uncle" Edwin too came to join the baby party. Hahaha

Budi, Edwin and me were in the same college for foundation year in Australia. We happened to stay in the same dormitory "The Lodge".

We had a fun time there, and of course, I might have shown the darker side of me, like...

- breaking into someone's room (when they locked their keys inside),

- stealing Milo from the kitchen (so we could stand the hunger of midnight-rush before exams),

- breaking coin-operated washing machines (so, we can all wash for free),

and many more mischiveous acts.

I am still very proud of it. Hahahha.

One day gonna tell the stories of our golden time to Budi's son. Sure gonna blow his mind. WTF!

Big thanks to Budi for the hospitality and the chance to gather up again. True friends last forever. Just realised how much I miss you all :)