update -my birthday

just a couple of updates:

i celebrated my birthday last wednesday. thank you everyone for your card, presents, wishes...*hugs and kisses.

i had a small party on the saturday to celebrate my birthday. here's some photos...


on wednesday, we had another cake :)

zygopetalum in bloom

my mom left me this plant in 2003 before she went back to malaysia. we didn't know what the flowers would look like, we only knew it is a zygopetalum. the plant continues to give out baby years after years. I have repotted it once or twice.. last year, a small spike (i am 90% sure it is a spike, not a baby) came out but due to neglect and inexperience, it didn't grow big or flower. in fact, the spike broke. i was disappointed.

this year, somewhere in beginning of autumn, it showed sign of spike again. this time i spent a lot of time observing and watching. before long, not 1 but 4 spikes appeared. I am estactic and anxious.i moved the plant indoor (to jake's displeasure) to ensure that it will bloom and shelter it from the rain/frost. i probably announced to stace about these spikes in May, but the first flower bloomed in 9 July :) I AM SO PLEASED!!!!!!!! 

my not-so-new addition

meet pregnant onions...i got it from michelle, a friend at orchid clubs. it's not edible, and the babies will just grew out as offset.

i googled and find out extra information about the pregnant onion 

howick orchid society- what happens at monthly meetings

i belong to the howick orchid society and have been a member since 2003.
it is through that club that i picked up tips and pointers on how to cultivate orchid. it helps to know how the people around your area grow their orchid.
this year i joined the committee as the money woman aka the treasurer. it's been fun so far.
here's a glimpse on what normally takes place in the meeting.


Top row : members sit and listens to the president/speaker to deliver the topic of the day.
Speaker of the day, Graham Andrews who own a big garden supply shop has come to be speaker of the day. He talks about different products (chemicals, equipments , etc)

Bottom row: prizes for the raffles/ the mobile library with books of all sorts about orchid. i dare say the collection is better than any of the libraries i've been.

there's also tables for popular and novice votes . the plants belong to the club member and there will also be plant commentary on the plants for the popular and novice votes. below is a sampler of members plant:
multitude of colours ..they are so pretty.

this one has really special container made up of punga log (the trunk of big fern plant)

Commercial Grower at Drury -part 3

i don't know why i left out this grower when i blogged about the commercial grower.
this nursery has 3 shade houses-2 orchids and 1 succulents.
this grower, Dave specialises in dendrobium (although you can also find some zygo and cattleyas in the orchid shadehouse).
some of his dendrobiums are huge..i think they are more than 10 years old.
i bought some succulents and home-made clover honey from him.
enjoy the gallery of pics i took of his lovely plants.

believe it or not, both flowers come from the same parent plants/ seedlings but the colours can vary. that's the beauty of hybridisation.

This is a zygopetalum orchid. Notice the intensity of the purple color on the lip from 2 different plants.


this is the gigantic dendrobium orchid. look at its size relative to average dendrobium.

these are some of the complementary plants in the orchid shadehouse. the hanging/cascading ones are spanish moss. they are a type of air plant.

another type of dendrobium orchid.

this is a succulent plant. not sure if it's aeonium or echeveria but i adore its symmetry.

this is my favourite photo. it's also the result of hybridisation. the plant has the same parents as the first two photos you see.

two bromeliad that caught my attention.


two succulents that's filled every inch of the pot. the left one is called the sempervivum aka hen and chicks and the right one is the 'organ pipe' crassula.

my attempt to bake -carrot cake

i finally baked again after a long while ..the last time i baked was in 2003 or earlier.
i am never very good at baking. jake has been asking for carrot cake. so finally i give it another go.the last time i made carrot cake was in 1997 with pinkcocoa at her housemom's house.
this is like walking down memory lane ;)

here's my recipe if anybody's interested.

• 2 cups sugar (i used 1 cup)
• 1½ cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs beaten
• 3 cups self-raising flour
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 cups grated carrot
• 1½ cup chopped pecans& walnuts (i used macademia)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp salt

n.b. I started heating up the oven as I grate the carrot.

1. Grate the carrot.
   
2. Beat eggs and mix sugar, vegetable oil, and the vanilla extract. (i used a combination of hand whisk and the electric whisk)
3. Then add the flour, ground cinnamon, grated carrot, and the chopped nuts into the mixing bowl and give it a good fold. (i am terrible with baking language)
4. Set the mix into a detachable cake tin. (I used 11 inch detachable round cake tin lined with baking paper)
   
5. Next, bake for 1 hour and 10mins at 160 celcius.

p/s: i think the cake is nice especially served with vanilla ice-cream.