Red And Ready...

Many of my bird's eye Chillies have turned red and are so ready for consumption. I can't possible use that many, but I might be able to cook some these days. Sometimes, two or three of these are sufficient for one dish for the whole family. They are really hot!

Still Green....

Our chili plants are having plenty of little white flowers and many of them have produced chilies. Most of them are still green, but they will become red eventually. I love having chilies at home, I normally need 2-4 pieces at a time and that's not daily. Buying from supermarket would normally make me throw them away as they get rotten after certain period of time. We don't eat that many chilies.

Hot And Hotter!

We really have lots of chilies from our chili plants, one by one turning red and getting spicier by day. Some days are really hot and humid here and the appetite for chili is not quite there. Nevertheless, it's a pretty scene to looks at, these chilies.....

Popping Red...

These are from other Chili plants that I have. They are small but truly hot. They are ripe and ready for consumption.

The Hotter Ones...

In many days or weeks that I did not count, the chillies in the garden have ripen. Their color changed to red. Not that long ago, they were still green-yellowish. O how fast these kids grow.... I can't possibly imagine.

They are ready to eat, if you dare. They, however, look good hanging there on the trees, so let's leave them there, at least for a while.

The Hotties...

These little yellow chilies started popping up in our garden, they are expected to turn to red to be the really hot ones eventually...., to be the true hotties. Hhhhhsshhhh....

Red Chilli

This was taken at one of my sisters' green garden. The lovely chili has a slightly rounder shape than the usual ones. I like the fact that the red color looks outstanding in the picture.

Loving Green Chilies

I only have one partner in crime in this house when it comes to this dish, my second daughter. This is mostly sliced green chilies. stir-fried with garlic and onion with some fried tiny salted silver fish and eggs, seasoned with salt, pepper and a little bit of soy sauce. It is ideally served smoking hot with hot steamy rice and we got ourselves a happy hot spicy me! I inherited this recipe from my eldest sister who got it when she studied away from home. My other sisters and some of my nieces love this too. They are unfortunately miles away, so I can't quite share my happiness with them. Only in picture.

Unexpected Quietness

I didn't expect that my Saturday evening was going to be a quiet one. I knew that DH was going to be away, but was not really aware that two out three kids were having sleepover at their friends. They asked me, almost simultaneously, one afternoon when I was multitasking and what I heard was something like "Mom, can I go to blah... blah...blah... this weekend....?" I have a tendency to say yes without really having the exact knowledge of what they talk about and I did back then. Which is fine. I had no objection. If only the one left got herself invited for a sleepover too....... That would be sooooo.... perrrrfect.... calmness around the house!



I made a second batch of the chili dressing for beef balado that I did not make. This time, I served the dressing on fried fish fillet. Just as good.

First, The Dressing...

For a couple weeks, I have been fancying dendeng balado, the Indonesian dried beef with chili dressing. And for various reasons, I have not been able to put them together. After my appointment yesterday, I was in the vicinity of Carrefour and ended up with a bunch of things including the big red chilies that I needed for the dressing. It was my intention to make the dressing first then the dried beef another day when I have more time, and of course the beef.

The chili dressing is so simple to make, it's a mix of red chilies, tomatoes, onion, salt, sugar and a teaspoon of vinegar. Use a blender to chop them, upon which it will be stir-fried with a little bit of oil. The dressing can be used for chicken and fish too.



Talking about chilies, here's mine:

The Dark & The Red

This was shot from the window of my room 7:30 in the morning yesterday. It was really gloomy dark to start a day. It was a good thing that the children had a ride from DH to go to school. Within minutes, the rain started pouring.... and of course, by 9, the sky began to clear and by afternoon, it was a nice sunny day. Like nothing happened before. My day worked the opposite way, unfortunately and I am glad today is a another day.

Meanwhile, let me show more red chilies..... I can count them with my fingers no more....

More Red Ones....

I am seeing more and more red chilies although the the plants seem to be getting old and sadly it looks like they are moving towards resting in peace forever. I don't know that for sure, I am trying to find out left and right about these things. My head right now is full of things to sort out in some faraway countries where troubles are taking place. Issues and more issues....... But I am glad that the plants that I am looking after really produce. Something to be thankful of.......

Seeing Red

After waiting for many weeks, I saw a red chili for the first time this morning. Finally, my plants are showing what they are capable of..... producing red chili, indeed.

Still Growing

Three and a half months after I planted the chili seeds in May, I am in awe that I manage to keep them alive. I, the well-known plant killer, am able to grow chili and soon will harvest them! I have to give partial credit to the person that watered my plants during my one-month trip, whoever that was, because to this date, I never find out for sure. I thought it was my sister in law, but apparently she left the country after being in charge for a few days. Then, a rumor said it was her daughter, i.e. DH's niece, which turned out to be false too. She insisted on sending the plants over but to my shock, she brought the wrong pot and of course the wrong plant. Smaller pot and skinny small plants. Some things are better left unspoken...............



The person that watered the plant turned out to be a neighbor, I still do not know which one. I found out too late as a gift has been given to DH's 22-year old niece, thinking that she was "the one". <> DH returned the wrong plants and picked up the correct one. (Smart guy, I'll keep him!)

Some flowers were showing up last week.



This morning, when I looked closely, I spotted more flowers and some chilies as well, they are still green and young, but they are there..... I am a happy girl or a proud momma(?) today!!! I can't wait to see them in red!

Alive & Well

I am pleased to report that my chili plants are growing really well, now it is day 39. Following the advice from my sis to move the plants to a bigger pot, I was worried for a bit that I might have killed them all, but I guess I didn't. Soon, I should be thanking my sister-in-law for looking after them. A loaf of freshly baked bread or cake will do a good job for thanking her in advance. I will be thinking of what to bake soon.

So here they are, still looking good. Thanks to my sis for the advice, the one who likes to look at the pictures in this blog but refuses to read the posts, she probably doesn't read this bit as well.....



Four days to go before the big day of leaving for the long holiday. I have not started packing, but have listed out the extremely important things to bring. I am back to the "excited" mode. I am thrilled to use the new camera too, the kids and I are so fond of it that we kept on clicking everything...... Between now and Friday night, we still have dentist appointment, facial treatment, shopping for gift and lunch with mother-in-law. And maybe a couple of forgotten ones?? I will know that when I remember, of course.

Waiting for the helper to clean the house tomorrow and the packing shall begiiiinnnnnn......

Continue Growing

My baby is growing.

Today:


10 days ago:

Planting Chilies

I love hot stuff, I am crazy about spicy food and I almost always have these chili peppers inside my fridge. After chatting (YM-ing) with one of my sisters, I found out that three of them have planted chili seed and grew the plants in their yard. We live in an apartment now here, partly because I do not want to have a garden that I have to look after, considering how often I have to leave home in a year, which averages to about 8-10 weeks.

Anyway, they got me started. I have got some pots for the plants, of course, having some plants before) and got some soil and started the whole process. I am excited with the progress, but not looking forward to seeing what happen when I'm on my holiday in less than a month. We'll figure out some way, I am a little embarrassed to ask someone to look after my one pot.

Day 1: merely seeds.


Day 5: started to grow.


Day 9: more, right?


Day 14: getting more exciting!


Day 18: Looking good, aren't they???