2009 Tropicals Update

After reading this post you can call me crazy for having so many tropical fruit trees. And I just ordered two more trees. It is on it's way here. :) What an expensive hobby here. All my trees are in pots since I can't leave them outside in the winter. Hope you enjoy looking at these. Please comment if you know how to get these to fruit! :)

This is my sweetheart lychee. It is now over 4ft tall. Got it last year and more new leaves this year. Can't wait until it have fruits!

This is the star apple. It is the purple variety. I have it for 3 years now. No fruit yet but growing bigger.

This is Hasya sapodilla. I got this on June 08. There are couple flowers on the tree now. Hopefully, I will get some fruit this year. I'll be happy with just one. :)

This is the Makok sapodilla. Also got it on June 08. It is taller and also flowering.

This is the dwaf june plum. I still have 4 of these. One fruited last year and die. :( All of them are in bloom now. Maybe I should remove the flower and let it grow.

This is my Priestly atemoya tree. I aslo got this on June 08. I got one fruit out of it last year. :) Currently blooming.

This is my seed grown sugar apple tree. I went on a trip to Canada and purchased some sugar apples there and saved the seeds. Planted it around November 06. It is now 4ft tall and I cut it back twice already.

This is the soursop. Man, this tree is slow growing and seem to die back every year. It is now just starting to put out new growth.

My atemoya tree planted from seed. I think I planted this in 07.

My three varieties dragon fruit. I have magenta, white, and yellow varieties. It had 3 blooms last year but no fruit. What can I do to get it to fruit???

My papaya planted in 08 from seeds. I got many small papaya from Chinatown and decided to plant the seeds afterward. They are about 2 ft tall now. This is the personal papaya. Just enough for one person. :)

Peonies

This is the second year for my peonies flowers. They are extra pretty and fragrant this year. The flowers are larger than my hand! I even cut some to put in the vase. A very beautiful cut flower. I ordered four different varieties online in 2007. They will come back nicer every year.:)

Karl Rosenfield Peony




Martha Bullock Peony




Edulis Superba Peony


Festiva Maxima Peony

Tapioca Pearls Soup (Che Khoi Mi)

This is one of my creation of che. Che is a Vietnamese sweet soup. I love to eat che. I had some grated Yuca and feel like eating something sweet and chewy. So I created this sweet soup. It is not hard to make and taste great. I also made some with mung durian fillings.



Ingredients:

2 cups grated yuca (tapioca)
1/2 cup green tapiocal pearl
1 can coconut cream
4 cups water
3/4 cup sugar (to your tasting)
8 tbsp tapioca starch
4 tbsp sugar
pink food color
dash salt


Methods:

1. Soak the tapioca pearl with just enough water to cover it. If you only have white tapiocal, soak it in some pandan paste to make it green. Boil 1 cup water and place the pearl in to cook. Stir to prevent sticking to the bottom pan. If too dry then add in more water. A little at a time. We want the pearl to be cooked but not wet.

2. Boil a pot of water to use for steaming yuca. While boiling water. Take one cup grated yuca, add 2 tsp sugar, dash salt, 4 tbsp tapioca starch, 2 tbsp water, and couple drop of pink color. Mix everything together and form small balls. Place the balls on an oild plate for steaming later.

3. Do the same for the other cup of grated yuca except this time no food color. Steam the balls for 15 minutes until cooked.

4. In a pot boil 4 cups water. When water is boiled, add in the coconut cream. Add in 3/4 cup sugar and a dash of salt. Stir and taste. Turn off the fire once it the soup is boiled. Leave it to cool.

5. Now scoop the cooked tapical pearl (try making in ball shap) and drop in the soup. The tapiocal pearl should stick together. Just wet your spoon when trying to scoop it.

6. Once the yuca balls are cooked, drop them into the soup.

7. Serve warm or cold. This dessert is actually better cold. So leave the left over in the refrigerator and eat again later.

Peach Blossoms

It is the time of the year where all my peach trees bloom. I have three different varieties of peach trees. All three are so beautiful when it blooms.

This is the dwarf bonfire peach tree. I have 6 of these in the front yard. :)





This is how the bonfire peach look like after the bloom. The tree is covered with dark red leaves. And now the fruiting begins. I picked over 30 small peaches last year from this one tree.

This is the weeping peach tree. I was a little late on taking the picture so most flowers are gone. This is the best looking flower tree. It's like the cherry blossom except this one have double dark pink flowers. I have two of these trees. :) It's starting to weep like the weeping cherry.

This is the redhaven peach tree. It bear some fruits last year but the squirrels got them even when they were green. Hopefully, I can get some fruits before the squirrels. Got to get some form of netting.