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taimio · 7 months

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Discover the Art of Cultivating Malanga for Exceptionally Tasty and Healthy Recipes

If you're like most health-conscious foodies, you likely search for meals that are not only delicious but provide nutrition too. Malanga is a lesser-known edible plant that does just that, which is why learning how to grow them in your garden will open up a world of nutrition and flavor for you. With just a bit of effort, you'll have endless access to one of nature's greatest nutrient-rich foods. Let's take a look at what you need to know, so you too can enjoy the delicious and nutritious benefits of malanga!

Learn How To Grow Malanga For Delicious And Nutritious Meals

When it comes to growing your own food, few things are as rewarding as cultivating malanga. This root vegetable, also known as Xanthosoma sagittifolium, not only adds a unique flavor to your meals but also packs a powerful nutritional punch.

Having personally grown malanga in my backyard, I can attest to the joy of harvesting these tubers and transforming them into mouthwatering dishes. From creamy soups to crispy fries, the versatility of malanga knows no bounds.

Malanga is not only delicious but also a nutritional powerhouse. Packed with fiber, vitamins, and minerals, it's a fantastic addition to any diet.

Getting started with growing malanga is easier than you may think. Begin by selecting a sunny spot in your garden with well-drained soil. The ideal temperature for malanga growth ranges between 70°F and 85°F, making it perfect for tropical and subtropical regions.

Obtain malanga corms from a reputable source or fellow gardener. These will serve as the starting point for your malanga journey.

Prepare the soil by loosening it and adding organic matter to improve drainage. Remember, malanga prefers moist but not waterlogged soil.

Plant the corms horizontally, around 4-6 inches deep and 12-18 inches apart. Ensure that the buds or eyes are facing upwards.

Maintain consistent moisture levels throughout the growing period, as malanga thrives in a humid environment. Mulching can help retain moisture and deter weeds.

Harvest your malanga when the leaves turn yellow and wither, typically around 8-12 months after planting. Gently dig around the tubers and lift them from the ground.

After harvesting, the culinary adventures begin. From the classic Cuban dish fufu to baked malanga chips, there's no shortage of ways to savor this root vegetable's unique taste and texture.

To learn more about malanga's incredible benefits and explore a variety of delicious recipes, check out this comprehensive guide.

So why not embark on your own malanga-growing journey? With a little patience and care, you'll soon be reaping the rewards of this remarkable vegetable, adding both flavor and nutrition to your table.

Learn more about gardening with Taim.io!

#Growing Malanga

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bethestaryouareradio · 3 years

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May flowers…without the showers

By Cynthia Brian

"My garden is my most beautiful work of art" – Claude Monet

We’ve all heard the adage, “April showers bring May flowers!” We have the flowers this year, but April precipitation did not materialize. 2021 is lining up to be the third driest year in the history of California. And that means that we must be more diligent than ever to prepare our properties for a season of increased wildfires.

I have been weeding my property with every spare minute since February. It is essential to pull out weeds by the roots, else they return promptly. This is round three and the resulting garden is looking beautiful. I’ve been experimenting with mixing flowers of iridescent pinks with buttery yellows and pumpkin orange accented by sky blue and bold purple. The palette has taken on an Impressionistic essence of which Monet would be proud.

April and May have always been my favorite months because of the plethora of blooms, birds, and fragrances. The perfume of the jasmine permeates the morning air, the lilac scents the afternoon sunshine, while the wisteria and mock orange infuse the evening with glorious aromas. My two thornless Lady Banksia rose bushes with their profusion of creamy double-petaled flowers have commandeered thirty linear feet of a fence as well as twined to the tops of a plum and chestnut tree. The flowering cherry tree showcases puffy blossoms resembling pink snowballs. The mock orange tree’s white blooms are candy for the bees. The cerise flowers of the Western redbud tree offer a gorgeous contrast to the unfurling green leaves of the honey locust trees. Under a canopy of pines and surrounded by white calla lilies and lacy hemlock, a New Zealand hawthorn brightens the verdant scene with clouds of blush blooms. Bearded irises in a variety of colors are delicate and fragrant. Azaleas and camellias thrive in the shadow of the redwoods. Freesias, tulips, daffodils, calendulas, anemones continue their carnival of blooms. Despite the lack of rain, the spring display is splendor in the grass.

In many parts of the country, people wait until after Mother’s Day to start planting their vegetables but because of the warmth of this season, I advise that you get started soon. Getting children involved with planting vegetables and herbs will encourage them to eat what they plant. After researchers spent time with children in Central Texas who had gardens and gardening classes at their schools, they discovered that the nutrition of both parents and children improved. Also, those who participated began enjoying more vegetables.

If you are planning a vegetable patch, buy pint or quart size containers of your favorite vegetables. Don’t attempt to plant everything you see at the nursery. Only plant what you and your family love. For example, for my spring veggie garden, I’ve planted nine varieties of tomatoes as I’m a tomato snob. I only eat tomatoes in season and prefer only tomatoes that I, a friend, or a family member grows. Also planted are eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, and peppers. Already growing are a plethora of herbs including basil, oregano, fennel, sage, thyme, dill, cilantro as well as leafy greens of arugula, sorrel, lettuce, and sugar snap peas, artichokes, onions, chives, strawberries, and broccoli.

Make sure that you rotate your crops from year to year so as not to deplete the soil. Most summer vegetables require a minimum of six hours of sunlight. Read and follow the instructions that come with your plant.

Another beautiful, long-flowering, and excellent fresh-cut for arrangements is the dahlia. Although they are supposed to be deer-resistant, the deer that graze around my property seem to find them delicious. I don’t advise dahlias to be planted in areas where you have marauders. Dahlias produce large, colorful blooms and are a welcome addition to any garden. Here’s how to get them started in your landscape:

1. Choose a well-drained area with plenty of sunlight.

2. Plant the tubers after the danger of frost have passed.

3. Dig a hole about a foot deep and amend with compost or potting soil.

4. Place the tuber flat and cover with the amended soil.

5. Make a patch of dahlias spaced 12-36” apart for maximum impact.

6. Water immediately.

7. After sprouting, pinch off the side buds to allow the central blowers to be larger.

8. Deadhead as flowers fade to maintain blooming.

Because of the arid times in which we are living, make sure to cut all tall wild grasses, trim limbs up from the ground six to ten feet to prevent fire laddering, and clear a safety zone around your home. Clean out gutters, remove debris, be cautious when barbecuing and careful around the fire pit. Keep gardens irrigated, watering early in the morning or early in the evening. Be diligent and responsible to help prevent a fire from igniting. Pray for rain yet be prepared for drought.

Mother’s Day is approaching and a welcome gift for mom can always be found in the garden. Consider a bubbling fountain, birdhouse, or colorful annuals to plant. Make a simple arrangement using flowers from the garden accompanied by a garden book that will be treasured always. Whatever you do, let your Mom know how much she means to you whether it is through a virtual visit or an in-person brunch, picnic, or walk. Moms love the little remembrances and deserve accolades, at least once a year!

Spring is the time to savor the beauty surrounding you. If you’ve ever been to Giverny in France, you will know that Monet was not exaggerating about his garden being his most beautiful work of art. He was inspired by nature and you can be too. Be an artist and create your masterpiece in your garden.

Happy Gardening. Happy Growing. Happy Mother’s Day!

Photos and more: https://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1505/Digging-Deep-with-Goddess-Gardener-Cynthia-Brian-May-flowers-without-the-showers.html

Press Pass: https://blog.voiceamerica.com/2021/04/27/no-showers-for-may-flowers/

Cynthia Brian, The Goddess Gardener, is available for hire to help you prepare for your spring garden. Raised in the vineyards of Napa County, Cynthia is a New York Times best-selling author, actor, radio personality, speaker, media and writing coach as well as the Founder and Executive Director of Be the Star You Are!® 501 c3. Tune into Cynthia’s StarStyle® Radio Broadcast at www.StarStyleRadio.com.

Buy copies of her best-selling books, including, Chicken Soup for the Gardener’s Soul, Growing with the Goddess Gardener, and Be the Star You Are! Millennials to Boomers at www.cynthiabrian.com/online-store. Receive a FREE inspirational music DVD.

Hire Cynthia for writing projects, garden consults, and inspirational lectures.

[email protected]

www.GoddessGardener.com

#maygarden #mayflowers #rain #mothersday #dahlias #cynthiabrian #starstyle #goddessGardener #growingwiththegoddessgardener

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thehungrykat1 · 7 years

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Leave Boring Behind and Explore Manila in a Different Light With Hotel Jen

Travelers can be classified into two different groups. The first group likes to go to hotels or resorts and just spend the entire day inside their rooms or make use of the hotel facilities. The second type of traveler likes to go to a new places or countries to explore the sights and to dig deeper into specific local experiences that the guidebooks don’t necessarily show. This is the type of traveller that Hotel Jen Manila is targeting as it encourages its guests to Leave Boring Behind and explore Manila in a different new light.

The Hungry Kat was invited to a special dinner at Windows By The Bay in Hotel Jen Manila where the hotel would be showing off its new campaign to its media friends. When we travel to other countries, we often need to have a guide to show us around the places and to give us better local insights compared to the usual tourist books. During my last trip to Singapore, I was fortunate to have a friend there who was able to show me around the neighborhood. Not everyone has that luxury when they travel, but with Hotel Jen, you now have a very special friend who can lead you to discover new places and experiences you would not have thought of before.

Hotel Jen Manila is the four-star sister brand of Shangri-La Hotels which caters to a wider range of guests and travelers. Catering to urban adventurers, the Hotel Jen brand delivers quality, comfort and value with a playful twist and friendly service. Windows By The Bay is located on the topmost 19th floor of the hotel, offering majestic views of the city especially at night. This is actually the hotel’s Club Lounge where guests booked at the Club Rooms have access to all-day refreshments with Afternoon Tea and Evening Cocktails (Read about my Club Room stay here). But from 7:30pm to 11:00pm, it transforms into Windows By The Bay which is open to the public. Here, diners can enjoy dinner or bar chow paired with cocktails and refreshments while looking over the busy streets of Manila.

Hosting us that evening was the very accommodating General Manager of Hotel Jen Manila, Mr. Edward Kollmer. I told him about my recent adventure at three different Hotel Jen properties in three countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines) over a span of two weeks. He mentioned that he used to work at Hotel Jen Puteri Harbour before, which is where I stayed during my visit to Malaysia and Legoland. Hotel Jen properties are always located in very convenient areas with much reasonable rates which is why I always choose them for my foreign trips.

Ms. Twinkle Lacsamana, the new Marketing Communications Manager of Hotel Jen Manila, welcomed everyone to the event and introduced the Leave Boring Behind campaign which aims to give guests a deeper and more engaging experience during their stay. She discussed the hotel’s desired Passion Points which include Get.Set.Eat, a program to move away from the generic pre-packaged hotel food to championing local flavors and homegrown food producers. She also introduced us to the hotel’s talented in-house mixologist, Rick, who will also be showing us a few of his specialties later on.

We were treated to an enchanting five-course dinner at Windows By The Bay courtesy of Hotel Jen Manila’s Executive Chef Sonny Almandres. For Get.Set.Eat, five Hotel Jen properties have prepared a special local dish which will be featured in tonight’s dinner. Recipes were also included so that we can replicate these dishes ourselves at home.

The first dish is from Hotel Jen Tanglin Singapore’s poolside restaurant, Ah Hoi’s Kitchen. The Chilli Crab Fondue is Singapore’s iconic chilli crab served with a twist. It comes in a bread bowl and is served with shrimp and vegetables. Dip the shrimp or pieces of bread into the spicy sauce and it creates a whole new way of eating this Singapore favorite.

From my hotel in Johor, Malaysia, Hotel Jen Puteri Harbour comes the Laksa Johor Slider which is inspired by Sultan Abu Bakar’s visit to Italy in 1866. The laksa is prepared with spaghetti which the locals usually eat with their fingers. This version turns it into a crispy mini burger with a fish patty that you can also eat by hand. That’s a fun and creative take on this local specialty.

Next up was the Smoked Pulled Lamb Pongteh from Hotel Jen Penang with a sweet nyonya-style soya bean paste. Pongteh is a classic Peranakan dish from Penang and this rendition is inspired by the hearty barbecues in Southern America. It is also served with focaccia bread and potato wedges with Chinese five-spice powder.

The highlight of our five course Get.Set.Eat dinner was the Laksa Lemak Singapura or Laksa Fried Rice from Hotel Jen Orchardgateway Singapore. This is the hotel I stayed in during my trip to Singapore last month and I would have ordered this there if I had known about it. This is an alternative take on the classic Perenakan laksa dish from Singapore. The wok-fried rice is infused with spicy aromatic laksa broth but what I really enjoyed was the huge prawn sitting on top.

Of course, we saved the best for last because our very own Hotel Jen Manila came out with the Ginataang Turon. This sweet dessert combines two popular Filipino snacks - Ginataang halo-halo with glutinous rice balls, tubers and tapioca pearls in coconut milk, plus turon or banana fritters. The combination works magically and this is the best way to end or five-course meal. These dishes are available only at the respective hotels but you can order the Ginataang Turon at Hotel Jen Manila’s in-room service or at the lounge.

Aside from Get.Set.Eat, Hotel Jen wants to uplift their guest experiences After Hours with a new innovation, the Night Light Map. Instead of the usual boring guidebook with static recommendations, the Night Light Map is an interactive and “living” map which continuously aggregates data from social check-ins and selected hashtags to present alternative city experiences and hotspots from sunset to sunrise.

It is so easy to use the Night Light Map and After Hours city guide to explore Manila After Dark. All you need in a wifi connection, which comes free whenever you step inside Hotel Jen Manila. Type www.hoteljen.com on your phone or laptop’s browser and see the city in a different light. The guide is available for specific cities only so select your own city from the list. Take note that the guide will only work after hours from 6:00pm to 6:00am in the morning so come back later if it is still too early.

Hotel Jen encourages travelers to not just follow the crowd but to go where the locals go after dark and discover new exciting experiences. The Night Light Map shows a real-time map with certain spots highlighted by three kinds of filters. Touristy Things are the usual activities that tourists often go to. Local Hangouts are the more uncommon places where only the locals stay, while Jen’ Picks are the top places recommended by a select group of local influencers called “Jensetters” who share their insider knowledge with a focus on the home-grown art, cultural experiences and local flavors.

You can ctap on the three filters to remove or include them on the map. The places with the big J’s are the ones from Jen’s Picks while the pink stars indicate Local Hangouts.

Tapping on one of the Local Hangouts will reveal destinations that you do not often hear about from tourists. An example would be this suggestion to visit the National Museum which is just a few minutes away from Hotel Jen Manila. Tourists can see the city through local eyes as the content will be provided from Instagram posts containing local knowledge. I think I should schedule a visit to the museum myself.

I also tapped on the Hotel Jen Manila icon and was surprised to see my own Instagram post from the previous week on display in the Night Light Map. I recently had a buffet at Latitude, Hotel Jen Manila’s all-day dining restaurant, and since I am one of the “JenSetters,” it ended up as one of the recommended activities. The content refreshes constantly so keep coming back for more local insider information. Every week, each Hotel Jen also offers activities at the hotel or around the city allowing guests to observe local pastimes first-hand or discover the destination from an alternative angle.

One other very fun night spot to visit is Windows by the Bay itself at Hotel Jen Manila. We were also treated to some of the new specialty cocktails from Rick’s Mix which were prepared by the bartender Rick himself.

This is the Mandarin Magic which comes with Vodka, lime juice, triple sec, cranberry juice, orange juice, plus a few drops of Tabasco and topped with whipped cream. The deliciously refreshing cocktail gives a little spicy zing on your throat but not too much to handle.

Rick also gave us a demonstration of his mixing skills which is a performance in itself. Guests can request whatever beverage they want and Rick will do his best to concoct a cocktail most suited for you.

He prepared this sweet cocktail for me with Elderflower Vodka, lime juice, and a few other ingredients I could not remember but it was fantastic. Imagine having these cocktails while gazing at the busy city lights below.

A couple of items were also passed around during our cocktail session like these Scallops with apple and mango barbecue sauce. I also had some of these Parma Ham with Melon to go along with my drinks.

Rick really does perform on a different level and he even gave us his best #SugarBae impersonation by adding the finishing touches of brown sugar on his Chocolate Samba. This signature cocktail combines the flavors of chocolate and red wine together into a beautiful pair. Top it with whipped cream and it becomes even more delightful.

Hotel Jen Manila is making life so much easier and interesting for travelers who wish to see Manila in a different light. Having the Night Light Map on their mobile phones makes it seem like they are traveling with an insider friend who will gladly show them around all the local hotspots in the city. So get ready to have more fun because the night will always be young at Hotel Jen Manila!

Windows By The Bay at Hotel Jen Manila

19/F Club Lounge, 3001 Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City

795-8888 www.hoteljen.com/manila www.facebook.com/HotelJenManila

#MNLAfterDark #HotelJenMAnila #HotelJen #LeaveBoringBehind #Hotel #Manila #NightLight #WindowsByTheBay #RicksMix

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