I've always been fascinated and enthralled by Hibiscus blooms and the roselle flowers growing in my garden have finally sprouted.
Roselle or its scientific name Hibiscus sabdariffa are common wild-grown flowers now widely distributed and cultivated in tropical regions round the globe. Sepals of roselle are used in making juices, squashes, jellies, wines and pies. The juice contains vitamin C and minerals and many parts of the plant are also claimed to have various medicinal properties. More specifically, they are commonly used as a treatment for cardiac, nerve diseases and cancer.
With its numerous health benefits, this is definitely a home comfort that brings me back into my early years. The beverage is similar to Ribena juice, but not as sour though. It makes a fabulous iced tea that never fails to leave me feeling refreshed and uplifted.
Impatiens flowers take their name from the Latin, impatiens, "impatient." They are being called because their ripe seed pods will sometimes burst when slightly touch. Perhaps they are too impatient to reproduce. :) There are many species of impatiens flowers, often misspelled as "impatience" or "impatients".
There were plentiful of seagulls, swans, geese and other sea birds moving gracefully around the lake.
While taking pictures of the city, a flock of seagulls flew towards us and stood still as though to welcome us. When they realised no chips were coming their way they fluttered their wings and flapped wildly by the strong gusts of wind. It looked fun.
It was incredible to see their beautiful wings spread in such graceful flight around the lake. The lovely seagulls were truly putting on a show for us.
It was a rainy, chilly afternoon and I had this sudden crave for portuguese egg tarts and if you've not tasted this irresistible dessert before, you're missing out on some sweet, mouth-watering, fragrant egg custard.
Personally, I prefer the Portuguese style egg tarts to the normal egg tarts. While the original version at times crumbly and less flaky, the Portuguese egg tart literally tasted much better and I could feel the fragrant custard oozing out on first bite. The sweetness is just perfect for me. Hmmm........incredibly yummy.
The cone-shaped inflorescence produces purple flowers with yellow-pinkish bracts.
After a few months growth, it will sprout small pink fruit atop of the elongated stem.
The mini pineapple could remain on the plant for another couple of months from this stage.
The dragon fly was at the right place at the right time when I took this shot.
They are not edible but they attract butterflies, bees and mainly dragonflies. They are a cute little thing to add to my exotic plants collection.
Every Monday is 'No Plastic Bags Day' in Penang. Over the course to reduce the consumption of plastic bags and encourage the use of eco grocery bags, a 20-sen charge per bag will be imposed on consumers by most major stores. Proceeds will be donated to the state’s Partners Against Poverty (PAP) campaign to help the hardcore poor. With the hysteria surrounding global warming, I think it’s a great move to help protect the planet.
Doing my contribution for the environment, I try to bring my own bags when grocery shopping avoiding plastic bags. But seriously, I think more and more people should practise this initiative more often, if not daily. I keep some reusable bags in the back of my car, but the only problem is that I need to cultivate the habit of remembering to grab them along whenever I go shopping. Imagine if people consistently use reusable bags, eventually there will no longer have tons of plastic bags accumulating at home which are hard to recycle and that people feel sorry about throwing away.
