I AM NOT ALONE

Does the temptation to buy tomatoes amount to suffering from OCD?  

I am obsessed with collecting tomato seeds and growing them.  Until I am successful and have a decent tomato patch, I will continue to buy them.  

I can't walk into a supermarket and not go to the veggies aisles in particular where the tomatoes are placed even if I do not have t-o-m-a-t-o on my shopping list for the day.   I still must wiggle my way there just to check them out and the chance of me putting some into my trolley even though there are tomatoes at home has always been high.  

I always thought I was the only one to behave in such a manner until today.  Well so I was at the supermarket standing in front of a huge box of tomatoes.  It didn't help that the tomatoes were huge;  have grooves and just of the perfect ripeness.  On top of that, the  packer was opening boxes and boxes of them and piling them up to form a little mountain where eager hands were waiting to grab them. 

Off course out of the many hands, one belongs to me.   I never imagine that one day I would be selecting and buying tomatoes as if I was buying a designer's handbag.  

An elderly lady who was beside me looked up and sheepishly said: "I can't resist all these tomatoes.  They're so nice.  I have some tomatoes at home but I still can't resist them." 

There was a familiar ring to what she said as if she was speaking on my behalf.  

"It's alright to buy more." I told her sounding all serious and grown up as I smiled secretly to myself. 

IT STARTED OFF SMALL...

It's amazing what a tiny seed could do.  A lot in fact.

I first grew it on my apartment's windowsills.  It was then brought to MSG and re-potted.   

A seed I grew from my window sill and brought to MSG for transplanting...

When it started to grow in height I left it to lean on a fence "for the time being while I find a better place."  It remained there till today and I have since harvested 2 big crops of approximate 100 beans twice in between many smaller harvest.

Harvest upon harvest

Apart from dosing them with water, I've not fed them anything until lately when I started to give them treats of grounded eggshells and coffee grounds.

Like all plants it has grown into maturity and I have saved some beans on the vines for future babies.  

For a container grown plant, it is more than I had expected.  Can't ask for more!  I reckon the beans love a good sea view too :)

Trellis of beans overlooking the sea

FRIENDS AND FOES

Chillies / Peppers and I are friends.

There's something about growing chillies / peppers that excite me all thanks to the weather here that is just so conducive to growing them.

Success rate is high as compared to growing tomatoes which has always been my biggest obsession and nightmare simultaneously.  

From experience they thrive even in the poorest soil with minimum water but I am not saying you should leave them thirsty.  It's just that you can get away for a few days without having to worry about them.  Off course like all other plants if you tend to their needs well, they will reward you handsomely.

My only grievance in growing chillies is that caterpillars like to strip my plants naked of leaves.  They just love to munch on those plants with smallish leaves while they steer clear of the bigger and tougher leaves.  Snails on the other hand do not fancy eating leaves.  They are a sophisticated lot and love nothing better than feasting on sweet peppers even if that is just my one and only on the branch!

 

While chillies and peppers are my friends, clearly the bugs and slugs are my biggest enemies especially since I am contemplating if I should focus on just growing different types of chillies and peppers in the near future.

Haven't you heard about the benefits of eating this hot stuff?  Well I'll leave the talking for another day... :)

DREAM OF A DREAM...

My love for tomatoes is legendary.  Many know that I have a mad crush over them especially dear Jo-Ann @couscous_jr.

I do enjoy eating tomatoes but not as much as I love collecting the seeds; photographing them and looking at Bakers Creed online shop where I am in love with all the tomatoes and want to add every variety of seed packs into my shopping cart. 

Last night instead of reading bedtime stories, I was admiring those gorgeous beauties posted on IG which left me drooling.       

Suddenly I found myself in the garden (Jo-Ann, you were posting those tempting tomatoes!) and stumbled upon a plant laden with tennis ball size luscious crimson tomatoes.  Naturally I was ecstatic!  Wow... vine ripen tomatoes!  I lifted one to take a picture and the fruit just dropped onto my palm. 

When you fed your head with varying shapes and colours of tomatoes just before bedtime, it was only natural you dreamed of them. 

Lesson learned.  I woke up and there were no tennis ball tomatoes.  So it's back to deciding between green zebra, pork chop or pink boar to grow.  

Never knew deciding which tomatoes to grow can be so hard!

THE GARDEN RULES!

The garden sits on top of my list of favourite places which is no surprise.  Coming in close is the kitchen which is a BIG surprise.  It relegates the bedroom to third position.

I am no Domestic Goddess but something about the kitchen just excites me these days for a simple reason that food yes food comes from there. 

Collecting seeds

I have enough seeds to start a farm and be a farmer but I am still collecting and saving seeds.  I feel guilty throwing away seeds even if they're from an orange which I know is unlikely to grow here.  However just saving the seeds and throwing them in the ground even if they don't germinate makes me happy.  I should say it's becoming a hobby or habit (depending on how you see it!) saving seeds and nothing makes me happier than sending someone seeds from my "seeds bank."  I feel like a million bucks if I learn that the seeds I sent germinated and grew successfully.  However don't pressurize yourself if they don't.  Didn't I say I have enough seeds to start a farm?  Seeds anyone?... just give me a buzz :)) 

Pickling & freezing garden produce 

As we're in a temperate region with no such luck of having seasonal changes in weather (spring, summer, fall, winter) apart from rainy season, we're just able to grow the same crops that suit our climate throughout the year.  You won't hear of such thing as picking summer produce to save for fall / winter.  However when you end up with many of a certain produce and can't eat them at one go, pickling & even freezing them are such wonderful ideas.  Seriously I'm more interested in seeing pretty bottles of floating pickles lining the kitchen countertop than eating them but they sure make wonderful gifts.  

Flowers for tea 

If you are a flower, beware.  There's a flower monster lurking something out there.  I take my flowers seriously; feeling, caressing and smelling them.  While I never imagine myself chomping on a bunch of flowers there's nothing I love more than sipping tea from flowers gathered in the garden.   

Concocting (new) recipes 

I never imagine myself making tempura from squash flowers but I did.  Have you tried omelette with squash flowers and cheese or even blue pea flowers tempura?  Enough said.  I am hungry.  Time I head to the kitchen.

Gardening is therapeutic  

Not too long ago, someone commented that my palms felt like sandpaper.  I never deny that.  Neither was I offended.  This just cemented the fact that I've been spending a lot of time in the garden. There's something nice about feeling the warm earth.  What? Gloves? 

From garden to kitchen it's all in a day's work.  Ok now time I seek comfort of the bedroom for some well deserved shut eye.

NUTTY LIKE ME?

One of the things I hate to do is preparing tomatoes for cooking.  They aren't different to handle just that I tend to complicate things a little bit.  I would be spending the longest time ever over the chopping board because like someone with OCD, I have to remove every single seed out of every single tomato that I use.  No kidding! 

I have nothing against these seeds but I just couldn't bear the thought of my molars crunching onto these teeny weeny ones.  In my mind I could conjure rows upon rows of sun-kissed tomatoes growing happily with just that fistful of seeds I collect.  

Just in case you're wondering how many plots of tomatoes I have since I am a habitual tomato seeds remover (remove all the seeds Annie!) well.... well... I actually don't even own a single plant right now with the exception of these if these seeds choose to sprout!

 
What is it exactly with tomatoes and me? *sigh* Hmmm.... it's really a love & hate kind of relationship.

Anyone out there just as nutty?  I certainly hope not!

 

I'M SWEARING OFF THEM

It was a short trip to attend a wedding of two very dear friends in Cianjur & Bandung / Indonesia.

After the last nightmare just six months ago to the same place, (no, the trip was perfect sans my excess baggage) the night before our departure, I was desperately weighing bags after bags; boxes after boxes while making frantic phone calls home to increase the baggage allowance to the max.  In between all the frenzy, I deliberated what to leave behind as I wanted to bring everything back with me.  So I told myself this time I was not taking any chances.  I had to shop sensitively and barred the famous Cihedeung Flower Market (where everything caught my eyes!) from taking a spot on my "must go, must see, must buy and must bring home" list.

I thought I sort of succeeded since it was a brief trip and the wedding took precedence until the day the wedding couple sent their Supir (chauffeur) to pick us.  Mr Supir is actually a family friend of theirs and he is KoKo (big brother) to us; a big obliging man with a generous smile and infectious laughter.  He spoiled me rotten and shared my joy every time I put something in my shopping basket "oh souvenirs for family and friends back home."  He would nod knowingly.

So off to the supermarket we went before the long drive to our friends' hometown.  I thought it was a safe place to shop just for local products until I saw a section selling plants!  Plants my friends.... plants! 

From then on, I was like a cockroach devoid of feelers with hardly any sense of direction.  Too excited for words, I circled the two huge metal stands that housed mostly succulents in all shapes and varieties.  I don't know very much about sucs except I know they don't last very long in my hands but no lying, the temptation was just too great to resist.  I was so afraid someone might grab them so I put several of them in my basket to show my partner in crime (both of us were running amok at the flower market on our previous visit).  I thought she didn't see them as she's crazy over succulents and are pretty good with them so I had to show her.  She could grow and propagate a succulent from just a tiny bit.  

The evil but shrewd girl saw on the sly but had resisted and headed for the toiletries section instead focusing on loading up body butter into her basket instead.  She was not only brave but clever whereas the more I looked at the carousel of plants, the more I couldn't resist.  It was a hard decision but after shortlisting several, I decided on this gorgeous two.  It was probably 5 times less what I would have to pay back home not that there aren't any here.  Don't we just love a good bargain?

I was so happy with my purchase and wow to nurture them until they flower.  Making them post for pictures was a natural thing.

A balcony shot outside our hotel room

 

Another shot much to the amusement of the groom's parents who happened to pass by

Off course as always whilst buying was fun, the bringing back home bit proved to be a real challenge.  

After what seemed like an eternity of thoughts, the metal steamer I bought in the local market came to my rescue.  It was by far my cheapest and most worthy purchase during that trip.  It has a cover and the size was just perfect!  Steamed sweet potatoes you can wait. 

Home safely in a metal steamer :)

It fitted Twinnie (I love giving them names) perfectly and that was how they came home with me; a little dishevelled but unscathed. 

I reminded Mum that Twinnie don't need any water so to leave them alone. If you read my "Back to School" entry (1 September 2014), Mum was one of the suspects in the Jady mishap.  I fed Twinnie in secret when Mum was not around lest she followed suit.  However she kept hinting to me that Twinnie looked dehydrated and I suspected like me, she was secretly bathing them.  

Today, exactly thirty five days since Twinnie arrived in my metal steamer, as I was trying to relocate them to a sunnier spot, everything just fell apart.  Twinnie simply crumbled!

 

I am soooo sorry Twinnie *hangs head in shame*

Naturally I was sad over the lost of Twinnie but then I was never successful before in growing sucs so it was no surprise I lost them both.  Mum said we're just not destined to grow them as we don't have green fingers for sucs.  I think we both contributed to the loss with me not sure if there was enough, just sufficient, too little or too much water.  With Mum's fondness for watering her plants, doesn't surprise me if she had discreetly gave them water baths in wake of this heatwave.

Really no more sucs for me.  I am staying away from them... seriously.  Remind me if you see me heading to the check out with one in my arms.