Loves

I think, cooking and gardening rank high on my list of varied interests.

Although I am not a fantastic cook and still can't cook many complicated dishes like curries, I thoroughly enjoy the process of combining a few raw ingredients and churning out something my tastebuds would cheer hurrah for. Coupled with the fact that I enjoy eating alot, cooking really does bring me good cheer. :) Oh but I hate the cleaning up part.

Gardening. Well, not a very accurate term to use since I don't actually have a garden to potter around in. But you get what I mean. I tried to keep the occasional pot of cactus last time when I was younger but somehow either always killed them or just simply lost interest in them (probably because I didn't have the patience to care for them).

But I don't know what possessed me to build a terrarium in June/July last year. I started getting more and more plants and soon a small corner of my balcony was filled with pots of plants. I don't have very green fingers though and a number of plants have perished under my care. Either that or sometimes I go on long haul business trips for more than a week and somehow my mother manages to murder some of them while I am away. Hmm.

I currently have 1 pot of African violets, 4 pots of both red-veined & green-veined fittonias, 1 pot of mint, 1 pot of sweet basil, 1 mini ficus bonsai and 1 unidentified plant which I grew from a small cutting my sis-in-law gave me. I probably would have had at least 5 or 6 more pots but those plants have long since perished. :( Thankfully the ones I have now are doing relatively alright except I don't know why the violet doesn't flower (which is very odd since violets typically flower easily and bloom throughout the whole year!!). And the latest addition to the family, the basil pant, seems to be a little wilted today.

Tending to the plants is somewhat therapeutic. From mixing the potting soil and spagnum moss, to clearing up dead or dying leaves, to plant propagation, to building terrariums, to simple watering, it is really just about spending some quiet time with yourself, bonding with yourself (and the plant too lol) and of course wanting the plant to do well.

I sometimes find unconsciously myself talking to a plant. I don't know how it happens but it does. I suddenly find myself saying things like "Oh, you've got a new shoot!" or "Aiyo, what happened to you? Why like that?". Yea, Yea, I know....quite duhhh..... -_-''

But I'm really happy if I see new shoots or new leaves sprouting out. Because it's a sign I am doing something right. :) I just spent 40minutes transplanting one of the plants to a bigger pot and checking that the other plants are doing fine. My "therapy" for the night. ;p

Next aim = getting the mint and basil plants to row robustly and then start a herb garden thereafter! Other herb plants I think I would want to get are rosemary, thyme and lemon grass.

I want to get some hybrid seeds and start growing plants from scratch. I think that would be more fulfilling. :) Hmm, need to go Ban Lee Huat and check their seed stock.

I think these interests of mine will be here for a long while. :)