The Growing of a Pumpkin

I like to eat pumpkin. However, I never had a chance to see how does it grow and what is the plant is like. The normal pumpkin that I saw is those at vegetable shelf in the supermarket. 

Do you know how a pumpkin plant look like and how does it grow? Previously I though pumpkin was grow on the ground as it is pretty heavy, but to my surprise the fact is not like that.   

I am so glad I have a chance to visit one of the farm at Cameron Highlands. There are many plants in the farm and I am very curious in one of the plant. There is a beautiful yellow flower attached with a small round shape yellowish-green "fruit" at the stem.

 I have been standing there looking for a long time to figure out what plan is it...Guess what, I look at another plant next to this and found this, 

 the yellowish-green "fruit" has grown a little bigger but there is no flower on top of it. I am still puzzling what kind of "fruit" it is. I am so excited and ask the owner what is that plant and she bring this out... a pumpkin.. 

Oh yes, the yellowish-green round fruit is a "baby" pumpkin. Look carefully and you will find them are identical but just a baby version. Too bad, I forgot to ask her how long it takes for the "baby" pumpkin to grow to ripe and to be harvested. Tell me if you know or I have miss out any thing here.

This is definitely a memorable experience for me to remember how the pumpkin grow from a flower to the little baby pumpkin to those I found on the shelf in the supermarket.    

Another new fruits - Cameron Apple

Have you seen this kind of fruit before? I feel it looks like a mini watermelon. The name for this fruit is Cameron Apple! 

However, for me, it did not taste like apple or feel like apple at all. Not sure how the fruit is named after apple. The fruit actually is taste more like a mixture of honeydew and rock melon for me. The flesh is yellow color when it is ripe and it is seedless. 

 

The size of this fruit is range from 160 grams to 250 grams and some said the bigger the better. I am not sure about this but I chose those in medium size.

How to choose the nice Cameron Apple? I personally prefer those ripe and can eat right away so I will look for those in yellowish rather than greenish. It learns from experience. I have tried those greenish and it is tasteless but with a little sour and hard. 

 

For those in yellowish, it taste like rock melon and it is sweet. I would think that if you ever go to Cameron Highlands, you should at least try this very local fruit.

Please comment if you have ever came across any of these fruits or you want to share more about some interesting fruits that is rare.

Strawberry feast at Cameron Highlands

Cameron Highlands are so blessed as there are many strawberry farms around. Strawberries are one of the specialty and almost an icon for Cameron Highlands other than the rest of the fresh fruits and vegetables. I can almost see the strawberry products all over Cameron Highlands, including pillow, umbrella, slippers, soft toy and of course the fresh and dried strawberries.

I guess this is Strawberry Satay

I have the luxury to enjoy strawberry feast here. Look at the big tray of strawberries that I bought from the market. According to the hawker, these are freshly plug from the farm and of course it look fresh too. The price for strawberry that sold in the market is way cheaper than those you freshly plug from the strawberry farm.

There is a huge difference and it can be really 100%-200% cheaper!!! Try to check it out if you have time. However, it is a totally different feel and atmosphere if you have a chance to taste the strawberries that you plug from the plant in the farm. 

There are some dried strawberries in the market too. However, I do prefer the fresh one with juicy and vitamins within the fruit that I eaten. 

If you travel to Cameron Highlands, remember to try their strawberries or you can bring along yours kids to plug strawberries on their own at the farm. I am sure it would be a great fun for them.

Relaxing and refreshing trip to Cameron Highlands

I am so glad that I have a chance to visit to Cameron Highlands recently although it is just situated in the same state as my hometown, that is Pahang. The journey is about 2 hours drive from my place.

There are many route that one can take to reach Cameron but the route we chosen is the nearest to my Hometown which is from the Raub. 

This route is far more comfortable than the rest of the alternatives as the roads is quite straight compared to the rest which has much corners to round. I am strongly recommended to take this route to minimize travel sickness.

 

 

Along the way, I can feel the breeze is getting cooler and fleshier as we slowly reach the top of the highland. We can see many plantations or farms along the hill slope throughout the journey to the top of the highland. 

  
Among these are strawberry farm, flower farm, vegetable farm, cactus farm and even bee farm. Of course, the most famous among all is the tea farm. We have drop by to visit two tea farm and the scenery is so spectacular. 

 

Tea plantation is on the slop of the hills and the plantation is so wide and green. There are strong smells of tea everywhere on the farm as tourist will order some tea, sitting down relaxing and enjoying the tea farm scenery. This is a totally different atmosphere that could not find in city. 

 

How nice if I could enjoy this once a month... I am not too greedy right?!.. Just need a break away from the busy city lifestyle once in a while to recharge and re-energize. I would say this is a nice place to be.

Amazing "bird flower" plant - Birds grown on the plant

Have you come across this kind of plant that the flower of the plant is look exactly like a bird standing in the middle of the flower? I am not able to imagine how it look like and can hardly believe there is such a plant, until I see the real plant which my brother brought back to home. 

Look!, this is so amazing, can you notice the green color bird is just standing in the middle of the flower? Actually, it is part of the plant and grows like a bird. 

Can you spot those "birds" hiding in between those red flowers

 

I personally think it is almost 99% identical to a real bird, it has the feature of the head, the tail, and the wing...except there is no feature of the feather. My brother has grown this plant for about a year and he has put in a lot of effort to fertilize it and take good care of it. 

Now the plant is full with flowers with a little bird in the middle... this is so spectacular and amazing and of course our neighbors have all come over to "visit" the "bird flower" plant. This plant has become a star of our home now.

 

 

 Do you feel how amazing is the natural that there is really such an interesting plant on this planet. Maybe there are much more out there for us to discover. I ever came across an article that talk about there are some plants with fairy growing on the flower that you can even see their wings. Not sure how reliable is that information but I has not came across the real plant. Do you have something special to share too? 

If anyone of you know what is the scientific name of this plant, please leave me a comment. Would appreciate that very much.

Cook your own lunch at food court - Pepper Lunch

This is my lunch for, a dish from Pepper Lunch that served in a pre-heated iron pan. There was some butter hidden in the rice. Both the beef and egg was raw and the dish is ready to serve.

 

I brought the dish back to my seat in the food court and the iron plate is still hot and sizzling.

According to the instruction, I need to start to start to “cook” the dish by mixing and stirring all the ingredients on the plate as soon as possible. On top of that, I also need to add in some special sauce and continue to fry for a sometime before the dish is ready to eat! 

The taste of the “cooking” is no bad. This is another new experience for me or maybe to many others patronts. Although this dish is already in the market for quite sometime but this is the first time I ordered it.

When I first saw this dish in the food court, I joked with my husband and said that "See, maybe some of these youngster finally get a chance to cook for their own or make their own dish, maybe they feel some achievements”. It is because normally there are lots of youth and even adults are not able or do not know how to cook in Singapore. For them, it maybe a good experience as they can try "cooking their own dish" from this meal. Somehow it is fun. However, I may not want to buy the food that I need to "cook it myself" again but this meal is definitely a good experience for me.

I came from Bentong - My Hometown

Bentong is my hometown. It is a small town in surrounded by mountains located in the state of Pahang Darul Ehsan in peninsula Malaysia. Thanks to the natural landscape in my Bentong, it is a strategic place to grow lots of plantations. There are fruits plantation, ginger plantation, palm plantation and so forth. Among the famous fruits that grown in Bentong is durian. I ever saw some stalls in other bigger cities selling durians and labeled the durians as "Bentong Durian" or "Bentung Durian".

Durian is named as "king of fruits" while mangosteen is "queen of fruits". There are many species of durian and the best type is called "Mau San Wang" (in Mandarin) or "Mao San Wong" (in Cantonese). Durian is seasonal fruits and normally is available during January and July or August. I am blessed as there are lots of durian plantations in my hometown and I am able to taste the best and the fresh durians.

Ginger is another famous plantation in my hometown. That ginger is also named as "Bentong ginger" and it is extra hotter than the normal ginger grown in other places. It is good for cooking especially Chinese do believe ginger can "expel cooling". It is useful especially to make the dishes for confinement food for new mothers, who has just delivered babies. 

There are lots of birds in Bentong too, some are glass swiftlets, and some are swallow and some swiftlets which is precious for the bird nest. However, I personally do not know how to differentiate any of those. Something to be mindful is to be careful of any droppings when you are walking on the street especially during evening time and near to any of the lamppost.

There is also a nice waterfall and natural hot spring in Bentong. Sometimes I just feel amaze how could there be hot spring as there is no volcano in Malaysia. It is something amazing and is a gift of the nature. I will introduce more about the waterfall and hot spring in Bentong sometime later.

As a residence from Bentong, I am proud to said that I am blessed as I can grown up in this peacefully nice town that full of friendly people and lots of natural resources.