Avocado seedlings

Have been busy with many little stuff lately and now have to spare sometimes caring checking on my plants and fruits seedlings, among them are the tomatoes, avocado and fig cuttings.  Here is the following up post on my avocado seedlings which were germinated from seeds.  2 out of four rooted.  

 tiny root showing up

 more roots

 Less than 2 months old avocado stalk with young leaves

Sprouting papaya seeds

I have cut opened so many papaya fruits, this is the first time that I came across sprouting seeds inside the papaya fruit.  When removing the seeds I found they are unusual, I took a closer look at them to ensure they are not maggots or worms from a spoiled papaya fruit. 

 

To make sure it is safe to eat, I brought the seeds to show to my better half, he told me that it is normal, nothing strange about it, perfectly safe to eat. 

 It came to my mind to plant papaya trees with these seeds but too bad, we haven't got the suitable "land" at our backyard, furthermore, we have got our dog, Lucky, he would destroy the seedlings before they can become a tree.

 A close up look of a sprouting papaya seeds

 

 

I usually serve papaya like this, serve cold. 

Goreng Pisang Cheese

I hardly go out for lunch during weekdays as most of the time I would be having simple lunch at my office desk and take the opportunities to blog, like now...

I was off half a day on last week Wednesday, my better half suggested to have lunch at an Indian shop where there is a stall selling nice banana fritters with cheese (pisang goreng cheese) which he has been telling me many times over..this plate consist of about 6-8 pieces of pisang goreng topped with generous amount of shredded cheese for only RM4.00,  I do not fancy fried stuff so I only tasted one piece of the banana fritter since I also had nasi campur..

I thought nasi campur would be cheaper, but I was wrong, this plate cost me RM10.00 for 2 types of vegetable and 1 piece of fried fish..Don't you think is over priced ?  I paid for it, left the shop then realised I should have asked how much is that piece of fish.

Sad to say, eating in KK has becoming expensive.. 

Wholesale fruits market

last weekend, I followed my better half to this wholesale fruit market to buy some fruits.  Buying stuff from wholesale places are usually cheaper.  They do sell their fruits to individual with a slightly higher price than to the traders who buy in higher quantities.

Fruits are perishable goods, they have to sell fast, frequent buyers will be able to get good price from the wholesalers.

We can only find local fruits in this wholesale market.

Soursop, RM6.00 per kg.  Other place sellling RM8-9 per kg.

we bought some honeydew, there are sweet.  I took some to my classmate reunion in the evening.

Pisang Sabah, famously used for banana fritter

Will come back here for local fruits again.

Fruits ABC (Ais Batu Campur or Mixed Ice) Dessert

Tanjung Aru beach is popular for its beautiful sunset, it is a famous spot for the tourists & locals but we hardly go there.  I wish this area can be upgraded for the comfort of the visitors. 

We had this fruits ABC dessert at Tanjung Aru Beach 1, the stall is located inside the eateries.  This stall is operated by my brother's classmate.  We ordered the small cup (RM5.00) for 2 of us to share.     

 

ABC (Mixed Ice with syrup) at the bottom and fresh fruits filled to the brim, a good cup of dessert. 

 

I accidentally dropped the only piece of the kiwi, what a waste.   

 

I told my brother that it would be nicer if the fruits are served cold and the shaved ice is in fine texture and not hard like small pieces of rocks, so that he could convey a customer's comment to his classmate.  Anyhow, her business is very good.

 

 Many different type of fruits on display.  These are real fresh fruits, I was told that the stall operator take the fruits down when she closes her stall and rearrange the fruits before she starts her business each day..she has acquired the skills in arranging fruits like this over the years. 

Bitter & sour lunch

Sour food seems to suit my palate well.  My Malay colleague brought us some bambangan from his home yesterday.  I usually have bread for lunch but I have made a point to having rice for lunch today because of the bambangan.   

My lunch - rice served with my favourite raw & salted bitter gourd and anchovies enhanced with a few pieces of bambangan fruit.  All raw fruit and vegetable, simple, healthier, delectable and satisfying all in one lunch for me.

Cempedak 尖不辣, the ugly cousin of jackfruit

We bought 2 small size Cempedak fruit for RM5.00 from a friend.  This fruit smell really nice too.  To avoid the "latex" sticking around when opening it, we use some cooking oil to rub around the knife and the hands before cutting open the whole fruit.

the fruits are all perfect without fruit worms

A full container from 2 cempedak fruits.  We just eat them as it is, I am too lazy to cook them with batter like most people do.  I prefer jackfruit more than Cempedak, because I find chewing cempedak is a tiring matter for me..*strange but true*

Fruits season

Come the month of August, we can see many more tropical fruits pouring into the market place.  We get the chance to eat more fruits now then before, because my better half started to have the mindset of having fruit in our daily diet.  We prefer local fruits as they are usually cheaper and fresher.

This fruit display is taken by my brother at Tanjung Aru. How I wish I could have a piece of land to plant variety of fruits trees.   

Mixed fruits cocktail (picture from my bro).

Bambangan 野芒果

My colleague from Papar brought us some Bambangan from his family farm last week.  Our office immediately filled with its pungent smell as soon as he stepped in.  I have to keep these mangoes outside the office because some of them might not like its distinguished smell.

The fruit is brown in colour, selling at the tamu, we can also find the ready prepared ones in the containers, selling from RM4.00 per container.  It is one of the famous pickles in Sabah which believes to contain valuable source of antioxidant.

 

I like to eat jeruk bambangan (pickles) but never know how to prepare it.  My Kadazan colleagues gave me some guides on how to opening up the bambangan.  We have to open it up like a pomelo, petal by petal. That's my better half helping me out.  This is the first time we made Bambangan pickles at home.

looks like it is overripe

slicing into cubes, add some salt and keep in the containers, some would like to add chillies into it. 

Sour sweet Bambangan pickles are very appetising,  add some to the rice to make simple lunch for today.

Tarap - Borneo Tropical fruit

The price of Tarap has becoming more and more expensive.  I still remember a fruit vendor trying to get a huge profit from me by selling an average size Tarap for RM30.00 at Gaya Street last year.  He must have thought that I am a tourist.  Though my daughter wanted to eat Tarap so much, I refused to buy because the price is ridiculous.  I prefer to buy from other sellers who sell at reasonable price.

This year, I managed to buy these 2 Taraps for RM2.00 each, waited for a week to ripe but the fruits were small and not satisfying

We bought another for RM7.00. this Tarap fruits are bigger and taste much better.  To me, the natural scents of Tarap is more pleasing than the durian.   

The skin of the Tarap is soft when it is ripen, even kids can serve themselves by opening a Tarap.

When we were small, my parents taught us to boil the Tarap seeds after eating the flesh.  The texture is similar to peanuts.  Tarap is a very healthy fruit, it is packed with nutrients like Potassium, sodium, Calcium, vitamin C and Antioxidant properties due to its phytochemicals. We have not had enough of Taraps this season, shall buy more from the market during weekends.

the Tarap seeds

Season of Exotic & Tropical Fruits

We are blessed with all kinds of tropical & exotic fruits at this fruiting seasons.  From the start of August, we can see more varieties of tropical and exotic fruits being sold at the stalls.  Some over priced especially at tourists spots.

Shopping of fruits has been made convenient by a fruit trader whom has a farm from Keningau.  With the permission from the school authority and his good gesture of donating some earnings to the school, he is allowed to sell his produce outside the school compound.  The trader will come again with more fruits next week.  Some parents and teachers have placed their orders in advance.

Avocados & pumpkins

my better half bought this lot of fruits from him last week

He bought 2 ordinary durians from him too..  It is  not the breed of D24 nor Musang King but it's good enough to taste the king of fruit this season.  The chopping knife is a tool needed to open a durian.

The price of a Darab fruit

It is hard to find a good and cheap darab around the city nowadays.  We used to buy a darab for only RM2 to RM3 many years ago.  The price now shot up to RM20 for just a small one. 

I met a dishonest trader at Gaya Street Fair on one of the Sunday, after much bargains he sold to me a small darab for RM5, we waited for a few days for it to ripe, much to our disappointment that it is simply not edible, the fruit were still hard and tiny.  I wouldn't have bought it if not for my girl who kept asking for it.

Clet bought this darab from Kinarut tamu early this morning for RM10. It is the type of quality we are looking for.  

Mangoes in abundance

I have been eating mangoes for the past weeks.  The mango tree at our backyard producing lots of mangoes this season.  We could harvest up to 20 mangoes in a day. 

Even with bags and bags of mangoes given away to our family members, we just couldn't empty our fridge with mangoes.  I have been serving mangoes as dessert every night just to cope with the supply for the past two weeks.  I can whack up to 4 or 5 mangoes at one time, it's very sweet and yummy..

 

making into mango juice

I also juice the mangoes making them into jelly too.

Guess what happen?  I felt sick.  Started having sore throat & flu because of consuming too many mangoes.  It is no fun feeling ill.  I have to refrain myself from having mangoes.  I did not touch any mangoes for the past few days.

The moral of the story is "anything you take has to be in moderation, can not just whack as you like even though there are in abundance".  Lesson learned.