BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

You all know... 
Who is the beauty... and who is the beast...

Starring ....
My pink baby rose....
And a Caterpillar...

I'm lucky...
This episode is happy ending...

FLOWER OF THE WEEK - PASSION FRUIT

I've been waiting for about eight months.....
Finally, my passion fruit is blooming.

Passion fruit (Passiflora flavicarpa) in Indonesia is called markisa.
I planted it from the seed.
It climb on trellis gate in my front garden.

I love the flower... absolutely appropriate with it name.
It gives passion to every one who see.

 

I found a lot of flower buds on the vine.
I hope the fruit set will formed soon.
Then I can find a lot of fruits hanging on the fine.

I miss it scented and sour pulp.
I hope I will have a lot of passion fruit syrup next.
So... now lets enjoy the beauty of it flower. 
About the fruit... be patient... Please...

WEEKLY HARVEST - SEPT 4

What did I get  from my garden, this week?
Lets we peek it...

Dark green amaranth, red and green amaranth

I didn't take picture for all of the yield (too much...) 
Because I picked the vegetables repeatedly, everyday...
My refrigerator is full of vegetables.
So I save them on other container in my kitchen

This week I picked:

1. tomatoes (more than a kilogram)
2. green beans
3. sword beans pods
4. sword bean's leaves
5. Green amaranths
6. red amaranths
7. dark green amaranths (Amaranthus dubius)
8. green rounded eggplants (Amaranthus tricolor)
9. purple rounded eggplants (Amaranthus tricolor var rubra)
10. long purple eggplants
11. papaya leaves
12. green cabbages
13. packcoy
14. curly long peppers
15. green hot peppers (cabe rawit)
16. creamy hot peppers
17. celery
18. green onions
19. cauliflowers
20. acid oranges
21. variegated acid oranges
22. cucumbers

Although there were so many insect and worm problem, I still got a lot of thing from my garden.
I hope next week I get better yield.
Thanks God.

BALON IS BACK

Last night we heard a cat was meowing  on my front yard.
My daughter opened the door, and we found  Balon.
She is my lovely cat.
We missed her for about five months.
Since she was losing her daughter (Mary), she looked so confuse and went away.
Now.. she is back.

Sleeping beauty

 

Looking for Mary

I found serious wound on her neck.
I didn't know why.
She run to us immediately.
My daughter gave her a meal, she looked so hungry.  
She ate her meal with gusto, then walked around my house as usual.
But when my husband was opening our garage door, she shocked and run away.
We couldn't find her anymore.
Oh no...

Mom and daughter

After she was gone ... We got serious mouse attack in my house, also in my garden.
The mouse destroyed my vegetables, doors, washing machine, and more...
She go away... again, no mouse and snake fighter again.
We have three kitten right now, they are too young to be mouse fighter.
Please..

Play with Mom's tail

I took these pictures about five months ago.
Please come back Balon...
We miss you...

MY SON'S BIRTHDAY...

Today, my son is on five years old.
This morning, he wake up earlier than usual.
We said 'happy birthday' to him.
He smiled and then jumped from his bed.
He said that he want a cake for his birthday like as his friend's.
I just smile and promised him to buy it after work today.

the simple cake...

'Nasi Kuning'

I find so many progress on his growth.
Now, he is at  the second years in kindergarten.
Play along the day...
Make unpredictable jogs...
Make me smile...
Make me sad ...
So many wish for him...
I always pray for his health... his better life and his bright future.
God... Keep my son on Your way...

make a wish

ready to blow

taste the cake

As a Javanese tradition, I made 'nasi kuning' (yellow rice) for him.
Yellow is a symbol of prosperity.
Rice is our staple food.
Five quail eggs as a symbol of his age.
Happy birthday my son...

FRUIT OF THE WEEK - VARIEGATED ACID ORANGE

I get new color on my balcony this week.
Yellow-orange....or golden-yellow...
Wow... my variegated acid orange are ripe!

ripe fruit...

beautiful foliage...

I planted it in a big pot on my balcony side by side with my acid orange.
I love the color of the leaves.
Green and pale white (creamy) leaves... so beautiful.
I plant it as an ornamental plant. 
But I get it's fruits too.

beautiful leaves

beautiful fruits and leaves

Look... the skin is variegated too.
There are green stripes on it.
Although the fruits are really small.
And the pulp is very... very... very... sour. 
Like the name... acid orange....

I get new vitamin C source again for this week.
Have a wonderful day with your own fruits.

FLOWER OF THE WEEK - WHITE DOVE ORCHID

When I was opening my kitchen windows this morning, I found sweet and fresh fragrance blowing in to my kitchen.

I was really familiar with this fragrance... white dove orchid...

bloom... bloom... bloom...

flying....

  

so white...

 Yeah... my white dove orchids are blooming...!
White dove orchid (Dendrobium crumenatum) actually is a wild orchid.
In Indonesia it's well known as 'Anggrek merpati'.
Anggrek means orchid and merpati means dove.
I took it from a tree on the road side about two years ago.
They grow wildly on the tree (usually old tree with the other epiphytic).

adhere on my white mussaenda trunk...

adhere on the brick wall...

I planted the orchids on many place in my garden.
There are three place in my front yard.
They are on the trunk of my white mussaenda, bilimbi and  plumeria.
I also planted the orchid on the  brick wall in front my kitchen.

three days before...

two days before...

one day before...

today...

I'm so lucky that many days before this orchids is blooming, I took some picture of this.
This orchid usually bloom just a day.
If  we get a lucky moment, the orchid could bloom for two days.
But only on the first day we can inhale the fragrance.
So... they are also called one day bloom orchid.

the bees build their 'home' on the orchid stalk

Wow... I also find bee nest on my orchid stalk too...
I shouldn't bothering them.
I hope they will not bothering my family too.

Can you find the bees...

Have a fragrant day with my white dove...
See you....

BANANA 'MIND' SHAKE

Tropical area is the best place for banana, as a tropical fruit.
In Indonesia, banana is called pisang. 
And in Central Java it's called gedang.
At Serayu Expo, I got some information more about local banana.
Actually, Banjarnegara have a lot of varieties of banana.
Every  varieties have so many characteristic that make them so special.
Taste, form, shape, performance, aroma, size, color, texture, and more...
Now, I will show you the top five banana in Banjarnegara.
Here they are...

Pisang Warangan

Warangan, in other place is called Barangan/Berangan. 
Best for eaten fresh on the peak of maturity. 
It's have sweet taste, smooth texture, good on shipping, tender, aromatic and interesting color.

pisang raja wulu

Pisang raja wulu it's mean king of feather.
The skin is covered by smooth bristles.
Mature fruit have a orange-yellow pulp, really tasty and so sweet.
Big fruit and best for eaten fresh.

pisang mas

"Mas" means gold. This banana have a golden yellow color.
This size is very small, just about 10 cm on length and 3 cm on diameter.
The taste is really good. Sweet, smooth, and aromatic.
Best for eaten fresh on the peak of maturity.
The mature fruit have an interesting color.
In Java, this fruit must be present on the wedding celebration.
Javanese believe that this fruit will give them lucky and welfare.
So the price is very expensive.

"pisang saba"

Pisang Saba in other place is called pisang kepok/kapok.
The skin's color of mature fruit is grey- pale yellow. 
In a tree there are about 10-12 bunches of big bananas.
The size is about 20cm on length and 4-5 cm on diameter.
It's best as a processed fruit.
We can make fried banana, tempura, crispy banana, banana chip, banana flour, steamed banana, banana pudding, and more.
The best time to process this banana is about 1-2 day before the peak of maturity.
Over ripening makes this banana too juicy. 

"pisang raja lawe"

another "pisang raja lawe"

This is the best banana in Banjarnegara, Raja Lawe. 
Raja means a king.
Raja lawe be the specialty banana from Banjarnegara.
It have big size and so long ( up to 45 cm).
The taste is really delicious, smooth, sweet and aromatic.
The skin have a golden-yellow color, so bright ...
In a tree we will get about 8 - 12 bunches of banana. 
It means in a tree we can find more than 200 bananas.

They just 5 from thousands variety of banana in my country.
Next time we will be acquainted with other bananas.
Have a sweet day with banana.

WORM ATTACK... AGAIN !

Yesterday morning, I found my tomatoes bed looks so poor... (Oh... no...)
There a lot of tomatoes leaves were disappear.
I only found and saw the leave's stalks.

poor bed...

No leaves any more...

Who was the suspect ???
And the answer...
Again... the "three musketeers"....

beautiful motif... but so harmful!

eat... eat... eat...

their egg's shells...???

I found three worms look like worms that destroyed my Bangkok rose plant, but now they are smaller.
Both of them were really... really... destroying...
Please... they attack so aggressive!
Absolutely greedy...

leaves-less stalk...

I'm lucky that the fruits are safe.
I hope... There is no attack again.