Cookies or Scones?

These are actually scones but for practical reasons I mixed the ingredients in a large bowl and form the dough with hands. That's why the end products looked like cookies. The original recipe calls for apples & raisins but at one occasion I used strawberries and raisins. This has become a new favorite of my family!

Apple Scones
Ingredients:
380 gr flour
1 tsp baking powder
110 gr butter, at room temperature
80 gr icing sugar
1 egg
100 ml sweetened condensed milk
2 apples, diced
75 gr raisins
1 egg yolk, beaten

Method

1. Sift together flour and baking powder onto a clean surface. Push flour outwards o form a 25 cm round wall.
2. Place butter in the center. Add icing sugar and mix well with fingers. Add egg and mix well.
3. Add milk slowly and mix well with the butter mixture and flour to form dough. Add diced apples and raisins and mix well.
4. Roll out dough to 2 cm thickness. Stamp out rounds with a 5 cm cookie cutter. Arrange on a greased baking tray spaced well apart. Brush with beaten egg yolk.
5. Bake in an oven preheated to 200°C/400°F for 15 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

It's perfect for a tea party or just to accompany your quality time at afternoon tea .

Yoghurt Fruit Cake

After a morning visit to the garden, how about making some cakes for tea? Here is the new recipe I tried a couple of weeks ago, taken from Ruby Bakes. This recipe calls for yoghurt, almond oil, blueberries and lemon  rinds. As usual, I can still do without the ingredients I don't have in hand, and this time it's the almond oil wich I substituted with vegetable oil and as for the fruit I used canned peaches and fresh strawberries.

This is one of the most delicious cakes I have made. I really like the texture that's loose and tender. I believe the taste and fragrance will be more interesting with some almon oil. Highly recommended! 

Watermelon? In pots?? Why Not?

Who won't love a succulent fruit like Watermelon, especially under the scorching heat of the Sun?!

Watermelon, Citrulus lanatus var.lanatus from family of Cucurbitaceae, is a vine like flowering plant originated from southern Africa. It has been cultivated in Egypt a couple of thousand years BC, and by around 10th century AD had reached India and China and later spread into Southern Europe and the world. 

 A watermelon contains about 6% sugar and 91% water by weight. It is a good source of vitamin C and high in vitamin A and pottassium while being low in fat, cholesterol and sodium.

Watermelon, raw

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy	127 kJ (30 kcal)
Carbohydrates	7.55 g
Sugars	6.2 g
Dietary fiber	0.4 g
Fat	0.15 g
Protein	0.61 g
Vitamins
Vitamin A equiv. beta-carotene	(4%) 28 μg (3%) 303 μg
Thiamine (B1)	(3%) 0.033 mg
Riboflavin (B2)	(2%) 0.021 mg
Niacin (B3)	(1%) 0.178 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5)	(4%) 0.221 mg
Vitamin B6	(3%) 0.045 mg
Choline	(1%) 4.1 mg
Vitamin C	(10%) 8.1 mg
Trace metals
Calcium	(1%) 7 mg
Iron	(2%) 0.24 mg
Magnesium	(3%) 10 mg
Manganese	(2%) 0.038 mg
Phosphorus	(2%) 11 mg
Potassium	(2%) 112 mg
Sodium	(0%) 1 mg
Zinc	(1%) 0.1 mg
Other constituents
Water	91.45 g
Lycopene	4532 µg
Units μg = micrograms • mg = milligrams IU = International units
Percentages are roughly approximated usingUS recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient Database

When I start gardening, my focus has been edible plants, i.e.: Vegetables and Fruit. Besides an experimentation and training for green thumb, I have always wanted a kitchen garden, where I can produce something to eat. And as an effort I have planted some fruit trees like mangoes, longan, citrus trees that I germinated from seeds, such as lemons, kumquats, limes and then watermelon which seeds I bought from SeedsNow.com.

But then, the question is would it be adequate to plant the fruit trees in pots? Well, it is. As long as you use the right size of pots and give enough  nutrition for the plant to flower and fruit. Because I'm doing organic gardening, I only depend on compost and manure. Sometimes I apply my homemade liquid fertilizer and organic fertilizer that I buy. 

My first experiment is Sugar Baby Watermelon, and I started germination in Spring. Since the pot I used was 5 galon pot. I guess it's not enough power to sustain 3 plants that I planted in one pot. And out of 3 fruits I got, one was accidentally cut off from the vine, another one got a bottom-end-rot and the last one was the biggest one (see the picture above), where it fits in my palm.

As for the taste, it's sweet enough to conclude that it's ripe. My only and biggest pest problem is with the Aphids and powdery mildew as the weather was very hot and humid from last December up to the hot season.

I plan to plant in a bigger pots next time.

For more information on Watermelon and how to cultivate it click here. 

Do you know that it is easy peasy to save Water Spinach Seeds?

Water Spinach, which scientific name is Ipomoea Aquatica, is a semiaguatic, tropical plant grown as a vegetable. It is ubiquitous throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, especially in Asia. People call it phak bung in Thai, rau muống in Vietnamese, kangkong in Tagalog, trokuon in Khmer, kolmou xak in Assam, kolmi shak in Bengali, kang kung in Indonesia, Malay and Sinhalese, hayoyou in Ghana, and colloquially as "the poverty vegetable".

Ipomoea Aquatica is a species of morning glory which grows in water or in a moist soil. In Indonesia it usually grows in ponds, ditches, or dikes. But it can also grow in dry land or pots as long as you supply it with adequate water.

Water spinach, raw

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy	79 kJ (19 kcal)
Carbohydrates	3.14 g
Dietary fiber	2.1 g
Fat	0.2 g
Protein	2.6 g
Vitamins
Vitamin A equiv.	(39%) 315 μg
Thiamine (B1)	(3%) 0.03 mg
Riboflavin (B2)	(8%) 0.1 mg
Niacin (B3)	(6%) 0.9 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5)	(3%) 0.141 mg
Vitamin B6	(7%) 0.096 mg
Folate (B9)	(14%) 57 μg
Vitamin C	(66%) 55 mg
Trace metals
Calcium	(8%) 77 mg
Iron	(13%) 1.67 mg
Magnesium	(20%) 71 mg
Manganese	(8%) 0.16 mg
Phosphorus	(6%) 39 mg
Potassium	(7%) 312 mg
Sodium	(8%) 113 mg
Zinc	(2%) 0.18 mg

In Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, Water Spinach is usually made into a delicious dish called "Kang Kong Blachan" or Stir fried Kang Kong with Shrimp Paste. Water Spinach is sometimes used in Thai's Famous Dish 'Tom Yum". It's also one of the greens used in Javanese-Style Vegetable with Peanut Sauce called "Pecal". Though Kang Kung is common in Indonesian diet, some people avoid it as it is believed to aggravate rheumatism and gout.

I have been planting Kang Kung in handmade self-watering-containers by utilizing used mineral water bottles. And after 4-5 times harvests, I let it to set flowers and seeds. Af first, I tried to help with hand pollination with a brush, but to my surprise it made the flower crown to dislodge! So I finally let the nature to do its part and voila! They are seeding! So next time, just let it be, as it's self-fertile!

Garden Update 2014

It's been about 5-6 months since I last blogged. I have many excuses but to sum it up, I am an avid gardener but a lazy blogger... Well for some compensation, here are some pictures from my rooftop garden which looked more like a real garden now. Hope you enjoy them!

Pests

Gardening on the third floor of 2 storey house means that your garden may have lesser pests attack. Nevertheless, some persistence attacks of aphids may be inevitable. Still, I thank the Creator for all the beauty of His creations, including pests!