My First Snake In The Wild Photographs

I finally have photographs of a live snake that I spotted this afternoon after finishing my hour long walk. I stopped to watch the tit wabblers and the crimson sunbirds as they were making a lot of noise. When I got closer, I realized why they were all agitated among the leaves on the creeper was an Oriental Whip Snake.
Whoo!!!! As I was close to home, I ran home to get my camera to photograph this pretty snake. I would have been miffed if it was during my walk as I chose not to carry the camera because of the wet weather. During the walk I saw an Elbowed Pierrot and a butterfly that I've not photographed before a Malay Tailed Judy, which were right in front of me. It was exactly like seeing the Blue Malayan Coral Snake in the drain and having no camera.
Anyway, here are a couple more photos of the Oriental Whip Snake.

This Morning's Experiment

It rained and it rained this morning, and I decided to tweak the green tea chiffon recipe since I was couped up at home. The cake came out of the oven looking fantastic - tall and well formed.The next step was to inverted over a bottle to let it hang while it cools down, no problem in the process either.No less than five minutes into the hanging process the cake took the plunge with a plonk onto the tray. I've baked enough chiffons to know that these kind of accidents do happen and a tray under the cake is always a good idea.That when I realised that my cake was brown instead of a woody green. It turned that color because not only was I fiddling with the recipe, I was also trying to see if I could get a nicer green. I experimented with food colors guess green and egg yellow just didn't go with the color of green tea.Quick knife work by me allowed the steam to escape from the cake and it didn't shrink. Despite the ugly unappetizing color, it was very tasty. We were wolfing down the warm airy chunks. I will add less oil the next time, bake it a little longer and definitely no more fooling around with food colors.

Resident Tree Frogs Having A Go

This pair are in a semi-catatonic state as the female is releasing her eggs and the male fertilizing them. The eggs and sperm are released into the form in the background, that is the medium in which the eggs will stay till the tadpoles hatch out in about a day. Sometime they are laid above the water and the little tadpoles wriggle out of the form and drop into the water.I first allowed the four-lined tree frogs to breed in my garden to photograph, now I have a healthy population of tree frogs in my garden. I don't mind these frogs as they aren't too noisy unlike the common toad that my neighbors have. I suspect that the frogs are also food for baby monitor lizards. I found little one living in a PVC pipe near my fence.

Green Tea Chiffon

I seem to be in a chiffon test bake mood - first the orange chiffon and now a matcha chiffon. This recipe definitely needs tweaking as it wasn't as light as I had expected it to be. This was how the cake looked when it finished the cooling down process hanging upside down. It was a tad too dry see how the cake cracked up and it wasn't tall and airy.I whipped up a batch of cream and dressed the cake just to try out frosting a chiffon cake. After covering the cake with whipped cream, I sprinkled matcha powder on it.Then I cut it up to try it. Taste wise it was full of green tea flavor and it smelt refreshing. It had a rather mellow green color, which was pleasing to the eye. As I believed that a cake with fresh cream on it should be eaten fresh, I distributed pieces of the cake to neighbors and a friend. I'll post the recipe once I get it correct.

Durians A Plenty

I've been eyeing the durian trees that dot a section of the route I take every morning and many others are too. One man was even upset that the creatures in the reserve like the monkeys are eating the durians. I'm just happy to see the fruit trees within the reserve laden with all kinds of fruits.

A Strange Looking Pill

What you're looking at is a Pill Millipede that almost became mush under my shoe this morning. If it had not been spotted and rescued. It was picked up and placed it in a safer location and I stayed behind to photograph it. During that time I discovered how to make it uncurled itself on cue by chance. Cool stuff!Pill millipedes are short compared to other millipedes, with only eleven to thirteen body segments, and are capable of rolling into a ball when disturbed. Pill millipedes are herbivorous, feeding on decomposing plant matter, usually in woodlands.

Orange-Bellied Flowerpecker

I have taken to carrying my camera with me in a backpack when I go for my morning walks. I have lost count of the sightings of birds, snakes and butterflies that I have missed. This morning an Orange-bellied Flowerpecker plonk itself not far from me and I was thrilled to be able to photograph it.If you don't know flowerpeckers are tiny birds that dart around the forest trees with lightning speed. Because they move rapidly and are solitary birds, they are difficult to spot and photograph. This handsome male sat atop of a melastoma plant just long enough for me to get a couple of shots but I had no time to approach it. Other people approaching from the opposite direction scared it away.

Orange Experiment

I decided to try a new recipe this evening as I've not baked in some time. I tried my hand baking an orange chiffon cake, the recipe was more than my tin could hold, so I placed the remaining batter into a pound cake tin. The cakes turned out great but I may have taken them out a little too early as both cakes dropped out of their tins while they were hanging.
This cake slipped out and landed on the tray around the bottle that was holding the tin up to cool. The only damage to the cake was a portion that had broken off.

The one in the pound cake tin looked pretty good despite doing the plunge too. I turned it over and it was fine.Cut up the cake was fine but I do think it needs a little dressing up. Taste wise, it was great but a tad too sweet. I'll reduce the sugar the next time around.

Aglio Olio With Mushrooms

Lunch was a vegetarian affair after all the meat we had yesterday. These days I keep my fridge stocked up with various types of fresh mushrooms that are available in the market. They are handy and versatile to cook with and oh so yummy.
I've been doing this dish for some time now and I decided to feature it here. Before anyone asks for the recipe, I just eyeball this dish and have not written things down as yet. I'll get to it another day - my famous last words.

This afternoon, I mixed button mushrooms, shitake and drumstick mushrooms, sauteed them with butter, olive oil, garlic, chili flaks till they were soft. Tossed in some white wine, sea salt and pepper for seasoning. Throw in angel hair pasta (my favorite) and let them absorb the sauce from the pan. Finish it off with fresh chili and parsley.

603 Balestier Road

I have given up on the chicken pies of the two leading pastry chains. They have all become pretty empty chicken pie shells.
Recently, we stumbled on 603 Balestier Road and their yummy chicken pies. The pie pastry is buttery and flaky. The filling is flavorful and well packed into the pie (no airy puff pastries with stingy fillings here). These pies sell very well that they run out on busy days.

Nasi Goreng Lunch

Mum's back from her six-day stay in the hospital and it was nice to have life come back to normal again. The family congregated at my home as usual and I decided to keep things simple this Sunday. I had one of my helpers make nasi goreng. This was her fusion version of nasi goreng - hot dogs and Chinese chicken sausages instead of prawns. She's allergic to prawns.She fried up a batch of prawn crackers and I added the fried egg as we plated each serving.Of course, we needed an additional serving of sambal to go with the rice. I added sambal tomat which was less heady than sambal belachan.

Sunbirds At Sungei Buloh

I caught this pair of sunbirds at the entrance of Sungei Buloh. They just looked so cute perched in their individual cubicles and they seemed to be chatting with each other. I missed the third as it flew away.while walking in the reserve, a pair of Purple Throated Sunbirds dropped in on me not once but twice. What I have is more butt shots or blurred images as these birds do not stay still.One day I will get my shot of these little beauties, for now I will observe them.

My Fall Back Subjects - Dragonflies

This is what I do when I can't find anything new to photograph. I fall back on dragonflies and trying different perspectives of the dragonflies that I found last Monday at Sungei Buloh and on my Saturday walk. I tried this close-up with the Tamron lens on this willing subject.This dragonfly was photographed at Sungei Buloh with a telephoto lens. I was looking for birds but could not find any that were within reach of my lens.I spotted a pair of mating blue dragonflies on Saturday while out looking for butterflies. What the heck, I wasn't having much luck till after photographing this amorous pair.

Orange Lacewings

This is another butterfly that I had seen once real close but did not have my camera with me. Today I spotted several feeding but they were some distance away. Since I only brought the macro lens, I photographed them just the same as I may not find them again. There were three of these Orange Lacewings feeding on the blooms and they never moved off the plant.I hope that I will come across them again in a better setting as they are gorgeous looking butterflies with their brilliant colors.

A Fivebar Swordtail

I was heading home when I came upon a Common Bluebottle puddling in a drain as I photographed it.I noticed a new butterfly, which I had not seen before flying ahead in the drain. It was trying to settle in but kept being chased on by territorial dragonflies. I followed it till it found a spot it could land on. When I got there I couldn't see it as it blended into the surroundings and became invisible. It was only when it started to fly that I spotted it again. It then landed a short distance away and began to puddle.I was excited as the butterfly was a Fivebar Swordtail. It is a forest butterfly and is rarely seen in urban parks and gardens, preferring the sanctuary of the forested reserves. Males are frequently encountered puddling at moist spots. At times, more than one individual is seen, and also in the company of the Common Bluebottle and the Blue Jay.

Snacking On Fuzhou Oyster Cakes

I took a detour on the way to SGH this afternoon to buy half a chicken from Tian Tian Chicken Rice for dinner. After purchasing the chicken, I proceeded to Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cakes to pick-up some oyster cakes as it has been a long time since I had them. They are a guilty pleasure.
These cakes are filled with lots of goodies. They start by putting batter into a ladle, adding Chinese parsley, seasoned minced pork, prawns and oysters. All the goodies is sealed with more batter then topped with a few peanuts before they are deep fried. I brought home two - no oyster and with oyster. The one in the background without the peanut topping is the version without the oyster. I ate mine with Tabasco sauce as it helped to cut the grease and add a spicy kick, which I like.

The Blue Pansy

The Blue Pansy is one of the four Pansies found in Singapore. It is the third Pansy that I found thus far. This specimen is a female that I found basking in the sun. The fourth is the Gray Pansy and apparently very rare.

Sunbeams

These are two butterflies from the same subfamily - Curetinae. One is found inland and the other in the mangrove. This is the Malayan Sunbeam, which I photographed some weeks back.

This here is the Sumatran Sunbeam which I photographed in a mangrove reserve on Monday. The species has distinctive red banded legs. It only is found in this single location. This photo is a little fuzzy as I was using a zoom lens instead of a macro lens. The butterfly was a little out of range to get a good 1:1 shot.

Lovely Yellow Butterflies

I love the lemon yellow butterflies but they are often fleeting around but on Saturday. I managed to photograph a couple stationery.

I found the Common Hedge Blue on Saturday among other butterflies. It is usually found flying along brightly sunlit footpaths along forest tracks. It flies in an erratic manner and males are usually observed feeding on damp patches on the forest floor.

Elbowed Pierrot

I spent much of Saturday morning chasing butterflies and I was thrilled to find a couple of new ones that I've not seen before. For me finding something new is always fun and rewarding. My goal is to discover a new species each trip.The name 'Elbowed' is derived from the angled brownish black bar that is noticeable when it settles on the ground. This little Lycaenidae can be found in along forest paths flying almost at ground level. I would have stepped on it if I hadn't noticed it flying around my feet. Then came the realization of spotting a new butterfly and the adrenaline rush to try to photograph it before the next hoard of people come stomping by. These people don't stop and usually scare away my tiny subjects much to my frustration.