Barn Buddy @ Ben Choo Nursery, Sungai Buloh

Barn Buddy! Those who're active in Facebook might know this application... I have few friends who are actively playing this game. Watering their fruit plants, harvesting fruits, removing weeds, removing bugs, etc.... I would say this is quite fun, where you could see how your plant grows till harvest, as well helping your buddies watering their plant and remove harmful bugs and weeds.

Well, enough of the fake farm... back to natural farm. I paid a visit to Sungai Buloh today. Sungai Buloh should be a famous place lately... It's virus AH1N1 quarantine place! Other than hospital, it is is usually famous of its many nursery farms around. You will be spoiled for choice, and shop for more plants from nurseries around that area.

This time round, our mission was to shop for some garden herbs and fruit plants for my backyard. We found this nursery, introduced by a friend who redesign their garden with new plants. Mentioned to us that this particular shop gives good deal.

Indeed. The moment I went into the nursery, I found the Misai Kucing plant selling for only RM2.50, where else the nursery next door selling RM10. What a huge difference.

The other thing I like about this nursery, they labeled their plants nicely. I learned lots of its name and able to search and understand more on the plants I have at my backyard. I can't help snapping pictures around, especially those with labels. As I like macro pictures, it is always fun taking pictures at nursery, where there are lots of flowers to choose, and of course its free! But one thing bad, its if the place is muddy and under the hot sun... it will be kinda messy.

Look at their plant list... Jack fruit, Pamelo, Australia Lemon, Passion Fruit, Cempedak, Kedondong, etc... they sell most of them.

We bought this Australia Lemon, hopefully will grow well at my backyard. Herb plant they have Rosemary. My intention was to get Basil plant, which I have to get it from the nursery next door selling for RM10, seems expansive. No choice, as I wish to try out a Chinese dish very soon!

In case you are interested with this nursery, here's the place. It's located along Jalan Hospital at Sungai Buloh, drive along the way after the hospital buildings, you will head to some quarters and medical college. The nursery is located right opposite a construction area (as of now), where the future MARA college will be located. GPS Coordinate : N3 13.165 E101 35.691

Antz.....

I think this could be my most nonsense (无聊) post I ever had.... Do you know what's in the picture below? Come guess..... it's the 'Ants Tunnel' in making! I came back home from office on a Friday evening, aimlessly and a lil moody... As usual, I will turn on my netbook from my study table, swing off the window panel and ta-daaaaa... I saw 2 holes at my green garden. I knew it was the creation of the ever hardworking ants.

Closer look... here you go.

And much more closer....

I knew I have nothing better to do, taking pictures wasn't enough. I did capture a video too!

Look at them, how hardworking they are. I wonder if they get paid??! (hehe) Having said, since they are my 'main character of the day', I did a searched on Wikipedia (Ops, who is Wiki?)... These are called Black Garden Ants. Wonder how they got transform? Very simple... the keywords are - Queen Ants, Queen with wings, Queen without wings, Mating, Tunnels, Eggs, etc...

With the keywords above, you could now summarized the storyline... There are these Black Ants with wings... which locally (or at home) we usually called it 'insect' which likes to come near the lights during rainy season. It was exactly what I noticed last Sunday when I hosted my garden BBQ dinner. There are lots of these 'insects' flew around.

And so, the Queen ants will mate and they will drop their wings before they gets into the tunnel to lay their eggs. That seems to be the reason why tunnel is built. Seems that the Queen is soon laying her eggs. So..... should I destroy their 'road to castle' next??

For a more detail storyline, do ask Wiki!

Nestle Malaysia's VIP

Who says there is no surprise in today's snail mail? My postal mailbox is not meant only for credit cards bills and statements... though I know I will not receive any luv letters afterall... :P

Do you know Nestle? Do you know Nestle products well enough? Else if not, do you know Milo, Nescafe, Maggie Mee, etc...? If you are Malaysian or have been staying in this country long enough, I am sure you will know all these consumer products and brand. Although its a Multi National Company (MNC), but yet they might carry different products or brand name in other countries. The one I recall well is 雀巢 they called Nestle in China, with its beverage of Iced Lemon Tea.

Enough of the introduction. I received a snail mail posted to my home address lately, and it was bulky... it was from Nestle. Not that I had won any contest of such, without knowing... I had been their VIP contact for almost 10 years. What does a VIP contact does? Basically I am always a person who fill up their survey forms... that's what I did most time when I am free. Besides Nestle, I am also a survey contact for AC Nielson online, introduced by a friend few years ago.

So, what did I get from Nestle this time? Here you go... sample sachet of their newest release of 3-in-1 sachet type of Nescafe Gold, and 3-in-1 Milo Fuze (which I don't think is new). Besides those free sample stuff, there are printed in color recipes attached, as well as some new products pamphlet.

You could browse through their website for more info, there are contests forms and so available too. To those who likes to collect recipes, you might want to register yourself for eNewsletter at their Dear Nestle site. In case you are interested to register yourself... do proceed registration here. But I wouldn't sure if you will get VIP treatment and postal mail like me :P, no promise but worth trying your luck.

A Trip to Ulu Langat/Semenyih : Shepherd's Foster Home - Lunch - Tekala Waterfall

It was an uncertain trip for me, I left it to my mood today to decide. Apparently, the sun shined happily today. And so, I thought this is the chance for me to update my blog.. else boring me will have nothing to 'produce'.

Trip started 930AM from Kota Kemuning --> 10AM++ arrived at Shepherd Foster Home, Semenyih --> 1130AM arrived at Broga for Lunch --> 130AM arrived at Tekala Waterfalls. There were 6 cars convoyed us.... it was me and my lovely GPS! Total of 35++ pax were in the trip.

Shepherd Foundation Center
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Very brief visit to their children foster home, we donated lots of stuffs... which was collected from the last PPKK's Treasure Hunt.. these were the treasures we, treasure hunters collected. It was a good idea to seek for treasures like this during a hunt, it had made the hunt more meaningful.

This foster home seems to be an established one, though they don't have a very nice shelter, unlike some very 'rich' ones... but one thing I observed - the children are happy... There are some ill children under their care too, a 10 year old boy by the name of 'ah-sing' who is terminally ill with diabetic... seems to be cheerful and came shakes hand with all of us. Hope he will gain good health soon one day.

In case you would like to pay them a visit.. here's their detail - http://www.shepherd.org.my/

(Click to enlarge)

Lunch @ Broga Recreational Fishing Park - Grilled Tilapia Fish
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Very interesting place where you could fish and eat.. of course, when it is crowded of so, you might not have the chance to do your own fishing. At least during my visit, I see no one was doing that... why not ya? Probably most people were hungry at that time. Well, I wish I could hold a fishing rod one day, it must be sad to say, someone who grew up in an island does not know how to fish? It must be a joke!

Anyway, back to the place.... I would not sure if the restaurant has a website, as I can't find one from google.... but they have nice namecards, pamphlet designed for them. This is what I got from http://www.alankok.com/?page_id=193

But when you reached the place on a winding and narrow road.. you might missed the place! At least that was what happened to us as the car was less at that time. Usually during peak period, car parked will be limited and it will overflown to the roadside. For those with GPS, you would have to update the latest map from MFM, and search under POI of 'Ikan Bakar'. Else, you would need to make sure you don't miss the little signboard at the gate, stated "郭石水鱼塘" instead.

(Click to enlarge)

The interior of the restaurant is rather a simple 'atap house'. Dishes prepare were all simple, you won't see a single wok out there (but may be in the kitchen)... all you can see are aluminum foils and the charcoal. All dishes including the vegetable are grilled with the foils.

Indeed an interesting restaurant worth paying a visit...

GPS coordinate : N2 55.834 E101 55.721


Tekala Waterfall, Ulu Langat
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Mind you, there may be Waterfalls enthusiastic out there!! If you do, do visit http://www.waterfallsofmalaysia.com/... They kept updating new waterfall sites in this website... best part is some even have GPS POI...

Tekala Waterfall, again a new discovered place for me. However, I didn't get down to the water as I thought it is gonna be messy afterwards...with cloths changing and shower not available nearby. But overall, the facilities around, i.e. changing rooms are well available at major spots.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy myself with my toys!!... both my cameras, my BenQ netbook, my DiGi Broadband, and my iPod Shuffle.... Hehe, a friend said I looked like 'a city gal going into the jungle'... I agree :), as I always joked to my friends - I don't mind staying in the jungle.... provided I am given internet access... haha!

Besides the tech stuffs, I do enjoyed the foods too...apparently our friends did bring along lots of food to share... includes nicely chilled (in a cooler box) many many mini fruit tarts, egg and sardine sandwiches, watermelon, 3-in-1 coffee, and I did contributed a pamelo too!!!

Here are some pictures to share... I gotta consolidate them since I am lazy uploading them one by one to Blogspot.

(Click to enlarge)

A place call Home? It's time to 'warm' it up!

It's pretty hard for me to start my blog post lately. Things had been 'out of sight, out of mind'. Guess something might had gone missing somewhere. Anyway, I had a fulfilling 2-days weekend over a long Hari Raya holidays to prepare for a Garden BBQ party for my close friends and their family members.

A preparation of the event was started with an invitation list, I have an event coordinator whom will ask around the group if everyone will be coming..., good job! I then have a 2 pager list of spreadsheet for my things to buy and things to source/borrow.

Let's see what I had...

Started with coffee time... sorry I had missing photo of the Scones contributed by a friend, and freshly baked Oreo Cheesecake!

Besides BBQ, I had some 'instant' home cooked food served...

My curry chicken, Cintan Mee Noodle and fried mixed vegetables...

Lastly, I personally like this handmade AngPao specially made for me.. thank you friends, you all are so thoughtful.

There were some great entertainment organized over the night too... unfortunately my camera wasn't quick enough to capture the 'first-time, first-nite' moment well enough. Therefore, I am unable to share them here. There is this other blog has it much detailed cam-corded :P

DIY - Banana Cake

This is my first time ever trying to bake a cake... muahaha! Well, not yet a 100% DIY cake baking, as I have most my ingredient prepared by someone, and I just need to follow instructions one by one. Anyhow, it was still fun playing around with cake baking, yet I hate the cleaning up part. I wish I have a maid.. hehehe!

To those who will have breakfast with me tomorrow morning... you may save your meal as I have a whole tupperware full of cake to share ;)

Here's the recipe of Banana Cake from Alex Goh, it was in one of my newspaper cutting of recipe.

250g butter
150g castor sugar
5 eggs
350g flour
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp baking soda
350g mashed banana
1tsp banana essence

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla essence until light and creamy
2. Add in eggs one at a time beating well after addition
3. Add in mashed banana
4. Add in mixed flour
5. Once beat well, all the ingredients can be moved to the mould laid
6. Bake at 180°C for 55minutes
7. Cool it down from the oven then slowly to room temperature

End Product

DIY - Durian Goreng (Fried Durian)

Yum... this is yummy! I need to clear up my freezer case this weekend, as it will be very heavy loaded next weekend. Why? You will know in my following post next week. Here's my savings of durian from the last durian season...

After the try of my fried banana couple of weeks ago, here I come with an enhanced version of batter mix. This time round was much better.... and with a little more high temperature of frying pan, the color turned golden brown nicer.

Quick guide:
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1) Place flour in a bowl, add a pinch of salt, a pinch of sugar, plus a little rice flour (for crispiness)
2) Mix flour and others with water, stir well
3) Make sure dough is not too watery... check out the drip
4) Add little vegetable oil to the dough
5) Place peeled durian into the dough
6) Fry them in the wok
7) Serve

Here's the final product - creamy durian texture hidden between the flour!

Zheng Xin Buddhist Association's Bodhi Nite 2009

It has been a tiring weekend... having very limited time for blogging, somehow I managed to update several blogs of mine. Being a blogger cum writer for some other blog owners is not an easy job, somewhat, I can feel the fulfillment while writing, when I am able to share something with more and more friends. I might not be a good writer... working hard towards that. In case you are curious to know, click here and here for the updates. I even uploaded some photos to Multiply.com, my abandoned blog site.

What are the activities I had this week? Well, I was offered a free-ticket. Not to say its free, but it was some how a charity dinner ticket where someone had donated the ticket but not able to attend. I some what was offered to attend on behalf. Anyway, since I have no other plans that nite, might as well joined along. Though, I know its gonna boring.

It was Zheng Xin Buddhist Association in Puchong, organized a charity dinner for their association. This reminded me of a similar offer given by a friend last year, in which we attended a similar kind of charity dinner for a Buddhist Association charity dinner at One World Hotel (organized for different organization). This time, the event was held at Sime Darby Convention Center.

Location of the event was nice, there were ample car park at its multistory building, most importantly parking was free. The building seems new, as this was my first time visit. The convention hall ambiance was great. That's when I spend most of my time, entertaining myself with my camera, while sitting & waiting at the dinning table.

The dinner was a Chinese Vegetarian 8 coursed dinner. Since it was Vegetarian, don't expect much. And true enough, it was way below my expectation. Guess the only good food served was during the cocktail event.

The theme of the nite was "Brighten Up the Heart" or "Lighting Up the Mind and Soul" (点亮心灵之灯). Thus, you have seen candles of light on the dinning table. There's great meaning of this, guess I may not be able to explain it in detail.... unless you understand Buddhism and its thoughts. The below show be able to explain better.

Here's the door gift - a key chain. Added one more for my key chain collection ;)

Series of performance was lined up... below was the "Thousand Hands" & Violin Performance by Yvonne (Ops, can't remember her last name).. she has a sexy back yeah!!