How to have worry-free hols if you have plants

This post is long overdue. Friends have asked how I keep my plants alive when I go on holiday. My holidays usually last between 11 –14 days. It is a long time for the plants to go without water and constant care if you have not arranged for 'babysitting' from friends/neighbours.

Some will deposit their plants with like-minded gardener friends or get neighbours to water them if they are accessible along the corridor or pass them the house keys. Or the brave will cross their fingers and hope that God will water the plants when they are away. Yep, hoping that rain water will splatter onto their beloved plants when it rains. Never, ever resort to such behavior if you have a sheltered balcony, they will die and you are evil. I decided against getting friends/relatives to come by to water them as it is too much a hassle.

This is what I do:

The balcony in its wired-up mess
the night before I left for hols.

The Power of the Korean Wave

Was in Tokyo over Christmas. On a nice Sunday morning, we decided to head for the quiet of Yoyogi Park before we hit the shops near Omodesando dori. An hour of peace and quiet in a big open green surrounding is good for facing the massive crowds at the malls. Yoyogi Park is usually crowded with people having a picnic or having their own street performance.

We didn't see this

Or people lazing on the grass

Instead we were faced with massive crowds when we exited from the JR Harajuku station. This station is usually very crowded on any given day because of the proximity of Harajuku and omodesando dori's shops but on that day, it was unusually crowded.

A crowd that consist mostly of young women which I pointed out to R. All heading towards the entrance of Yoyogi Park or so we thought. But with all the din we were hearing and announcements over speakers in the distance, we were clearly mistaken. Then we spotted this across the street at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

Queues. Hordes of people.

People, and more people crossing the 3-directional bridge.

Seriously, the bridge was vibrating under the weight
of all the people marching towards their destination.
I did wonder about the loading limit of the bridge

 

Young girls, women in their 20s -30s,
you can feel their excitement.

They are gone?

Had been a few days since I came back from the year-end holiday. I just realised the ants are gone. Gone. Public enemy no.1 in my balcony garden and home is gone! Had not been bitten or seen an ant for the past few days in my balcony.

Did the neem oil really work or was it the tea tree oil, or the baygon? Or was it because I sent my two pots of rosemary and basil to my mum's place while I was away? The herbs were the ants' favourite haunt...

Will look harder tomorrow morning when it is brighter. Maybe they are hiding? As what my 5 year-old nephew says when you can't find certain things, yes, maybe they are hiding, waiting to spring their latest attack on my unsuspecting toes.

The revenge of the red buggers

Look! Some of the stubborn ants who refused to give up.
Voldermot and Dumbledore are interesting to these ants. Hate them!

Ants, the bane of my life at the moment. I usually read before I sleep. A week ago, I wanted to read Harry Potter and Deadly Hallows (just watched the movie). Something entertaining and brainless before bed for sweet dreams. Dump the book on the bed, took my shower.

Climbed onto the bed and flipped opened the book. Tiny red ants rained onto my hands and body!!!!!! Ok, they didn't rain but a lot of them fell out of the book onto me. How fast can a person leap out from the bed? Very, very fast.

The resourceful little ants were building a new nest in my sis's Harry Potter! OMG! I picked the book from the bed and ran at top speed to the balcony and started knocking the book frantically attempting to shake out the colony and brushing the red ants off me. Gross, tiny red ants and eggs. Arrrgghhhhhhhhh!!!! Adrenaline rushing. Snuffed out every single ant including the queen ant. I assumed she is the queen since she was the biggest.........not a peaceful night.

The battle has begun

The horrid little red ants are on the move again.

My long standing battle with those spiteful ants have begun again. This time, my weapon of choice is tea tree oil. Aha, they are running, running, scrambling, scrambling, running for their life. I can feel their panic. Wahahhahahahahah! Die! Die! Die!

My home and balcony garden is home to an unwelcome colony of spiteful red ants. I have tried baygon, ant bait, pepper, plant pesticides (both systemic and contact), neem oil and now the miraculous tea tree oil. Boy, do they dislike the oil, bet it hurts. Ouch. I don't think I can live with ants that keep biting me all the time. Their bites packed a punch.

The ants are avoiding all the spots with the oil smears. I have dotted the known ant nests and ant trails with the oil. I have also drenched the soil with diluted tea tree oil and water and rimmed the flowering pots with the oil. The ants are running, they have lost their organisation.

Insert really really evil laughter...

What to do when it is public holiday and you are at a supermarket?

Day 1
We ended up in the supermarket after the rain dashed our afternoon at the botanic gardens. Since it was so cold and gloomy,  we had sukiyaki hotpot at home. I love hotpots on cool nights. The sukiyaki sauce was from a bottle. Added more water even though the instruction said otherwise. It was extremely salty without added water. Vegetables? Tung-o, golden mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, pumpkin, beansprouts, leeks and bamboo shoots. Meat? Pork and scallops. R insisted on buying the scallops. A hearty meal.

We had sukiyaki at home in front of the TV.

The food

Gorgeous vegetables. More in the fridge.

Day 2
Leftover steamboat for dinner. Stewed the rest of the bamboo shoots, added white radish, leeks, pumpkin and carrots.

 

The leftovers steamboat and more side dishes.

My fav stir-fried bean sprouts. This is with tomatoes, king
oyster mushrooms and bamboo shoots.

Closed up of the stew.

The doesn't look great seaweed, carrot and soya bean dish.
Seaweed is very good for detoxifying the body
and a good source of iodine.

To eat or not to eat?

Steamed I think it's coral grouper
cantonese style. Very yummy.

An omnivore's dilemma. To eat meat or not to eat. I ate. R doesn't have any problems eating meat. I do. I prefer to eat vegetables but eat meat once or twice a week. I find eating meat more of a social habit than a dietery necessity. If it is served, I will eat it. It is about being grateful for the food especially if an animal has unwillingly died to be on my dining plate. Being wasteful is really a big no-no for me. I usually do not go all the way out to eat meat unless it's my once a month Ayam Penyet at the hawker centre. It's that beautiful combination of moist fried chicken and that sinful sambal. Shilin fried chicken and Arnold's fried chicken too! My, my blood thirsty cravings.

Why do I choose to eat less meat? Firstly, it's healthier diet. Nuff said. And of course, less guilt. Do I feel weaker from eating less of meat? No, in fact, I believe I am stronger with this diet preference. Whole vegetables, nuts, fruits and once-a-week meat works for me, I am more alert and have less allergies.

What about fish? I don't about you, have you dived before? Fish like groupers do not come in big schools. They come in two or threes, or are loners. First, you have to understand how fishes are caught. Either they are trawled from the seabed or are caught from a long drift net. Of course, you will not get only edible fish per catch. You get a lot of bycatch. I mean a lot, a lot of inedible bycatch. If I didn't remember wrongly, it's almost 70% of the total catch as written in a National Geographic magazine a few years back. Consumers will never see the wasted bycatch as they are thrown away by the fisherman. You must see the pictures to believe the amount that is wasted. Then, I didn't give a thought about what I was eating, never questioned what was served, it was just food to me. We humans are very good at emptying our once bountiful oceans...

This fish was given by in-laws. Looks like a coral grouper to me. It was very delicious and fresh. I steamed it with ginger and after the fish was cooked, I drizzled it with hot oil and the soya sauce/ mushroom sauce/sugar gravy. Super yummy.

Steamed fish, fish soup, chicken rice, fried chicken, satay, why do you make it so hard to eat less of you? I am so thankful I like vegetables. Can't imagine if I don't, mealtimes would have been a chore.