Plant Citrus

An Asian kitchen garden cannot do without the few Citrus plants that will supply the kitchen with the daily herbs required for cooking some favourite dishes. Of course we can always depend on the wet market or the nearby supermarket and mini market but sometimes they do not carry your needs.

It is convenient being able to just pop into the garden for my limau nipis or lime (C. aurantiifolia) for my budu  (fish sauce) or limau kasturi, (C.microcarpa) for asam laksa  or limau purut (C. hystrix) leaves for the Thai dishes such as tom yam. So plant some citrus in your kitchen garden. They

Scented Flowers

The Malay tradition of bringing the gifts or hantaran to a bride and the reciprocating by the bride to the groom has become rather sophisticated, with very creative decorations surrounding the gifts. It has indeed developed from the old ways of just wrapping in transparent colourful paper to today’s crystal flowers adorning the gift box. It was a surprise to see a decoration using fresh scented flowers for a change recently and with the designer, Puan Amnah’s permission we would like to share the creation, using the buds of melor or Jasminum sambac.