Tuesday, December 23, 2008

A Fruitful Tuesday

Last night it rained heavily but when I woke this morning the weather was fine. It struck me that today I have to pay a visit to Bintulu town to check my mail and pay the 3G Phone bill so that I can carry on interneting without interruption  when the long end of year holiday starts with the X'mas day off this coming Friday, Malaysian time.
To start the day I climbed this jackfruit tree ( artocarpus interger) in my farm and collected 30 nos to give away to my brothers and sisters and relatives in town.  This year most of the fruits are attacked by insects that bore through the thick skin and rot the fruits. Therefore in order not to lose the  fruits to insects,  I decided to pluck them early i.e. when they are still unripe to be used as vegetables instead.  Below is how we cook the young jackfruit as vegetable. 
Guide to preparation: Remove the skin, cut the young fruit into 2 cm cubes and boil it with pounded chillies, onions, garlic, shrimp paste ( belacan), lemon grass in coconut milk. Boil for about 15- 20 minutes.
The creamy taste is very yummy, yummy,yummy!
Next to the jackfruit tree I found these two varieties of mushrooms, one white which is edible and the other orange which is a bit poisonous. They sprout easily these days due to the rainy season.
Later while in town, I dropped by a Melanau kampung house by the river to get the above shot. The speed boat is powered by a twin 200 horsepower outboard engines. Normally these boats are rented by fishing enthusiasts or tourists for deep -sea fishing  or sightseeing the Bintulu coastline or river.
The feather-leaved palm tree at the center of the picture is the familiar coconut tree.
These boats are also rented by timber merchants or traders who need to inspect their logs when loading onto timber ships that  anchor about 10-15 km offshore before they are bound to foreign destinations.
Lastly after having collected my mail and paid the telephone bill, I bought other provisions at this Parkcity Shopping Mall. I found this X'mas tree to be the biggest and the highest this time around.
This year I noticed too that the shopping crowd is thin as most people are tightening their belts in view of the gloomy days ahead when  we will face tougher times due to the severe recession which is now a confirmed reality in US and many other developed economies.
I guess we just have to be moderate, I mean very moderate in our spending now.
Want to barter jackfuits with me anyone? 

2 comments:

Zuzana said...

I always enjoy your posts; they are so exotic to me! I have never seen such a fruit, how interesting. Neither seen these mushrooms.;))
If I do not get the chance later on I would like to wish you a wonderful Christmas (I do not know if you celebrate it though) and thank you for always leaving very kind and thoughtful comments over at my place.;))

Chahya said...

Salam to you Pak Mood,
Punyalah lama I tak menjenguk ke sini.
By the look and words I gather from your numerous blogs (Ya Allah, banyaknya. Time must be on your side!), I could say that you are in the pink of health. Alhamdulillah.