It
was a wet and gloomy day on 7 Jan 06. However, the rain did
not stop any members from attending Green Culture Singapore's
(GCS) New Year gathering at Bukit Timah. Bringing her homemade
lasagne, Limei was the first member to arrive at the function
room in elfstone's condonimium. That was shortly after Clover,
LobsterX and wilson came to prepare the venue for the event
at about six o' clock in that evening. All twenty members who
indicated their interest to attend the gathering arrived by
7 pm. That was also when the party started for this group of
plant lovers…
Above: Seeds
that came all the way from Australia contributed by matthew1381.
AT THE ENTRANCE
At
the door, members were given a simple door-gift each where they
get to choose from a selection of garden seeds that matthew1381
brought from Australia.
A
bunch of Gardenia flowers from Limei's garden was placed
inside a black mug which helped to light up the table where
the seed packets were laid out. See the beautiful white flower
on the top of this article it was was used to design the banner
for this article.
Upon
the arrival of each member, a slip written with the member's
userid was dropped into a box for luckydip later on.
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Some
of the food we had that were contributed by members...
Above left: Lasagne contributed by Limei.
Above right: Mee Goreng contributed by Joseph.
Below left and right: Banana cake and brownies baked
by Velvetine. |
YUMMY
FOOD AND EXQUISITE DRINKS
The
potluck dinner started. Inclusive of lasagne, we also had Mona's
keropok which Clover helped to fry, tuna sandwiches,
fried dumplings, mee goreng, vegetarian beehoon, fruits
like watermelons, grapes and oranges, herbal chicken, qische,
sweetcorn, chocolate fudge, otak otak, glutinous rice
dumplings, satay, duck wings, buns, tiramisu and even
wine! What a spread! I guess there was something for everyone.
I somehow felt that there were limited choices for our Muslim
and vegetarian members. Hence I suggest we should try to improve
on the variety of Muslim and vegetarian food in the next gathering!
Perhaps we should start a new topic for our fellow members to
suggest or recommend the names of reputable hawker stalls where
we can get good food for our potluck gatherings next time!
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MORE
food that were contributed by members...
Topmost left: Otak otak by luckyboy.
Topmost right: Vegetarian bee hoon by lyndi.
Second row left: Herb-roasted chicken by Velvetine.
Second row right: Tiramisu is so popular that almost
a third was gone just seconds it was placed on the table
by Huangec.
Third row left: Keropok from Mona but fried
by Clover.
Third row right: Fried dumplings by nleong.
Bottom left: Grapes by Bluefly and Grasshopper.
Bottom row right: Sweet corn by Velvetine. |
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We
did not know the watermelons were coming...
Above left and right: It proved to be a difficult time
as we have forgotton to bring knives for the watermelons.
As such, Bluefly and Velvetine had to use their super strong
green hands to pry them apart. Wow! RED n JUICY - we mean
the fruits! |
WE
EVEN HAD A SLIDE SHOW!
Joseph,
the member who is the most knowledgeable on Nepenthes
growing in the forum, showed interested members pictures he
took during his trips to various South-east Asian countries
where rare Nepenthes species grow in situ on his laptop.
Perfect blooms of Paphiopedilum orchids also wow-ed some
of our members. More of our carnivorous plant and slipper orchid
enthusiasts should have come for the gathering!
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The
interesting and enlightening slide show... thanks to Joseph!
Above left: Joseph sharing the Nepenthes pictures
he took during his field trips in Southeast Asia in the
1980s. There were also some beautiful slipper orchid pictures
too!
Above right: Does this one look like a toilet bowl?
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TIME
TO GET TO KNOW ONE ANOTHER...
After
the feast, GCS members sat down for an introductory session.
The atmosphere was a relaxing one. The introduction session
was kind of monotonous halfway through. Luckily, it was interspersed
with some question and answer on gardening and of course, jokes,
which helped to keep everyone awake! Somehow, some members mentioned
Dark Lord and kitty during the self-introduction and it was
a pity they did not turn up for the event. We eventually ran
out of time by the time we turned to the last member on the
line, Slurp, who had to give a rather quick introduction of
himself! Apologies! Imagine the entire session lasted for about
2 hours and it was just an introductory session for just 20
members!
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Time
to introduce yourselves!
Above left: Get-to-know each other session.
Above right: Some were listening very attentively
to the speaker
Below left: Others were laughing away.
Below right: One was very serious throughout the
gathering. |
A
HASTY LUCKY DRAW
Due to time constraints, we rushed to conduct the lucky dip.
There were more prizes than the number of people at the gathering.
Naturally, everyone will cart home more than two prizes. Thanks
to me - I attempted a new luckydip method which failed terribly.
The result - some were luckier than others and hence it appeared
to be rather unfair.
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Gifts
contributed by our members for the lucky draw...
Above
left: An overview of the lucky draw plants.
Above right: Plants donated by Bluefly. Guess what
is the plant at the bottom right hand corner of the box?
Bottom left: Nice Tillandsia plants from
Greenhorn.
Bottom right: Andrew Tay's baby ant plants. Wow!
Their caudices were cute.
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I
guess we will adopt the following approach - for the first round,
after we have drawn out each name, we will put it aside - this
will ensure everyone gets something. In addition, we give the
privilege of allowing them to choose the prize for each winner
so that they can get something that they really like and can
be grown at home. After the first round and if there are still
prizes remaining, these slips will be turned to the box for
the second round and redrawn until all the prizes are given
out.
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Smiling
ear to ear...
Above left: HOLYFIRE was smiling happily over his lucky
draw prizes contributed by Orchideenjaeger, not knowing
he was one step nearer to the Dark side.
Above right: The FIRST prize went to Prana which
was kindly contributed by Slurp. |
TIME
FOR A GROUP PHOTO
After
the last prize was given out, the security guard was already
standing outside the glass doors of the function room, which
signalled to us that we need to evacuate the place as soon as
we can. It was past eleven o' clock. We cleared up the place
at twice the speed of lightning - a mission which was impossible
without the help of our members and their family members.
Last
but not least, we did not forget to gather for a group photo
shoot. Boonboon, me and Velvetine's hubby - Phillip - were the
cameramen of the day. But none of us could surpass Phillip's
skills in manipulating the camera. The group picture Phillip
took for all of us was the best - very sharp and clear! The
lighting and angle were right and I felt I looked much better
on it too. What a pro!
Above:
The excellent group photo taken by Velvetine's hubby.
