plots2plates

Autumn

2010-11-25T11:06:00.000-08:00

I love autumn more than any other seasons. It provides serenity in deep warm colors and shades. Taking a walk in the forest with only the sound of your breath as your companion is the closest way to get to know yourself. The view of 360 degrees at Monte Fogliame is extremely breathtaking. I took a Polish girlfriend recently there and she deeply felt like she was walking in the forest back home. Despite the wet season that we are experiencing now, the season never fails to reveal its beauty.

Kiruna,Sweden ....above the Artic Circle

2010-06-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

The places on Earth are extremely fascinating with so many different ways to explore the beauty of it. Kiruna is more than 100km above the Artic Circle and around 1200 km from Stockholm and it is absolutely offer you a different way of seeing how you should take a look at your life. We were there recently and we experienced what I called 'real geographical moments' and now I really understand what I learned in geography textbooks.

Since we were there early June, the 'midnight sun' is our highlight of the visit. As the name suggests, the sun never sets! We had the sun and the sunlight in 24 hours! Gosh.....I really had a hard time to sleep at night (or at least what appeared on my watch).

The temperature was around 5 to 8 degrees Celcius and we had good weather throughout our stay.We drove to the Abisko National Park which is located around 100km north west of Kiruna. The vegetation and the landscape is totally make you wonder the force of every living element on Earth to survive in a harsh condition when the temperature can simply go down to more than -40 degrees Celcius in the long winter months.

I have never seen what I called "pussy willow' trees covered almost every inch of the ground....they are everywhere! The warm season is yet to come there but I could see the vegetation is changing rapidly with the advantage of the midnight sun!

2010-05-29T23:59:00.000-07:00

May is one of my favourite months because it brings hints of romance in the air....with my roses in the garden. They are so lovely with layers of petals and the sweet perfume is absolutely beyond any descriptions. A simple arrangement of roses freshly cut early in the morning could brighten up my days ahead.

Alluring Aquilegia

2010-05-11T10:56:00.000-07:00

Aquilegia is one of the plants that enriched the corner of every garden. They love partly shaded area and not fussy about the soil.The name aquilegia is derived from the Latin word for an eagle as the spurs resemble the talons of an eagle). I have a few aquilegia with different colors like deep red, white, purple, dark purple ( the very popular 'Nora Barlow' named after the granddaughter of Charles Darwin). It has layers of deep dark purple petals like the ruffles on a Flamenco's skirt. As aquilegia comes later in spring, I mix them together with small petticoat daffodils and snowdrops that come earlier in the season so they could become the cover plant after all small bulbose plants fade.

Peas

2010-05-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

It is quite pleasant to work in the garden nowadays eventhough, the weather can be very deceptive. The humming of the bumble and honey bees are constant companion while weeding and it is really a work of art of these 'insects' that we could have different fruits or vegetables in different season. The pollination that is done by this 'creative creature' is nothing but a genius symbiotic relation that we have to appreciate.

Peas are in season now, and this year I have planted my peas everywhere in the garden and even in my flower beds. I have planted the real climbing peas. This type of peas do not generate plenty of yields as compared to the 'low creeping' peas. I had the creeping peas in my kitchen garden until last two years. No doubt, they gave us crates of peas to shell but that also caused me 'huge back pain' when picking them from the vines. I am happy with less crops, as long as my back pain is at shore.

Iris

2010-05-05T12:47:00.000-07:00

I should say that I am very proud of my irises especially the double colors. Iris does not need particular attention and it is really suitable for any type of soil and resistant to drought, cold and any kind of diseases. In my garden, I combine my iries with roses, daffodils and this year with climbing peas. In short, iris is such a lovely plant and I have them almost at every corner of my garden.

2010-04-26T03:42:00.000-07:00

Spring is always an intermediate season for my kitchen garden, when I have only a few vegetables in my hand whereas my body needs a lot of 'freshness' and loads of vitamins. However, my peas are coming up and I have eaten it fresh from the pod yesterday. The sweetness of the peas eaten straight from the vine is absolutely every kitchen gardener would enjoy. This year, I planted the climbing peas together with my mixed borders and they look lovely with the bearded iris.

I also have some rocket plants and some spring onions. Rocket or arugula is best to be eaten now, as the leaves will be hardened later in the season.Yesterday, I had some rocket salad with carrots and spring onions together with shaved parmesan. The taste is really fresh.

Centro Botanico Moutan.

2010-04-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

Going back every year during spring time to the Centro Botanico Moutan is like a pilgrimage that could not be missed.Situated in Vitorchiano (45 minutes drive from my house) and which the name moutan is derived from the Chinese word 'Mou Dan' which means tree peony. This 15 hectar area is covered with the herbaceous and tree peony that makes you gasping for air while walking through the plants because the beauty is extremely beyond words.

I fall in love again.....

2010-04-19T04:42:00.000-07:00

I fall in love again with Italy... after quite a while of hate and love relationship. I had a chance to take a brief visit to Siena recently. Being in Tuscany region, Siena has a lot to offer. The view of the Tuscany region is very unique and it changes throughout the year. Now, the hills and valley are so 'velvety and silky' with different shades and tones of green. The simple patch of wild grass on the hills adds to its charming panorama. The stone house with lined cypress set a typical scenic view of this region.

From the gastronomical point of view, this region is rich with its specialty and uniqueness. Walking down the main road to the historical center of Siena, my sight and smell senses are at their best. I couldn't resist to walk into the historical pastry shop which is called 'Nannini'.

'Ricciarelli' or almond cookies are their best. You can find ricciarelli in almost every alimentary or pastry shops but at Nannini, they really suit my taste because they do not use any almond flavour ingredients, instead only good quality of almonds and white eggs. Every region in Italy has its own almond cookies but Sienese ricciarelli is one of the bests.

For the cheese lovers, Siena has more than a palate could taste in a day. I have bought 2 different types of goat cheese......eventhough their is smell rather strong, the taste is absolutely divine. For a non cheese lover (like me)... it is also worth a try.

I love paper products and I think you can find a vast selection of handmand beautiful and reasonably priced paper products in Siena. Love to walk into these type of shops which really has a tremendous courage to carry on the tradition despite the availiabilty of mass produced ones.

I think Siena has not been 'carried away' with so much 'mass consumerisim' unlike other cities in Italy. Siena has remain its authenticity as much as possible without falling behind or trapped in its past splendours.

2010-04-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

I love small bulbs. This one is from the family of fritillaria. They are very small and yet beautiful with 2 shades of colors. They multiply easily and make lovely clumps too. The first picture is also from the same family and I think it is called 'fritillaria mealagris'. It looks like a checker board. They are quite small as compared to the bigger sister which is called 'fritillaria imperialis'. These small bulbs seldom make a focal point in my garden as they love partly shade area and not many people know about these bulbs so I can really admire them fully.This year, strange enough there is one 'fritillaria mealagris' albino. As the name suggests, the flower is all white.

2010-04-12T03:11:00.000-07:00

Spring is also known as 'capricious' season... the weather can change with a blink of an eye. The temperature has dropped to a single digit since yesterday. When I woke up this morning, the sky was dark with chilling air blowing slowly to my lungs. I ran inside the house to take my 'winter coat'..... but still wishing that the sun will show today. My flowers are happy though.... the weeds are happy too.... with my back pain, I just look at my kitchen garden covered with grass and weeds. Nonetheless, the peas are happy climbing through the hazel twigs.... with their beautiful flowers.

2010-04-07T23:46:00.000-07:00

Tulips are everywhere in my garden now. They are also in my kitchen garden and near my compost box They are absolutely beautiful with different shapes and colors.

I mix tulips with ornamental grass, bearded iris and bulbuous iris. These combination are working very well as they flower more or less at the same time. Tulips will never go wrong in any garden at this time around and they can really make an impact in a way or another.

2010-04-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

Spring is at full blast now and I am enjoying every minute of it.My spring bulbs are flowering at full swing and it is so lovely to see all of them together in harmony with a few new surprises here and there. I have a small clump of daffodils that have stopped flowering for 2 years and suddenly I saw a few days ago, these small yellow flowers which is sometimes called 'petticoat daffodil' are making a comeback.

Abundance

2010-03-23T00:22:00.000-07:00

Spring is also about abundance. Abundance in colors, forms and shapes. When we look around us, the signs are everywhere. No heart could resist them. Early yesterday morning, I took a walk around my area and when I came back, my basket was fulled with edible wild plants like dandelion, poppy, wild chard and my favourite wild chickory. These spring wild plants are so good for cleansing our body. I just blanched and simply cooked them with some splash of olive oil, garlic and a bit of pepperoncino.

spring is here.

2010-03-21T00:58:00.000-07:00

Spring is finally here.Spring means the awakening from the dormant mode. We have been waiting for this season more ethusiastic than ever. I have planted 1 kilo of red onion and white onion each and sowed some other vegetables like early summer salad and spinach.

We are ready to experience this season with open heart and open arms.

I baked this steamed chocolate cake and decorated with violets that I grow in my garden.

2010-03-07T23:41:00.000-08:00

The sunset looked very promising last evening even though the temperature has dropped to zero again. Spring is right at the corner. The colors of spring are all over with the apricot blossoms and peaches blossoms, daffodils, violets, anemones etc. They are simply beautiful.

However, nothing much could be done in my kitchen garden because the soil is still soak with water. It has to dry first before I start planting potatoes, onions and other spring and early summer vegetables. But being impatience, I have sowed some other vegetables like turnips, beetroots, radishes and other simple mixed salads. I have found one garden shop that sells 'bio' seeds. I am not sure what are the guidelines that these seeds are following but I will surely take a closer look at these new developments.

Looking at these flowers and all the changing of colors around me really give such an intense pleasures. These small pleasures shall not be taken for granted. I think there a lot could be learnt from these beauty that Nature gives us. We are not blind but often we are blinded by so many things happening around us and therefore we seldom take a closer look at these 'unfolding' events right infront of us. With the impermenance nature of these beauty..... we will lose them if we do not do now.

The art of making handmade fresh pasta

2010-03-03T14:28:00.001-08:00

A few days ago, someone has given me two duck eggs and I was very pleased with that gift. As I also had bought two kilos of artisan flour (non commercial one), I think it was appropriate that I make the best of that two items that I had in my hands. So, my daughter and I have decided to learn how to make fresh pasta from scratch. So, off we went to the house of Nonna Eva (she is 88 year old strong Italian lady) to learn the basic tagliatelle. The fresh pasta that we made was nothing equivalent to the store bought one. Immediately when we arrived home, I prepared the simple tomato sauce and we had one of our best dinners last evening. The procedure of making fresh pasta is very simple (we took around an hour to make more than a kilo of pasta) and I think, I am going to learn to make ravioli stuffed with spinach or pumpkin the next time around.

Snowdrops

2010-02-18T06:34:00.000-08:00

It looks that the winter is here to stay and this phenomenon is sweeping through out Europe. We have seen abundance of snow and rain everywhere. However, I think everything has its own cycles. Now it is the 'wet cycle' so my winter bulbs are very happy in this condition especially the snowdrops. These lovely 'bell shaped' flowers are well suited in this condition and I have a few clumps under my hazelnut trees together with the hyacinthes and hellebores. I took these clumps on my Austrian trip a few years ago with my dear friend MM with her family. It was near Klagenfurt when we were about to leave a parking place, I saw clumps of snowdrops everywhere. I could not resist them and packed them up in the plastic bag and they are absolutely happy in my garden now.

Enchanted forest

2010-02-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

Crocus

I had a morning walk in this enchanted forest this morning.The silence was so deafeaning as I could only hear my rubber boots stepping down the thick layers of dead leaves.The sunlight was so bright and the sky was azzure blue. The sensation of the 'silence' was so deep. I do not know the names of the trees but I could see some light purple crocus on the ground. They are so beautiful.

Snowing.....

2010-02-12T13:35:00.000-08:00

It is finally snowing this morning in Rome after almost two decades since the last time the capital was whitely covered. The Roman landscape has changed drasctically since early morning. The tourists around the city have witnessed something that remain as one of their best memories.I love watching the snow falls, for me as if watching the cotton balls falling from the sky in a slow motion!

Climbing white rose

2010-02-08T03:51:00.000-08:00

We are experiencing some fair of variable weather conditions so far this year. A large difference in temperature between one day and another could really make the body difficult to adjust and I do hope that my plants are coping well too. I really think that we as human species do have to 'acclimatizie' and adapt to these variations of weather conditions especially when it comes to the extreme situation.

The end of spring last year, I bought a climbing rose (white with simple 5 petals) which is called Rosa Bracteata Mermaid (Bianco Rifiorente). This is a repeated flowering rose. The plant was covered with so many white and huge flowers and seducingly beautiful. I just couldn't resist it as I could actually hear the plant as if it was crying to me and said... "please, take me home!". However, the price was quite steep for my choice of plant and my friend who came with me that day said nicely... look, we came all the way here and for only 20 Euro, just close your eyes and take it home.

Without thinking twice, I had already put the plant in my car and before I left the nursery, I asked the owner whether should I change the pot as I could see that the pot was rather too small as the roots were coming out through all the holes. He said 'absolutely yes'. Without any doubts, the moment I arrived home, I changed the pot to a slightly bigger (3 cm bigger) one and left it to my friend to take care of it as I was leaving for a vacation.

After a long vacation, I went to take back my plant from my friend and due to an extreme summer last year... the plant had suffered quite a lot. Thinking back, I should not have changed the pot because the roots were not able to grow well due to an extreme heat. Last week, finally I have managed to put it in the ground and i hope it will be OK. Come March this year, I will blend some banana skins and put it around the plant so it will encourage the flowering.

seventh heaven... luxurious indulgence

2010-02-04T21:17:00.000-08:00

There is a pastry cafe in Campagnano which is worth to mention here. The work of the pastry chef is really being admired and appreciated by many especially by me. Claudio is extremely meticulous in his work and he really uses the best ingredients for his cakes and pastries. Personally speaking, looking at his works, he is up to the level of Pierre Herme' (Picasso of pastry chef)

Two days ago, I had 2 pieces of each..what are called 'sottile and opera' di tre cioccolato'. Sottile means 'thin' and this piece is actually 2 layers of walnut mousse with apricot compost in between with the last layer topped with halved walnut. Opera' di tre cioccolato consists of 3 layers of white, dark and normal chocolate. The first layer starts with thin almond paste and alternately follows with 3 types of chocolate and covered with thin dark chocolate ganache.

Eating these masterpieces with viennese coffee (double shot coffee with cream and chocolate shavings on top) gives such a luxurious sensation to the palate and eyes too!

2010-01-22T23:56:00.000-08:00

trevignano daffodil

The Trevignano daffodil has finally shown its whole beauty! Very sweet and 'bellisima'. Eventhough, the petals are smaller than the hybrid ones, the scent is so remarkably 'dolce'. To mark the occassion, I decided to go for a quick lunch at the lake and thinking of going back to the 'birthplace' of that beautiful trumpet flowers. Trevignano is one of the 3 towns by the Lake Bracciano and it is quite a typical lake town in Center of Italy with certain charming and simple characteristics. The place is almost perfect for me as it has lovely cafe (with special treats), good bakery and seafood restaurants. It was really a beautiful sunny and cold winter day and the moment I arrived at that spot, I saw nothing was there anymore and not even a single flower. I remembered very well, that I did not pull all of the clumps out from the water....

Prunning

2010-01-22T14:31:00.000-08:00

The worst nightmare has come.....I have to start prunning all my roses and other plants too. Once, I read in the leading gardening magazine which stated that we should not worry when it comes to prunning.That simple act of cutting is like giving a haircut not a headcut. Well, I am not sure about that!

One of my beloved roses suffered quite a lot last season and half of the plant died so did the yellow climbing roses. Last 2 years the light purple lilac didn't flower that much as I wrongly prunned them. The list goes on and on...

So, I braved myself yesterday to start all over again starting with white climbing roses in my kitchen garden because this rose is very hardy and can stand any extreme cutting. It was really windy yesterday as the siberian wind started to blow from the northeast and after spending almost 3 hours outside, I have managed to prune almost all roses in that area and I do hope that I did not give them any headcuts this year!

Frost

2010-01-20T01:16:00.000-08:00

sicilian broccoli

cauliflower

When I woke up this morning, in the freezing cold....the whole area of my place is whitely covered with frost. Frost is rather a tricky issue as it is quite damaging to the plants, vegetables, shrubs etc. Most of the time, I would be able to know when the frost is coming. If it is a clear sky (sometime right after the sunset)... I will immediately rush to cover my kitchen garden with the fleece. However, since we have a fair share of bad weather this season, I have nothing to cover as all my vegetables are gone except my broccoli siciliani, red cabbages, puntarelle (a family of chickory) and a few winter salads.

I love to observe and take note on which vegetables survive each time so I will be able to organize better the following season. I have realised so far that if we are hit hard by frost, most of the salads will be gone (even covered by the fleece), but curly endives, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, tuscan kale and peas will survive. These vegetables are really 'the star'!

Trevignano Daffodils

2010-01-17T14:38:00.000-08:00

Trevignano daffodil

I think it was almost 5 years ago when I went to Trevignano,a small town by the Lake Bracciano for an afternoon walk when I saw these clumps of daffodils. However, these daffodils were almost in the water! It was really early spring but the air was quite warm and the smell from these daffodils was so sweet and irresistable! I have never seen any wild daffodils with such a pleasant perfume. It is quite difficult to describe the smell, however it is like a mix of vanilla and 'old fashion roses'.

I managed to pull them out from the water and put them in my herbs beds and I waited year after year for it to flower but it always failed to bloom. However, early last December I saw a small bloom coming out in between the leaves. It has been for 5 years of waiting and with a flick of time the plant has established itself from the water to the ground! Now, eventhough the flower is not fully opened yet, the sweet smell is so enthralling and captivating! The Nature has taught me not to rush because every single thing has its own time to grow and live!

Winter sweet

2010-01-15T13:53:00.000-08:00

winter sweet

Eventhough the rain has finally stopped, the cold is here to stay. The day is getting a bit longer day by day and I managed to do some clipping and pruning of roses and lavanders. My climbing roses on the main house pillars were badly needed some 'radical' pruning and eventhough I had to climb on chair, the task was done in less than an hour.

This climbing rose is a classic thornless with huge clusters white flowers and it never fails to flower twice a year and rarely needs attention! It needs only some trimming and clipping. As growing roses can give a bit of headache (they really need a lot of attention and love), this white thornless is really a champion.

There is another flower that needs to mention this winter and it is called 'winter sweet' or 'chimonantus praecox'. As the name suggests, this light yellow flower is so 'diorissimo' as one of my friends nicely described its lovely sweet perfume and it can really brighten up your cold and wet winter. I have cut the whole branch and put it in my bathroom and it really wakes my feminine senses everytime I walk in.

Kitchen garden and Hachiko

2010-01-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

The weather has been very dreadful lately. Currently, it has been raining for almost 2 weeks and my garden is not able to soak up the water anymore. The soil is so soggy and all my salads have been destroyed. However, I still have my broccoli, endives and my peas are growing quite OK. I think I have to tie them up to the hazelnut twigs so they can grow much better.

Since the weather has been quite lousy, I have decided to watch 'Hachiko'. This is a movie about the loyalty of a dog to its owner. Hachiko, the dog was found by Prof. Parker at the train station on his way back from the university. They became close friends and Hachiko always waited for him at the same time everyday infront of the train station. One day, he had an heart attack at the university and passed away peacefully. However, Hachiko didn't stop waiting for him everyday at the same stop for 10 years! Richard Gere is the leading actor in this movie and it is not only about the actor but it is about the storyline which is so moving. My daughter couldn't stop her tears running down the cheeks and at the end both of us have to hold on tight to each other.....

This movie is actually the American version of a really true story happened in Tokyo, Japan in the late 1920s.

Cultural,cuisine.... and cakes

2009-12-29T11:35:00.000-08:00

one of the night sights in Vienna

oberlaa cafe

Summer by Arcimboldo

My day has started very early today and I am very lucky as the sun is shinning brightly with the temperature around 7 degree Celcius. I have decided to start my day by walking to Naschmarkt. It is the biggest open air market in Vienna and you can find almost everything from exotic fruits to spices.... almost everything. I saw some durians, rambutan, mangis and I even bought half a kilo of buah mata kucing.

I later walked to the Kuntshistorisches Museum ( Fine Arts Museum). This is the treasure of Austria. The museum is located in one of the royal palaces and of course as the royal palace of the Austrian Habsburg Empire, it is definitely grandiose. I chose to see only the picture gallery which consists of the masterpieces of European paintings of the Italian, Flemming, Spanish,French and German starting from the 15th Century like Canaletto, Vermeer,Titan, Van Dyck, Durer to name a few.

I came here to see Giuseppe Arcimboldo, an Italian artist who was the imperial court painter. He was the designer for weddings and tournaments for the Emperor (could he be called the wedding planner?). The most famous painting is entitled 'Summer' dated 1563. That painting is considered as 'strange' and comical to certain extent....take a look at the photo. The beauty of the paintings is so overwhelming especially with the Flemming paintings as big as more than 5x6 metres... like the painting of Frans Snyders with the theme of 'treasure of the sea'. That painting shows that how brilliant the artist was to paint 'still life' of belangkas,sturgeon,cuttlefish,lobsters.... i have counted and there are almost 30 types of sea creatures in that painting and they look so real, you can actually touch them! (the painting is almost 400 years old)

I left the museum with my heart filled with artistic emotions but I am ready for my..... cake adventure. I went to the Cafe Oberlaa... a historic cafe and I tried the schoko vanille torte which means chocolate cake with chocolate and vanilla mousse. Again the Austrian cake has won my heart and the taste of the light chocolate mousse together with the vanilla mousse filling really made me smile throughout the day.....

The Art of giving gifts.....Vienna

2009-12-28T04:52:00.000-08:00

Cafe Central

One of the palaces

Talking about the art of giving gifts...I am a bit lousy in this matter. However, I think the giving gift should be fun. So, this holiday season, I personally think that it is appropriate that I should receive gift (especially from the beloved ones) something without 'physical material'....so, I decided that going on a short winter break to Vienna is an ideal gift for me.

Vienna, compact royal city with so many royal palaces in so small square meter area (as compared to Paris, for example).However, my idea to come to Vienna is to taste my real 'sweet tooth' buds. Vienna is full with antique and modern cafes, konditorei and pastry shops. Sacher torte and apple strudel are their forte but I think there are plenty of other pastries and cakes to try.

This is my second day in the city and after going to a splendid Impressionist exhibition in Albertina, I decided to take a coffee break at the Central Cafe. Central cafe is a historic cafe which was built in the early 19th century. The setting is very luxury with velvet sofa and high vaulted ceiling with huge chandeliers. I am trying the truffle torte (simple layered hazelnut cake) today.... with strong coffee and cream.... the taste lingers in my mouth for quite a while.

Sub zero temperature

2009-12-20T23:40:00.002-08:00

Beautiful view at Monte Fogliame with the snow on the ground and blue sky.

We are experiencing sub zero temperature at the moment. Frost is everywhere and the road is very icy. Yesterday, after lunch my friend and I decided to take a drive to the hill area which is called Monte Fogliame. It is absolutely beautiful, with the snow on the ground and the sunny and blue sky. I drove all around the hill and the Lake Vico too. The view was absolutely spectacular.

The whole Europe is experiencing sub zero temperature and thick snow is causing the train Eurostar (London-Paris-Brussels) to suspend their service for the third day . The thick snow is sweeping through out the North European countries with North of France, Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands are badly affected.

My kitchen garden is covered with frost. Surprisingly my endives and red raddichio are saved with freezing cold. It looks like they love this cold and icy weather!

COLD.....br,br,br...

2009-12-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

The cold is here. The temperature goes down very fast and faster as usual as Christmas approaches. Early in the morning, the mercury goes down to -1 and seldom goes up to 5 during the day.

The Siberian cold air is sweeping through out Europe and The Eiffel Tower was closed 2 days ago because of heavy snow. We have to bundle up with layers and layers of clothes/sweaters..... and my poor feet are as usual very cold too despite thick socks and proper shoes.

However, when the sun shines I could feel the softness of cool air in my lungs and nose, that really feels good.

Brainless creatures....

2009-12-10T09:26:00.000-08:00

I have received 3 small containers full with brainless creatures last weekend from a friend of mine, Santhia. He is an Indian Malaysian who is currently working in an Italian company near Rome. Together with his wife, Mag, we met to have lunch in the center of Rome (it was quite a nice Lebanese food) before he gave me these priceless presents... worms.These brainless creatures are very essential to the Earth. They work wonders through their digestion and reproductive system with their main role to enrich the soil. Without these worms the quality of soil can be absolutely poor.

Apparently Santhia has been breeding these worms for quite sometime in his compost box. When I first went to their house for Deepavali dinner, I saw the soil of his strawberry vases is absolutely black and the plants are full with flowers and fruits and from far I could see that they are very happy.Immediately I knew that he has worms inside those pots (he has many of them)!

After quite a hearty Lebanese lunch that afternoon and together with a good cup of cappuccino, I rushed back home with 3 containers of worms in my bag.When I arrived home, straight away I put one of them in the flower bed. The next day, I transfered another one to my compost box and with some high hopes to get more worms, I am breeding the rest of them in a big black vase with some kitchen waste.

Santhia is absolutely a nice person and he really has 'green fingers' and gave me a lot of tips on roses like putting blended banana skin around the roses to encourage more flowers! Surely I will not forget to do that in March and I hope by February, I will have more worms in my garden. Thanks again Santhia and Mag!

The Leaning Pisa Tower

2009-12-09T05:54:00.000-08:00

We had the opportunity of taking the children to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa last weekend. Luckily enough, the weather on Saturday was very pleasant. It had been raining non stop for a few days before that. The journey to Pisa took less than 4 hours since we took the highway to get there. Since we were around Pisa around 2.30pm, we decided to go to Lucca. Lucca is such a pretty walled town. The wall is about 5 meters thick and circling around the town. There is one thing that is really surpising to me in Lucca.... the cost of parking the car is 10 cent per hour! If you want to park for 3 hours and more, it will cost you only 30 cent! It is such unbelievable! The cheapest parking in the town around Rome is 50 cent for half an hour.

We spent a night in Pisa and took the children to see the tower the next day. The tower is really spectacular... coming from the entrance suddenly you see it right infront of you, the white marble tower which has been the landmark of Italy for centuries, leaning to the right..... that is beautiful! That tower has been tilting right after the fifth year it was built in the 13th Century. This is due to the clay soil underneath the tower as the location is also near the river. The tower became famous also because of the gravity test done by Galileo Galilei. There were numerous restoration works to the tower and i think it has turned 'bleached white' because of that!

Kitchen Garden by late November

2009-11-22T09:09:00.000-08:00

curly endives with red endives

My kitchen garden looks fabulous at this time of the year. I can say that all the vegetables are at their optimum health condition. My romaine lettuce, endives, puntarelle....broccoli are simply looking great. The weather is warm too! You could never ask for more for this temperate weather at this time of the year. This is the best autumn weather! The colors of the trees are changing every minute and they are losing faster too. The colors are so intense like red, gold,brown, russet etc... with all earth tones, you have to feel the abundance whenever you see all of them through out the day.The beauty is so 'revealing', you can actually feel joy deep inside you.

OLIVE PICKING

2009-11-18T00:14:00.000-08:00

The time has come to picking olives. It is the time for therapeutic adventure..... having quiet time to yourself, 'melurut dengan tangan' all the olives from the branches could give opportunity to reflect on our lives. The process is very slow and takes time. Therefore, the actual price that we pay for a bottle of olive oil at the supermarket is never the real price because this industry is heavily subsidised by the European union. This is one of the heritage industries for the Mediteranean countries.This tree already existed since ancient time and they are very resistant to weather and never lose leaves in winter.

The weather is absolutely warm to pick olives now. It is really a blessing because a couple of years ago, we had to brave ourselves in almost freezing weather to pick all the olives around our house. Usually olive picking is almost a 'family or national affair'. Almost everywhere, we could see and hear people gathering together to pick olives. The whole family and extended family will spend a few days together for this activity and this could be fun.... picnic under the olive trees with warm tea and a few slices of chocolate cake or having warm lunch too!

The olives will then be taken to the 'frantoio' where they will be pressed. The quality of oil depends on various factors, like weather, location of the tress etc. The quantity of olives this year is much less than the previous year but the quality of oil is superb and we have almost 20 litres of 'olio olive extra vergine'.

Olive oil is like tea, it tastes better not by the process of 'aging'. They are best consumed as soon as possible, like other oils too. If the oil is kept for too long, it will lose its taste. The Italians like to consume new oil on the bruschetta. The taste of olive oil differs from region to region too. The oil that comes from the Southern Regions and certain places from Central Regions are very strong and sometimes can be quite 'kelat' and others can be very mildly strong and delicate.

2009-11-10T06:35:00.000-08:00

The rain does not seem to stop. It is really autumn and the weather is rather variable. I could not do much in my kitchen garden or flower garden. Before the rainy season started last week, i managed to prepare the beds for the spring bulbs. Clearing all the weeds was not an easy task but i managed to work the soil too. By the time I want to plant the new bulbs of tulips and daffodils, the rain came and it looks like I have to wait until the soil becomes dry.

I normally plant all the bulbs gradually so that by the spring time, I will have the succession of colors in 4 weeks. I will try to plant all the bulbs from now until right before Christmas.

My kitchen garden looks very well, eventhough the weeds are growing like feeding them with high dose of minerals and vitamins. One of the weeds that is very useful is nettle. Nettle stings, but it contains a lot of iron and very useful for detoxification. Making frittata (omellete)using nettle is divine and simple. This year, I am allowing a lot of space for the nettles and i will have loads of them for my detoxification process!

2009-10-23T02:17:00.000-07:00

curly endives with some spring oninons

After a few days of cold snap and thermal shock, my kitchen garden is taking back its regular 'winter shape'. Sicilian broccoli, endives and others plants are surving well through the first round of cold. I presume they can cope well with this sudden change of temperature!
I have sowed some peas and planted some garlic too! Since rotation of crops is very important in organic planting, my peas and garlic are in the new beds and I hope they are going to do well together with romaine lettuce and poppies!

Thermal shock

2009-10-14T03:09:00.000-07:00

The temperature has gone down drastically, leaving us gasping for more air. Thermal shock!The difference between this morning and the day before is more than 10 degrees! The temperature has gone down to 4 degrees at around 7.30 am in the morning with some thick ice on my windscreen (it is quite unlikely to have ice in the middle of October) It was so warm a few days ago and suddenly with 30 minutes storm, it has changed the weather completely. My body can't cope with this sudden change of temperature and so does my brain.

I couldn't resist to see what happened to my kitchen garden as I just planted light green broccoli and salads a few days agos..... I think the plants are coping very well with this sudden cold and my kitchen garden is saved at the moment.

Magic Nuts!

2009-10-11T10:41:00.000-07:00

soapberry

Take a closer look at these nuts! They look like 'dried mata kucing' that we can buy at the local shop but I call these 'magic nuts!' because it works like magic! These are sapindus mukarossi. It is a type of nut that contains active natural soap ingredient and biodegradable too.

I have found these nuts at a local bioshop and did not think twice to get them.They are also called 'soapberry'. These nuts are natural laundry soap and by using only 5 or 7 nuts (put them in a small bag which is given together) and put that small bag together with your laundry. Of course the end result of your washing won't smell like lavander or wild rose but they are absolutely smell fresh! The best thing about this soapberry is that you can reuse them for 2 or 3 times! You can get approximately 50 washings just from 250 grams of these nuts. If you like your laundry to have sweet smell, just put a few drops of essential oil together with these magic nuts!

Autumn/Spring Kitchen Garden

2009-10-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

The day is still warm and in fact it is warmer than usual. It is early October and the sun is still scorching hot in the middle of the day and the temperature can go up to 28 degrees Celcius.

I planted more or less the same vegetables like last year but without beets. However, I planted more red cabbages, Italian parsley, Sicilian broccoli, romaine lettuce and 'puntarelle'. Puntarelle is a family of chicory and is best eaten raw with garlic and anchovies. It is an early spring salad and you have to cut them in small strips and put in a bowl of cold water. Then, these small strips will curl up and become very crunchy. I love to clean and cut them into small strips. Eventhough certain people might think that cutting and cleaning puntarelle is more suitable for old ladies with some spare time to spend, I think it is so 'therapeutic' and even relaxing. I love to see them curling up in the water.

The organization of my kitchen garden this year is more 'linear' with some flower bulbs in between the vegetable rows like tulips and daffodils. Last year the daffodils were extremely spectacular and I am planning to extend the space for them this time. My kitchen garden will blend with many spring flowers and usually it will have an explosion of colours in early April to late May.

This year, I am planning to sow various types of poppies too, (I am a BIG fan of poppies!) like Iceland poppy( I am not that lucky with this poppy) , American poppy and opium poppy and I will put them together with the peas!

I love to do the winter/spring kitchen garden each year as it so rewarding. Working with the nature and observe how it works wonders and only through preserverance and patience, we can see the abundance. However strong my wishes are, there are still a lot of work to do here. Weeding really makes me feel so helpless. It is such unending task. But, as for now I have a few dahlias to admire!

Pretty Peppers

2009-09-25T06:15:00.000-07:00

Peppers. There are so many shapes and colours. Most of them are mildly hot, 'piccante' (hot), extremely 'piccante' or even sweet. Talking about sweet peppers, there is one particular red pepper which is also beautiful! Beautiful in the sense that the shape is like a miniature pumpkin and it is also shining red in colour! I have found these peppers at the vegetable stall last week and i thought that they were piccante. This is because there is another type of pepper which is similar to this one but smaller in size. They are absolutely so hot, you cannot even feel your tongue when you eat them.
I took these pretty peppers home and just put them together with other fruits. It took some days for me to decide what i was going to do with them. My son thought that those peppers were some exotic fruits!

Then, i decided to bake them stuffed simply with tuna flakes (from the tin), parsley, garlic and tomatoes. We had them for lunch and dinner and found out that those peppers were not only pretty but very sweet too. Together with the tomatoes, they make a perfect combinations!

Eid ul Fitri

2009-09-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

Wish all of our friends the best of Eid ul Fitri al Mubarak. We hope that this year's celebration of Eid is more meaningful with families and friends. We also should not forget the other Muslims who are not able to celebrate Eid in the safe environment like in the Occupied Area of Gaza.

On the morning of Eid, i went to the mosque for the 9.30am prayer and witnessed the most colorful and diversified the Muslim population in Rome. Outside the mosque, there were so many stalls mainly from the Middle East selling so many delicacies like kebab, sweets and gourmet specialties.

At about 1 pm, we invited our Malaysian friends who reside in the Eternal City for lunch at our house. I cooked laksa johor, lontong (with sambal sotong), kuah sate' and rendang. I even cooked my 'nasi impit' myself. I know that my cookings could not compare with my mother's back home but i think she is proud to know that i cooked everything from scratch. I know that this year my mother prepared 'sup kaki lembu', which is one of her specialties for hariraya. Apparently this year she only bought 4 kaki lembu because she couldn't get hold of 8 like last year!

My mother's sup kaki lembu is so unlike the other soups that she usually prepares. The preparation is absolutely meticulous and tedious. However, the end result is S.U.P.E.R.B!

Autumn Fruits

2009-09-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

I am blessed to able to live in Italy; a land of abundance. We still have a lot of fruits in our garden like figs, plums, apples and grapes during this time of the year. In fact I can say that we have a lot of fruits throughout the year except in March and April.

The figs ( buah tin) are simply delicious.We have at least 4 types of figs in the garden and each year they give us loads of fresh fruits. These figs are very soft and that is why they can't be exported and they also have short shelf life. Figs can simply be eaten right after you pick them or if you like, it can be eaten with Italian country bread. I am not a fan of bread, so just simply pop in my mouth is the best way to do. Or, if you love cheese, figs can be eaten with 'ricotta' (goat cheese) with some honey drizzled on top.

We have different kinds of grapes too. I am not so keen on grapes because i am so used to eat 'seedless' Californian grapes (much to my husband's disappointment). However, the grapes that we have in the garden will keep well right until December each year. It is nice to eat fresh grapes from the garden during that time of the year when there is nothing we can eat from the garden. I have never seen the seedless grapes so far, but i can find the grapes which are called 'pizzutello', which almost do not have any seeds.

Plums! Lovely. We have so many varieties of plums in the garden and we have different plum each month from June to September each year! The Italians give many strange names to their plums like 'coscia di monaca' (nun's thigh), giocce d'oro (the gold drop) and many others.

However, we are not lucky with peaches. Peach tree needs a lot of chemical treatment and since we do not give any unorganic substance to our trees, i am just happy with some small fruits that we have.

The day is getting shorter and the temperature is getting cooler especially during the day. Autumn is obviously the best time for me!

Ssssss..nnnaaakkkeee.....

2009-09-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

Dear friends... nampak apa tu kat gambar sebelah sana? This is a real picture and nothing was added or omitted to the image. It is a real 4 m ular sawa!

We have found this 'ular sawa' on the last evening before my children left for Italy. We went out for dinner at the Putrajaya Seafood Restaurant and on the way to that restaurant, while we we walking on the deck of the corriodor suddenly Dina said to me, so calmly ..'mummy, it is snake...' just simply pointed to that creature which at that time was only like half a meter. I am a 'geli' type of person and quickly called the restaurant workers. One of the workers asked me about the length of the snake and i simply said that it is not that big and probably only a meter long. So, they went to take a small fishing net (which actually looks like a butterfly net to me). We went straight to the restaurant and started to order our dinner.

After about more than half an hour the waiter asked me whether i wanted to see the snake that we have found (to tell you frankly, i have forgotten about the snake... this is obviously the syndromme of short term memory). I said nicely to him that i am quite afraid of any reptile bigger than a house lizard. But he insisted that i take a look because it was their biggest catch!

Suddenly my legs became so 'lembik' looking at that 4 m ular sawa! Nak pengsan! My children were so happy to witness the longest and biggest snake right infront of their eyes. It took more than 3 workers to remove it from the plants at the corridor and take a look at the picture.... the snake has not been eating for at least 2 weeks. Dina was so proud telling her relatives in Italy that she was the one who 'found' the 4m snake. Snake to the westerners is such an exotic animal and to find it right infront of you can really make a 'hit story'. It is an experience that she will never forget.

Back to real LIFE

2009-09-09T05:41:00.000-07:00

I am safely back in Italy after almost 3 months 'raya keling'. As the term implies... it takes quite sometime to be back to normal schedules. However, i have one song especially for me, i do not remember who is the singer, but it is something like this '.... back to life,back to reality...' It is really the right song to describe my situation right now.

However, there is nothing to complain. We had a good time with families and friends. As this time i also celebrated my 40th birthday, so this summer vacation is really special. On that auspicious day, i went to visit the Wetland Park in Putrajaya. It is not really a big place but going around on the mountain bike until noon was really fun. Then, later we went to Kuala Kuantan to see the fireflies. It is so amazing, looking at thousands and thousands of 'kelip-kelip' !Beautiful! It is more beautiful if we could go later at night when it is really dark. We had to take a small 'sampan' and go through the dark with just the sounds of the water flowing is very exciting, especially for the children. As for me, it is exactly like cerita-cerita zaman dulu (in black and white)... where Normadiah and Aziz Satar happily singing.....It was really a birthday treat for me besides my 4 cupcakes and 4 balloons! I strongly insisted to Vittorio that i wanted to have 40 balloons but ..... 4 balloons were more than enough!

Basil

2009-06-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

Basil, i can't have enough of them. Toss them in the salads.... it's divine. Mix with tomatoes and good olive oil and eat them with bruschetta... meraviglioso. I plant them in the pots and put in the garden that receives only afternoon sun.. They need sun but not too much. Too much sun, the leaves will turn yellow and hard.

There are so many kinds of basil; Greek basil, Thai basil, purple basil to name a few.I love them all. They are so easy to grow. I have Thai basil in the greenhouse. Put them for the calamari salad with some fresh cillies and lemon juice. Fantastico!

A couple of weeks ago, i made Thai green curry fish. Never tasted so good. The combination with the lemongrass, galanggal and fresh cillies gave it more distinctive flavor. Basil is also said to deter the mosquito bites. Rub them on your body, you will smell good. Good option rather than an insect repellent!

Redcurrants!

2009-06-16T09:43:00.000-07:00

Redcurrants were only associated with me with a drink called 'Ribena'.This is actually a redcurrant flavoured drink that is still widely sold in Malaysia. I can still remember the Ribena advertisement of 2 cute berries with the famous Bollywood song! When i have loads of this berry in my garden this year, i can't even imagine making a drink from them as the fruits have a lot of seeds. Once i read in a gardening magazine that in a small village in south of France, they even make seedless redcurrant jams by removing the seeds with feathers!

The fruits are so tiny, i can't even hold them with my two fingers, let alone using the feathers to remove the seeds! It has been for years that i have been ignoring their existence in my garden, i have even let all the weeds growing around the bushes. I think the temptation was so strong last weekend when i saw the berries were sooo...oooo red and shiny and i couldn't resist myself and pop some of them in my mouth! The taste was so sweet and tangy. I braved myself through the Italian heat to turn them to redcurrant jam with seeds of course!

The redcurrant jam has the gelatine like texture and taste of homemade jams is never the same with the off shelf ones and i will never overlook my tiny berries again!

2009-04-22T01:35:00.000-07:00

Doing the kitchen garden has never been a 'fashion' to me. It is done out of necessity because i really want to make sure what we really eat and where do they come from. Or at least the vegetables do not have to travel hundreds of kilometers before reaching our plates. Or at least i really want to feel the real taste of tomatoes, salads and fennels!