Behind the front door......

5 Days Food Challenge: Day 2 with Pasta with tomatoes, tuna and chillies

2015-02-09T21:18:00.001-08:00

This super easy pasta recipe inspired by Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course. When I bought this book, I thought it will be hard to follow recipe book, since Gordon is one if the Michelin Award Chef. My 1st Gordon book nothing short from long list of ingredients to achieve full flavour Asian Food. This book, amazingly caters for mum like myself that short of cooking time most of the nights !

Unfortunately I could not find Anchovy on Supermarket shelves lately, so we substitute with tuna and the outcome is delicious as expected.

For 4 serves,

Here are the ingredients:

· 400gr dried spaghetti

· Olive oil for frying

· 3 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped

· 1 red chilli, chopped into small pieces

· 50gr tuna flakes on water

· 200gr pitted black olives, chopped

· 3 tbs capers, drained and rinsed

· 250gr cherry tomatoes, halved

· Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

· Basil leaves

1. Cook pasta accordingly

2. Meanwhile, heat a wide frying pan over medium heat, add glug of olive oil, then fry the garlic,chilli and tuna for 1-2 minutes until garlic is aromatic.

3. Add olives, capers and tomatoes to the pan and stir over medium heat for about 5 minutes until tomatoes become a bit softer and everything is well combined.

4. Drain the pasta, toss into the pan with sauce.

5. Seasoning with salt and pepper as your taste.

6. Garnished with basil leaves, and ready to serve.

5 Days Food Challenge : Day 3 with Spicy Beef Goulash

2015-02-09T06:20:00.000-08:00

Nothing better that hot spicy soup on rainy day, even if I have to do some effort. Good food was never easy, and this spicy soup originated from Hungary is worth trying.

As this process required oven as well, please make sure you cook on deep oven-proof stew pot with a lid, that you could put inside the oven later on, instead of changing from one cooking pot to another. Heavy based pot served well.

If you opt for stove-top cooking, make sure you double up you cooking time.

For 4 serve, I use:

· ½ kg good quality beef, topside part would be perfect
· 1 medium size red-onion, peeled and finely chopped.
· 1 fresh chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
· 4 tsp paprika
· 1 tsp ground caraway seeds
· Bunch of small marjoram or oregano, leaves picked
· 200ml tinned plum tomatoes, or can be substitute with 2 fresh plum tomatoes, de- seeded and cut into cubes, and 100ml tomato paste
· 1 capsicum/paprika, de-seeded, cut into cubes
· 1 tbs red wine vinegar
· 1 small bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped.
· Olive oil
· Salt and pepper for seasoning
· Rice,potato or pasta for serving –we choose white rice-

How to:

Pre-heat your oven to 180C. Heated your pot, put a good lug of olive oil on, and brown the meat for about 15 minutes on medium heat. Put aside.

· Add another glug of olive oil, put onion,paprika,caraway seed,chili, marjoram/oregano to the pot, stir for about 10 mins, add salt and pepper, stir well.

· Add capsicum and tomato, mixed well.

· Put your beef back to the pot, pour enough water to submerge your beef, add the red wine vinegar, and bring it to the boil.

· Once its boiling, cover with the lid, and put into the oven for about 1 hour.

After 1 hour you should see the beef is tender and can be separate easily using fork.

Serve with hot white rice –topped your rice with chopped parsley- and its ready to dig in!

5 Days Food Challenge: Day 1 with Thai Green Beef Curry

2015-02-01T08:15:00.001-08:00

We loves curry –Indian,Thai,Malay,Indonesia, Japanese, anything- and always had great feedback from my kids.

I cook Thai Green Curry regularly, using many different recipes from many sources, and now my kids can tell the different between ‘light curry’ that recipe requested not more than 5 steps cooking, or something more serious.

This Green Curry recipe is my interpretation from Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape book, a rather long process including washing loads of kitchen utensil, but you really can tell the different. One first spoon and layers of flavour hits in an instant.

Original recipe is using chicken, we change with beef and substitute the aubergine with sweet baby corn –whatever available on my fridge-

Here what I use for curry paste:

· 4 large green chillies, deseeded, chopped coarsely

· 4 garlic cloves, peeled & chopped

· 3 shallot, peeled & chopped

· 2 lemograss stalks, trimmed & chopped

· 3 kaffir lime leaves

· 2 tbs ground coriander

· 1 tsp cumin seed

· 2cm galangal, peeled & chopped

· Handfull of corriander stalks, chopped

· 1 tsp salt

· 1 tbs canola oil –original recipe using groundnut oil

And for the curry:

· 2 tbs canola oil

· 3 garlic cloves, peeled, thinly sliced

· 1 medium carrot, peeled, diced

· 10 sweet baby corn, discard its tip, diced

· Handfull of french beans, cut into 2cm long

· 400gr thinly sliced beef

· 200ml thick coconut milk –we not biggest fan of coconut milk-

· 500ml water

· 1 tsp palm sugar

· 2 kaffir lime leaves

· 2 tbs fish sauce

· Handfull of corriander leaves, chopped, reserve some for garnish.

· 2 tbs fresh basil, torn –it should be thai/holy basil, but I found difficulty finding it-; reserve some for garnish.

· Juice of 1 Lime, if you like

How to paste:

Place all paste ingredients in a blender/ food processer, process it until smooth.

How to cook the curry:

· Heat the oil in heavy based pan, add all the curry paste to the pan, stir fry for 2-3 minutes.

· Add garlic, carrot, french bean and sweet baby corn –all veggies- and stir fry for about 3 minutes.

· Add beef, cook for about 4-5 minutes; then ad coconut milk, mix well and cook for another 5 minutes.

· Add water along with palm sugar, lime leaves and fish sauce. Mix well

· Reduce the heat, simmer gently for about 20-25 minutes, or until all cooked well.

· Add corriander & basil, cook for further 1-2 minutes.

· Turn off the heat. I added juice of 1 lime to get extra punch on the flavour –but you could skip this part if you don’t feel like to-

Scoop into a bowl, garnish with reserved coriander & basil.

Serve with white long grain rice on the side.

Simple Tomato Pasta

2013-11-02T08:57:00.002-07:00

Inspired by ‘Save with Jamie’ book, I did this simple pasta for weekend lunch. No fuss, ready in in less than 30 mins, and kids –and hubby- loves it.

I tweak bit of the recipe –sorry Jamie- based on what available on my fridge and pantry.

For 4 serve, I need:

· 400gr Penne –cook according to packet instruction

· 1 capsicum, deseed and finely dice

· 2 red chillis, deseed and finely slice

· 3 cloves of garlic, finely slice

· 1x 400gr tin tomato sauce

· 4 ripe tomatoes, finely dice

· 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar –skipped it if you don’t feel like using it

· Olive Oil

· Salt & pepper for seasoning

· Parmesan cheese , to serve

How to:

· Cook penne according to packet instructions, drain well.Reserve 1 cup of cooking water for later.

· On large size pan, add olive oil and cook capsicum & chilli for about 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring regularly.

· Add garlic, fry for about 1 minute, then add 1 tbs red wine vinegar, diced fresh tomatoes, cook for about 5 minutes, strirring regularly.

· Add tomato sauce, season with salt & pepper, bring to boil.

· Once its boiling, add penne and a cup of water –reserved from cooking penne.

· Mix evenly until penne is all coated with sauce. Turn of the heat.

· Serve hot with grated parmesan cheese on top.

Chicken with Garlic & Rosemary

2013-09-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

Inspired by video of Gennaro Contaldo, Jamie Oliver’s buddy, I tweak this recipe as my 6-year-old wannabe chef does not do chilli.

I ‘m sure the original recipe would turn out superb, mine isn’t lack of taste too :-)

So, this is my version of Chicken with Garlic & Rosemary:

I prepared:

2kg of chicken –we loves drumsticks, easy for kids to hold into-
Handful of fresh Rosemary –still on its twig
About 8 piece of garlic
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Pan with lid

(warning: this picture is not a ready to serve chicken, it is how its look like when I put all together on the pan)

How to:

Wash the chickens, pat dry with paper towel. Season with salt & pepper.
Heat olive oil in good size pan on high heat; add seasoned chicken onto it, turn once or two until brown.
Once it’s browned, add fresh rosemary & garlic, put the lid on, and lower the heat.
Leave it cook slowly about 30 minutes
Open the lid, turn up the heat and let chicken skin getting caramelized (on this stage, you could add half cup of white wine if desire, which I did not).
Once its caramelized, turn the heat off, and chicken are ready to serve.

We paired it with roast potato and salad, but fries will do okay too.

Happy cooking :-)

Featuring on Stumble Abroad : I'm fabulous ;-)

2012-12-16T05:16:00.000-08:00

Never thought that Ana Gaby, one of my Strawberry Patch customer contacted me wit a mission: want to interview me for her blog. I'm flattered. Then perplexed when I read question she sent me.

Some question prove hard to answer. Not that I do not want to answer, but there was an embarrasing moment reading through question and realized: after all I'm not so Indonesian anymore...feel like a soul trapping in between cultures and I can tell you I'm not proud at all.

So if you read this interview, this is my 7 hard-days working out to filled all blank space and lot of thoughts.

And I'm HAPPY with the result.

Enjoy reading it ;-)

------------------------------

This is a series of interviews of fabulous people who live, breathe and thrive in Jakarta. We will feature expats and Indonesians who call the Big Durian home in hopes to give all of you a glimpse of what life is all about in Jakarta. I would love to have different perspectives on our Fabulous Jakartan Friday (FJF) so if you would like to be featured, leave me a comment or shoot me an email and I would be so excited to hear all about YOUR Jakarta!

Fabulous Jakartan: Ayu, the Indonesian Crafty Mompreneur

Today we are meeting Ayu. Ayu is a fabulous Indonesian lady. She is a mother of two and runs the cutest business I have seen in Jakarta. Strawberry Patch makes handmade accessories and toys for children. I have talked about her previously when I was (re)decorating Joshua’s nursery and had some banners and robots custom made. Ayu is a wonderful lady and I hope you enjoy meeting her as much as I have.

So, here’s Ayu’s Fabulous Jakartan Friday Interview.

Tell me more, tell me more

1. First, tell us a little bit about you. What’s your background? Where did you grow up?

I grew up on small and beautiful city called Solo-or Surakarta. My mother was very fond of fabrics and crafts and this shaped me into what I am now. As many parents wish for their kids to pursue their dream via school -so did my parent-, I ended up studying Economics & Marketing and worked on the biggest car manufacturer in Indonesia afterward. I just couldn’t give up my childhood dream to have my own fabric-related business. Now my marketing background helps me a lot with my business

Strawberry Patch in Kemang Lippo Mall

2. I love your shop Strawberry Patch! I loved decorating the boy’s rooms with your banners and cute robots and wish I had a girl to buy some rag dolls. How long have you had Strawberry Patch for? What’s the best thing that has come from Strawberry Patch?

I had another fabrics-related venture called Botanica Indonesia -which specialized on Batik- since 1998 but decided to swift into more colorful fabrics on 2007, right after I had my daughter. I was living in Sydney and Batik was not huge back there. Finding beautiful patterned fabrics was not difficult in Sydney and its easy access for fabrics flourished my idea and creativity. Now that I live in Jakarta, I see the opportunity for Strawberry Patch to grow, means I could help empowering people more. To see the joy on my customers once they received items they ordered, or seeing my staff able to put her kids on school, its in-description moment for me.

Strawberry Patch Workshop

Living in Jakarta

1. What three adjectives would describe Jakarta the best?

BIG, BUSTLING, BUSY

2. What’s your biggest Jakarta Love and Jakarta Hate?

Food, and traffic for sure.

3. How do you find the sweetness beneath the Prickly Surface of the Big Durian?

Unexpected things happen a lot and it always lead to another door of opportunity and pump up positive energy –meeting new friends, see people helping other in unthinkable way; to name a few.

4. What activities or things keep you happy and thriving in Jakarta?

My business –it helps empowering women- and my family, of course!

Ayu’s Workshop

5. For a first time visitor coming to Jakarta, what would you recommend they try out that is uniquely Jakartan? A specific food, activity, or place?

Museum Nasional – some call it Museum Gajah, since it has an elephant statue given by King of Thailand standing in its front yard- is great place to start. Taman Mini Indonesia Indah showcases beautiful architecture of Indonesian houses -and culture too.

Sate Khas Senayan serves beautiful Indonesia food that quite friendly with foreigner’s tummies. I always treat my friends -or recommend it to friends- this place. The Owner should give me discount for keep promoting this place

6. If you were to move somewhere else and not be able to come back to Jakarta, what Indonesian thing would you stock up on?

Dried Crackers a.k.a Kerupuk

Traveling in Indonesia

1. If you could only visit one place in Indonesia while in Jakarta what would it be?

Yogyakarta

2. What is the best advise to anyone traveling with kids in Indonesia?

Plan carefully. Can’t do very tight schedule with small window as hurdles can pop up anytime along the way. Give yourself enough time to move from one place to another, even it only short distance.

3. Bali or Lombok?

Lombok.

4. Yogyakarta or Jungle Trekking in Sulawesi or Krakatau?

Yogyakarta.

Jakarta Mama

1. What’s your favorite activity to do with your kids while in Jakarta?

Go to traditional market , or places where my kids can experience real Indonesia life and local culture.

2. What are your favorite places and things in Jakarta for Kids

Playground: Playground in Kemang Dalam
Classes: We love cooking and crafting. At home. So really have no clear answer for this.
Clothing Stores: Nothing in particular. I made most of my daughter dresses and frocks, and my son shirts.
Toy Stores: Toys Kingdom
Snacks: We hang out quite often at Il Supremo Café at Periplus Kemang. Books and snacks in one place. Perfect.

Ayu and her lovely kids

Crafting in Jakarta

1. What’s your favorite place to buy fabric in Jakarta?

Pasar Mayestik

2. Is there ONE place you recommend where we can find anything and everything for crafting and sewing?

There is ONE shop in Pasar Mayestik in South Jakarta called Toko Maju. Don’t get off with its small appearance from outside, step in and you’ll only be saying ‘wow’ for it massive collection of everything craft. I could spend hours inside this two story shop. (Ana says she didn’t realize it was two stories!!! I will have to go again soon!)

3. Where do you think is the best place to buy a sewing machine and have it repaired if it needs to?

A shop in Glodok area in West Jakarta selling all sewing machine related things and they do repairs too. Can’t remember the name as my sewing machine never comes back there for repair since I bought it 14 years ago!

4. Is there an Indonesian material that is so unique you recommend people buy if they are leaving Jakarta?

Batik is popular, and easy to carry home. Just have to know where to get the good one. If have no time to look around traditional batik market, I like to recommend people to get Batik from Batik Keris chain-store. They stock up decent quality batik -and souvenirs too.

Eating in the Big Durian

1. What’s your favorite Indonesian restaurant in Jakarta?

Sate Khas Senayan. Isn’t it obvious?

2. What about your favorite “Western” restaurant?

KOI Kemang

3. What is the one Indonesian dish that everyone should try?

Sate ayam -it has different style with its Malaysian counterpart- and Soto Ayam -clear chicken soup with vermicelli and been sprout-

Oh and Tempe Goreng !

4. Could you share a short and sweet recipe for an authentic Indonesian dish so I can pretend I learned to cook Indonesian…

Chicken satay, you could do easy way using store-bought peanut sauce (ECO Brand has authentic Indonesia taste!) and preparing your 1/2kg boneless chicken breast, diced and marinated –overnight is the best- with 2 tbs of kecap manis, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp ground white pepper and 2 cloves of minced garlic.

Soak your bamboo skewers about 30minutes before barbecueing , put your diced chicken on pre-soaked skewer and grill over BBQ about 5-10 minutes. Pan-grilled is also doable. Then enjoy it!

Thank you very much for joining us in Stumble Abroad today, just one more request:

Describe what life in Jakarta is like in one sentence.

Amazing & exciting experience like no other

Prawn & Fish Curry - British Style

2012-10-15T06:21:00.000-07:00

Since I bought Jamie's Magazine with curry as its main topic, conversation about cooking curry with various style never stop inside my household. My son popped question again and again, when and what curry I will try. My hand bit tight lately with working affair.

Until today.

Usually we had our lunch out on weekend, but I just feel like cooking so I decided to do one of the recipe and scrambling around my fridge and pantry to assemble ingredients.

'Found' prawns and fish fillet inside freezer. But I had no fenugreek nor mustard seed, two main spices needed on this curry recipe. Another downside, my curry plants on my garden were drying out, left no curry leaves at all.

I came to the point of no return -yup, bit of dramatized-, this curry mission had to go on -since I got my saffron-infused basmati rice cooked on my rice cooker-. So scrambled around on Mr.Bing try to find some answer whether is possible to change one spices with another or not, then decided to tweak a bit -sorry Jamie- due to my limited spices on my pantry.

The result?

GREAT ! One of the best lunch we ever had :-)

So here, my version of Jamie's Keralan Fish Curry.

Serving 4.

My Ingredients:

* good lug of vegetable oil

* 1 green chili, deseeded, finely sliced

* 1 tsp cumin ground (replacing 1 tsp fenugreek seed on original recipe)

* thumb-size fresh ginger, grated

*! 2 onions, finely chopped (original recipe: 3 onion)

* 16 medium-size prawns, head-off, tail intact

* handful of cherry tomato

* 1/2 tsp curry powder (replacing handful of fresh or dried curry leaves on original recipe)

* 1 tbs turmeric powder

* 400ml light coconut milk

* 200ml water

* 250 grams fish fillet (original recipe: monkfish. Mine: halibut)

* 100g spinach

* handful of coriander leaves

* lime wedges to serve

I skipped:

- Mustard seed,

- Chili powder (having 5 years old is quite challenging sometimes)

How to:

* Heat oil on pan, add cumin, ginger&green chili, stir for about 30seconds.

* Add onion, stir about 5-10 until translucent, make sure you do not burn it.

* Add prawn, mix with onion, stir until prawn cooked, add tomato and turmeric powder, stir evenly.

* Time to put in coconut milk and water, stir well, simmer for about 10 minutes.

* Add fish, simmer again for about 5 minutes, then turn the heat off.

* Last, add spinach and coriander leaves just before serving it.

* Served with lime wedges.

It taste rather light, compare to usual Indian curry, we ate accompany with saffron-infused Basmati rice, and it was gone in half an hour.

Definitely cooks it again :-)

Day Tripper: Cable Car ride at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah

2012-08-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

It was not our 1st time visit Taman Mini Indonesia Indah in East Jakarta, not like our trip before, this time our timing was not quite perfect. Our little brother and his wife and son were in J-town, and this little man was very eager to had first hand experience riding Cable Car. I could recall my last ride on the same cable car was like 25-30 years ago, so this kind of exciting for me and my kids too.

Though we came early enough -early as on our timeline of course-, once we hit Taman Mini gate we saw thousand of people flooded this park already. We decided we had to jump on the queue of the first cable car station -thanks to our parent that lend us their car plus driver, so we don't have to find parking spot ourselves-.

Bought our ticket, lining lane seems empty, we thought we still can kick up our morning with another ride after Cable Car, until we followed through this metal-waist-height-bar to turnstill door, got our hand stamp, and wohoo....the queue was just unbelievably long! It seems moving through though, so we kept going until up to Cable Car deck an MORE and MORE people -was waiting on the platform. No turning point, we continued queue, tried to do quick math between numbers of people and timing of cable cars come and go. Long way to go. We did not think that it will be this long queue so we left our drinking water inside our car, and no sight of water vendor on the deck -on that time I really wish there were drink vendor or 'pedagang asongan' as we called it.

This flashing timer turned green after 26 seconds, means the cable car on the queue is ready to dispatch....it's 26 seconds distance between one cabin and another...

Rama loves buildings, structures and mechanical things so much, this photo taken by him -so I could check the company who made this Cable Cars on the net, that was he said-

We finally had turn to jump on our cabin after about 1 hour 10 minutes standing on the queue. Cable car ride was about 10 minutes, gliding along from C station (where we started) to B station and return back from B to C. There was also another station, A station which lead to B station too, and back to A again.

The view from atop was fantastic, we could see Taman Mini area from above, getting to enjoyed Taman Mini more compare with driving around this huge park -which one of traveller blogger said that "nothing mini about Taman Mini"-

It's worth the queue and Rp.25.000,- ticket fare.

Should try again next time.

Lego all the way

2012-06-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

When I uploaded picture above -the main family picture- in front of Legoland Malaysia's sign on my Facebook, I flooded by e-mails and messages asking about if this place is actually open. Some of friends thinking I was on holiday in Malaysia, some are envy that we got there on first day -thanks to my provocative info on my picture :-)

Then I had to tell the truth, that we actually only went to Gandaria City Mall nearby, and they happened to have Legoland Malaysia booth on LG level opposite Kopitiam Restaurant, and according to booth's staffs we were one of less than 5 families visited that day because they just had opened their booth. Of course they had special price for entrance ticket, IDR 288.000 instead of IDR 420.000 for adult and IDR 210.000 instead of IDR 330.000 for child and senior member (60+). Pre-sale ticket valid from opening day -which is plan on Sept 15- to Dec 2012.

Apart from Legoland booth there were also big Lego display on main LG lobby -cmiiw- that were not so outstanding, some little details are cute. Like the Firemen doing push-up exercise or a fireman on its pole.

This time, Lego had new collection called 'Friends', marketed for girls age 6-12, which my daughter completely fall in love with it. Though we loves Lego so much, we think this Friends collection still bit pricey at the moment so we decided we not getting any but Friends minifigure for my little girl.

They will have this Lego display until school holiday ends, about 2nd week of July. If you really want to see it, heading off to Gandaria City, LG, around opposite Ace Hardware area.

Happy Holidays!

Jakarta from my camera : June 2012

2012-06-11T22:54:00.002-07:00

It is June, and Jakarta -big city often referred as Big Durian- will be one year older. Apart from smoked,fumed cursed and tot-toted motorbikes and cars fighting for their tiny space on its roads and 'gangs', I found plenty interesting things in Jakarta.

My son sketch for his version of Jakarta Guidebook he created with his classmates few months ago, and his introduction about Jakarta were interesting, with his personal view about Big Durian -rough and smelly on the outside but really sweet and great on the inside- gave me the idea to capture many you would not -or not yet- see about Jakarta.

It's unfortunate that my first snapshots were taken from a deli inside big hotel, which of course putting a lot into this celebration month. Put it aside, 'Roti Semprong' -a thin,crispy and sweet traditional snack made from flour and shaped onto cigar-size was always a prominent feature you would see in June, alongside 'Roti Buaya' -a crocodile shaped sweet bun-.

That's all for now. Will be back with more pictures...

Sunday Snapshot

2012-06-03T23:34:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 3rd 2012

Snapshot between Aksara Bookstore in Kemang , Mc Donald in Kemang and Lunch around Kemang, South Jakarta...

And things from Tintin-themed Birthday Party my son invited

Baskets of interest

2012-05-27T22:28:00.000-07:00

There is one big shopping mall just sprout around the corner of my house -literally- .

{In Jakarta, if you could walk to shopping mall in 10 minutes, that consider very close :-) }

And like many other malls, this one had big supermarket on their basement, which many Indonesian friend told me they like to came and shop there because many items are on special -of course, it's new anyway, they need to get customer in, isn't is?-

Armed with information about cheap groceries -I meant, on special price- I went for venture two weeks ago, arrived on this big supermarket -no wonder they called themselves hyper- and found many -yes many- items we consume on daily basis are on special indeed.

Then I found on one of their back corner, a basket section that too good to be true -if we talking about baskets in Supermarket, most of the times I will found those cheap distasteful plastic one. I never found baskets section like this. It's made from faux rattan -sort of plastic, maybe, oh well- but it does have a great looks. The only downside was the supermarket staffs clearly do not know how to arrange and displayed it based on shapes or colors , if they put little bit effort on it, I thought it would be wonderful....

{in case you wondering about my pictures, yes I DID ARRANGE it a bit, for the sake of my snapshot :-) }

Price wise, around IDR 35.000 (for smaller round with about 12cm diameter) to IDR 120.000 for the big tall round basket. Round basket bit more expensive compare to square or rectangle counterparts.

After hours of yes-no-yes-no, I finally laid my choice on this...

Where you could find this:

Hypermart Supermarket on Kemang Village - Jalan Antasari - South Jakarta.

Mee Mamak

2012-03-08T06:48:00.000-08:00

This recipe I got from Gordon Ramsay's book 'Great Escape to Southeast Asia'. I often modified the stir-fry ingredients to suit whatever left on my fridge. No matter what I added, I never skipped the core ingredients or sauce -though I exchange the chili sauce on sauce part with fresh-sliced red chili for the sake of my children.

So here what you need (for 4 serve)

Sauce:
2 tbsp chili sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp dark sweet soy sauce
2 tbsp peanut oil

For stir fry:
2 tbsp peanut oil
2 garlic cloves,finely chopped
2 shallots,peeled and finely sliced
2 chicken breast, skinless & boneless, finely sliced
1 potato, peeled, boiled, diced
2 tsp curry powder
50g beansprouts
500g fresh cooked yellow noodle (mee)
2 squid, cleaned and cut into rings

Garnish:
2 spring onion, finely sliced
8 large poached prawn, de-veined
1 lime, cut into wedges
2 eggs, hard boiled and quartered lengthways

HOW TO:
- Mixed the sauce ingredients in a bowl, and put aside.
- Heat peanut oil in a wok and cook garlic and shallot about 1 minutes,add chicken, potato and curry powder, stir fry about 3-4minutes until chicken cooked through.
- Add sauce to the pan, mixed well so all ingredients are coated evenly. Add the beansprout and noodle, stir fry for further 3-4 minutes until noodle start to crisp up in some place. Remove from wok.
- Add squid onto the same wok and cook for 1-2 minutes, don't let it overcooked.
- Serve the noodle, topped with the squid and garnish with spring onion, chilis, prawns, lime wedges and egg.
- Enjoy.

Super Easy Banana Cake

2012-03-07T05:54:00.002-08:00

I got this super easy Banana Cake from Donna Hay -she always inspired me with all her simple recipe-.

Having 'rotten' banana in my pantry was a good excuse to turn it into banana cake -rather than bin it!

So here the recipe:

125g butter, softened
1 cup (220g) caster (superfine) sugar
¼ cup (45g) brown sugar
3 eggs
2 cups (300g) plain (all-purpose) flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ cup (180g) sour cream
1 cup roughly mashed banana

And this is how:

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
Place the butter, caster sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy.
Gradually add the eggs and beat well.
Sift the flour and baking powder over the mixture.
Add the cinnamon, sour cream and banana and stir to combine.
Spoon the mixture into a greased 26cm fluted ring tin.
Bake for 40 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
Cool on a wire rack.

The original recipe come with extra caramel sauce topped onto this cake once it cooked and place on a wire rack. I skipped this part -just for the sake of saving time- and the cake was huge hit among my children.

I also tried to swap the banana with carrot on other time, with approximately same amount of shredded carrot (about 1cup).

Happy baking :-)

7 Days Sketching Challenge

2012-02-09T01:49:00.000-08:00

On last holiday, instead of running around the house do some silly movements, I challenged my son to do 7-days sketching. He agreed, and he started with Sydney Harbour Bridge -he fond of his memories of spent time sitting on the Harbour did nothing but sketching, he was 4 back then- and I believe Sydney colored his character.

He finished off with Pasopati Bridge in Bandung-West Java, which he would spent hours looking at it from our hotel room, last time we holiday in Bandung.

I love to share this with you, as a proud mom -of course- and I believe aspiring artist should be nurture with love :-)

Blame it on the rain

2011-12-27T17:19:00.000-08:00

Blame it on the rain

"Sorry mam, the gate closed and the aircraft moving already."
What???

This trip intended to be a short trip for me, 2days and 1 night, to visit my mum that undergo small surgery recently. I completely aware this is holiday season, so I opt for cheapest flight -that not so cheap anyway on holiday season- and choose earliest outbond flight to Semarang. Flight was 5.40, with previous experienced traveling early, I assume 4.30 start from home buy me enough time.

I miscalculated the rain and how it affected the traffic. And roadworks just inside the airport. Needless to say, 15minutes extra I spent inside my taxi cost me an extra $200 from ticket price I already paid on the net - for getting two new tickets for next available flight. That the price I initially refused to pay as I thought it is to pricey for such a short trip.

Never happened in my life before I missed my flight. 5.25 arrived on the airport, getting rejected on check-in desk, frantic phone call to my pilot-cousin, texted my husband -with my shaking hand, you bet, and I believe I just gave him early minute headache before work- then sprints from one tiket counter to another tried to get next available flight, with no result.

As my husband told me last night, I haven't been traveling with my kids only for a while. He kept asking to make sure that I got all prepare and kept saying that I need more practice -he thought I'm getting rusty with all this flying thing.

Oh well.
Here I am now, with my daughter that super cool -she had no complain at all, all they way I dragged her here and there to process the ticket- ; on waiting lounge, and will be here for another 3hours at least.

Bad luck really cost a lot.

Ayu HUSODO
www.strawberrypatch.biz

Traveler tummy

2011-12-25T06:43:00.000-08:00

I've been tortured by diarrhea in the past few days with bathroom sprint inclusive. Traveler diarrhea I may call it, as it's not only me who got the bugs but my husband also, and we traveled out of Jakarta last week. We consciously eating local food we rarely ate, assuming after three years live in Indonesia our tummies are adjusting well. Apparently, is not.

I got the luxury to stay at home -completely at home- in the past couple of days so this tummy trouble thing seems not a big deal. When it comes to unavoidable event today -a friend wedding reception- I went out with worry. How if it will kick me during the reception? Or how if we trap on traffic when my tummy calling in?

Fortunately, things I worried most did not happen.
Not without sacrificed, as I had to say no to myself every time I looked into array of great foods on the reception. Our friend happen to be from Padang, and the traditional food from West Sumatra definitely present. Dendeng Balado never looked so good. I force myself to say goodbye to Dendeng Balado. It was disappointing.

Lesson well learn for me, for never push myself off my limit -in term of eating- , that the consequences are hard to bear (read: tummy cramps and bloating). Suddenly I remember the day I tease my expat friend when she got spice-shock with Indonesian food. What goes around, comes around -I guessed-.
For you my bule friend, if you read this, I sincerely apologize for my misbehavior in the past :-(

Project "Nasi Kuning"

2011-10-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

It was not the first time I made Nasi Kuning, but it is a very first time my son, Big R helping me with all the preparation.

It was not in grande-scale of nasi Kuning. We only did a bit of 'verkadel or perkedel' -a tiny fried potato ball-,sliced omelet, beef shredded and cucumber playing part on salad side. We left original sambal goreng and fried chicken away. Fresh Parsley and slices of red-chilli balancing the colors just perfect.

His school had an event called "United Nation Evening" last Friday, and we decided to share our nasi kuning side by side with other food our fellow Indonesian brought on Indonesia Booth.

With his birthday was 2 days away, it is a great reason to share the joy with the whole school. Having it's history, Nasi Kuning was always a winner for Big R.

Sugar Factory & Museum , Klaten , Central Java

2011-10-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

On our last Lebaran holiday, on the way from Solo to Jogjakarta, we intentionally stopped by on this Sugar factory, located on the roadside of Solo to Jogjakarta main road, on the outskirt of a small town called Klaten, to be precise.

Me and kiddo had been visited this place once, the main idea was we wanted to take a stroll inside this sugar factory complex using their wood-powered lorry used to carry sugarcane crops from a nearby plantation. We missed the last lorry schedule by 10minutes, so my children were quite disappointed at that time.

So when we were passing by this sugar factory again this time, we decided to stop and try our luck.

Me myself was growing up on small suburb outskirt Solo, near a sugar factory called 'Colomadu'. So I was no stranger to lorries carrying sugarcane, the sirens of the factory used to marks shift changing, or days of local night market setting on around the factory once a year when it's come to sweet season the factory will start to turn those freshly harvesting sugarcane into white sugar. I still remember the aroma of cotton candy sold by food vendor on the market with merry go round on the backdrop.

I always wanted go share the experience with my little family about it. The opportunity has open its own door for us.

Just like others, this Gondang sugar factory built by Dutch when they had Indonesia as their colony. Old yet sturdy, Gondang is one of the couples of the sugar factory still operating these days in Central Java, under government-owned company.

It cost IDR 25,000 per person to ride the lorry around the sugar factory. It was only 4 people aboard before us, another 4 passengers aboard after us, off we went around. The lorry itself was German-made, 1 loco and 3 lorries. We sat on 1st and 2nd seat row on 1st lorry, right behind the loco, once they started adding more and more wood to its loco-burner, we were chocked by smoke -literally- ; and moved to very back seat of the lorry while laughed for our poor seat choice.

Lorries run at 1 km/hour speed -I guessed- given the mechanic ran on its side faster than lorries. It's gave us good view of inside the factory. Those huge and unused machinery on its yard, many old trucks and vehicles used to transport harvested sugar cane and they even have their own electricity power plant inside the factory.

The tour with lorries around the factory took no more than 30minutes but was really worth an experience.

I wasn't aware that my son was very much into the sugar museum as well. The museum lay on the same complex with the factory, with a couple of old locos displayed on its front yard. We had to buy another ticket to go inside the museum,IDR 10,000 per person. The museum is not big but had quite complete information about history of sugar factories around Central Java. Some information that was framed on the wall were in Dutch language -since we don't understand at all, my son insisted to take some pictures of those information and he will show to his Dutch fellows at school and have it translate.

Apart from a usual map and mock-up they put on display, they had an old type-writing machine and sewing machine on display as well. I had no idea why it's on display. No information whatsoever. I guess it might be from one of the house occupied by head of Gondang Baru Sugar Factory.

Needless to say, 10,000 rupiah certainly worth for me, giving the experience our kids had on the museum. If it's not that we have to continue our road trip, we would stay a bit longer and have a tea break on their in house 'Banaran Cafe' . May be next time.

Pea&Pasta with Ginger-broth Soup

2011-10-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

Quick & easy ...

For 4 serve, you will need:
1litre of chicken stock
150gr of frozen peas
200gr small-shaped pasta, cook until al dente
6 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
4cm of ginger, finely sliced
salt and white pepper to season

How to:

Heat the chicken stock on heavy-based pan, medium heat, add garlic and ginger once its boiling.
Reduce the heat, let it simmer for about 10minutes.
Add pasta,peas and let it simmer for about 5 more minutes.
Season with salt & white pepper to taste.

Hopeless Homemade....

2011-08-25T07:13:00.000-07:00

I wonder when we in Indonesia be able to download this app :-(

http://demo.fb.se/e/ikea/homemade_is_best_app/index_en.html

Red and White: Dirgahayu my Indonesia

2011-08-16T01:46:00.000-07:00

It's Independence day celebration kind of morning for me, hopped from one school -my son first- to another -my daughter afterward- . We were so ready to celebrate, dressed up in red and white and eagerly came for Upacara Bendera.

So there I was, attending Indonesia Independence day ceremony on the Netherlands School, sang Indonesia Raya, recital Pancasila and Declaration of Independence text, and seeing my son became the flag bearer for the very first time, yet I standing next to many Dutch -which once had us as their colony.

Singing Indonesia Raya was my regular chore since my son previous school has assembly once a week that include sang national anthem from both countries. Though I could not recall when it was last time I recite either Pancasila or the Declaration of Independence. And sometimes me and friends had quiz time when we will snapped the 4th of Pancasila -the longest one- and none of us could answered correctly.

Seeing bule -not one but many- dressed in red and white shivering me to the bone. I loves the view along the street lately, a festive on going with many red and white flags and banners, but when I saw people wore it -and they not Indonesian- and little children proudly march and sang Indonesia Pusaka -and again, they not Indonesian- it's remind me that I'm still Indonesia and should do more than dress up and celebrate once a year occasion like this. And less whining about this country.

Ok,lets move on before I become mellow.

It should be the say we cheer up about our independence, right?

So I moved to my daughter school, they held a celebration in fun way, with un-traditional games for the kids.

Before they started the game, once I walk to the school backyard, I greeted with very familiar song and travelled me to my primary-school age in an instant. They had Senam Kesegaran Jasmani song -oooh...I can't fint the perfect world to translate it...lost in translation- played loud, with the kids exercise slash dance accordingly, one of the teacher stand on the front guided them and show the movement.

As it's hilarious it could be for me to see children bumping each other and tried to do their best action-; this is another thing: when did the last time I hear this song? A song played regularly once a week when I was on a kid, meant to make us do light exercise. I wonder if primary school this age still do the same. Or it might in public school? I have no clue.

Then the games begun. 3 different games, full of laugh, great way to enjoy my morning.

And of course everybody is the winner on those games. The teachers wisely gave every kids their own ribbon so no one felt left behind.

I saw my children enjoy their celebration day, now it's got me thinking: I will find out if there will be games playing on our local kampung tomorrow, I will take them to watch.

I know Independence Day celebration it's not only about ceremony, games or dress attire, but this time let me just say:

Dirgahayu my Indonesia.

Which one you favor most: Metro Mini or Ayam Pop?

2011-08-05T01:47:00.000-07:00

I went to SMESCO building yesterday, located on jalan Gatot Subroto -one of the main road in South Jakarta. Their UKM Gallery housed many beautiful craft from Indonesia's small business -it's a shame the caretaker could not generate visitor to this place, as I heard from many vendors.

It's 5 storey full of batiks, wooden handcraft, jewelry and many more, but what hooked me up most is this unique pins made by Mahanagari.

I risked my life to get this snapshot, the creator won't be objected -I suppose, since I plan to spread their good craft to the world...free publicity won't do any harm...

These two were only example of many more Mahanagari has created.

So, metro Mini or Ayam Pop?

Strawberry Patch on TV..yeeehaaa

2011-08-01T22:23:00.000-07:00

Check this out...

It's a shame that I wasn't prepared to record it, so I kind of missed the first 10-15 seconds of the opening, when they showing all our softies by calling their name.

Funny when I so eager to record it, all those buttons on my camera or mobile phone doesn't really work :-(

It's our debut in Indonesia, I really hoping this 3minutes to fame boost our sales, despite some incorrect quotes about my personal information and numbers...

Cheeers for Strawberry Patch!

Ballet on air

2011-06-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

Before you read this through, I am telling you that I write this just because I quite like the show, not that I am this shopping mall PR or spoke person that getting paid writing this -oooh I wish-

Well, it was suppose to be quick visit to the shopping mall, just to grab some lunch and get a software for my son laptop. Once we stepped on to the centre of this shopping centre we saw crowd of people, heard loud songs and saw kind of steel structure , and there were two girls 'hanging' on that structure. It turn out that this shopping mall had a show what it call "Ballet on Air' during this holiday season. Presented by Aerial Angels from Australia, they will running the show up to July 3rd; once a day during weekend, twice on Saturday and three times on Sunday.

So I decided to watch 2nd show on 2pm with my daughter; in order to get the best seat possible, I queue half an hour before show start, my daughter was so patience she not even asked me for her Ipod to play with while waiting for the show to begin.

This is what I could I remember about the show. The show itself divided into 4 section, 1st was 2 girls playing and climbing the silk fabric that hanging down from the top of those steel-structure -what should I call it- on the centre of the stage, which were very brave and quite sensational. The 2nd section was three girls doing another fabrics on the side of the stage. Not pretty much different with the first show. The 3rd was kind of boring for me, another two girls playing with kind of white hoop with kind of sequin-around-the-edge.

The 4th?

2 girls riding a kind of swing then pulled off to the top of the structure, then they happily playing swings, somersault on the air and so. It was the best part for me and my daughter.

There will be couple of days left for the show, if you like to watch yourself, come to Gandaria City before they pack their back and go home.

And yes I will take the credit if you go to this shopping mall because you reading this.

Happy Holidays

Behind the front door......

5 Days Food Challenge: Day 2 with Pasta with tomatoes, tuna and chillies

5 Days Food Challenge : Day 3 with Spicy Beef Goulash

5 Days Food Challenge: Day 1 with Thai Green Beef Curry

Simple Tomato Pasta

Chicken with Garlic & Rosemary

Featuring on Stumble Abroad : I'm fabulous ;-)

Fabulous Jakartan: Ayu, the Indonesian Crafty Mompreneur

So, here’s Ayu’s Fabulous Jakartan Friday Interview.

Tell me more, tell me more

Living in Jakarta

Traveling in Indonesia

Jakarta Mama

Crafting in Jakarta

Eating in the Big Durian

Amazing & exciting experience like no other

Share this:

Prawn & Fish Curry - British Style

Day Tripper: Cable Car ride at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah

Lego all the way

Jakarta from my camera : June 2012

Sunday Snapshot

Baskets of interest

Mee Mamak

Super Easy Banana Cake

7 Days Sketching Challenge

Blame it on the rain

Traveler tummy

Project "Nasi Kuning"

Sugar Factory & Museum , Klaten , Central Java

Pea&Pasta with Ginger-broth Soup

Hopeless Homemade....

Red and White: Dirgahayu my Indonesia

Which one you favor most: Metro Mini or Ayam Pop?

Strawberry Patch on TV..yeeehaaa

Ballet on air