Behind the front door......

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

Day 7 Challenge : Simple Burger

2011-06-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

Most of time, I refused to give my kids burger from one or two fast food chains here, no matter they guaranteed their patty made from 100% beef, no fat playing part. Not only the patties concerning me, it has almost no vegetables on it. You can't ask for salad too.

I tried to make my own patty with no satisfying result. Until I found recipe from Jamie' Ministry of Food. It might sound so lame, but I never looked back since. I did this couple of time, become household favourite, and I did again on my last day of challenge.

Oh well, home-made burger always taste better.

So for the patty, I use:

* 12 piece plain crackers, ground using food processor.

* a hand full of parsley, finely chop

* 2 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

* 500g minced beef

* 1 large egg

* sea salt & ground black pepper as needed

* olive oil

How to:

Mix all ingredients except olive oil.
Divide into 6 -for quite large patty- or 8 (I did 8), mould into roundish shape -you could use cookie cutter- about 1-2cm thick, drizzle with olive oil, cover and place in the fridge until you want to use it. It helps them to firm up.
If you like to freeze them, wrap individually on cling film/ plastic wrapper and store on airtight container before freeze it. It should last about 2 weeks.

To fry, I like to use large pan with very minimum oil just to even the heat. Fry for about 4 minutes, turning once halfway.

So simple and easy, I prepared my patty with supermarket- bought bun with plenty salads on side.

Now we can call it healthy burger ;-)

Day 6 challenge: Steam Fish - Asian Style

2011-06-16T06:18:00.000-07:00

It should be Salmon.

I do not know why I shop for white fish instead of Salmon. I had cloudy mind on the day 6 challenge, my work overtaking me and my mind, so I don't know if I could still on this challenge when I deliberately change the main ingredient. It's still fish, but grouper surely have no family connection with those salmon.

I wish I had Jamie's on my speed dial so I could ask about this.

Things happened anyway, dinner still have to be server, so I choose to move on and cook.

For 2 serves (I always doubling it, 2 serves is what the book said)

you will need:

* A handful of broccoli (I swap white chinese greens instead, i.e baby bok choy), slice half lenghtways , rinse well.

* 220g of water chestnut (yee-haa...still had leftover from previous day challenge), slice

* About 400g fish fillet (grouper, not salmon)

* A handfull of sugar-snaps peas

How to do your fish:

* Prepare a steamer, fill with water and bring it to boil.

* Use heat-proof bowl -kinda pyrex thing-; place the water chestnut, then add sugar snaps then bok choy on the top. Place the fish on the very top, cover with foil. Seal the edge tight so the steam stays. (Jamie used colander, I choose not to move the fish from one to another plate)

* Steam for about 10minutes.

While you wait for your fish to be ready, you could start preparing the dressing.

For the dressing, you need:

* 2cm garlic, peel and grate

* 1 clove of garlic, peel and grate

* 1/2 fresh chili, deseed and finely slice

* 1 spring onion, finely slice

* 2 tbs soy sauce

* 3 tbs extra virgin olive oil

* 1 lemon, squeeze the juice out.

Mix everything together on ceramic bowl using spoon, put aside.

Your fish should be ready by the time you finish your sauce.

Drizzle the sauce over.

Ready to serve, I served with rice.

The best steam fish ever!

Day 5 Challenge : Thai Green Curry

2011-06-14T05:10:00.000-07:00

Day 5 challenge, I started to wearing out. Its not that I don't like to cook the good food, I just frustated for not be able to get all herbs I need from my local supermarket.Challenge still on,another 3 meals for my next 3 days.

I plan to do curry this time. Thai curry,not the Indian version.

With a dash of hope, I popped back to my local supermarket to check if they stock corriander leaves. I asked my maid earlier to get it from her local vegie vendor, but this corriander leaves quite unpopular, no vendor knew it.

Then I got the biggest shock in my life -ok, I'm overreacted- but yes, how shocked could you be if you find a bunch of corriander weight 100g cost almost 40,000 rupiah, and I used to pay not more than Rp.10,000 So forget about fresh corriander, I decided to use dried corriander instead. Oh well....

So for the green curry paste, you will need:

* 2 stalks of lemongrass, trim and crush the stalks

* 4 spring onions, trim and chop

* 3 fresh green chillies, halve and deseed, chop

* 4 cloves of garlic, peel and chop

* About 2cm ginger, peel and chop

* 2 tsp dried coriander seeds

* 8 fresh lime leaves

* 3 tbs soy sauce

* 1 tbs fish sauce

Put everything on food processor, whizz them, half way whizzing you could add soy sauce and fish sauce, whizz again until become a smooth pasta.

For 2 serves of curry, you will need:

* 4-5 stalk of asparagus, finely slice lengthways

* half fresh chili, finely chop -deseed if you like to have your curry less hot-

* 1 tbs oil - Jamie prefer nut based oil, I have none, so I use canola instead

* 1 tbs sesame oil

* 400g raw prawns, peeled

* 400ml coconut milk (I use tinned coconut milk)

* a cup of french beans or sugar snap peas -I use sugar-snap peas-

* 1 lime

How to:

* Place a large wok on high heat, once its really hot, add both oil, swirl around and add the prawn, asparagus and green curry paste, stir it for about 30 seconds. Pour in the coconut milk, add the peas.

* Stir well, bring to boil, cook for another few minutes.

* Taste it, add more soy sauce if you like it.

* Turn the heat down, squeeze the juice out from the lime on to the curry.

Ready to serve, best eating while is hot and accompany by jasmine rice.

Day 4 Challenge : Chicken Chow Mein

2011-05-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

My daughter pop up a question when I did the dishes last night - after our glorious sweet n sour beef dinner: does Jamie do noodle?

Of course he does.

Me too.

So we had another quick stir-fry dinner, chicken chow mein partnered with noodle. Fresh and filling.

When I check the ingredient needed, there is on item I never use before, water chestnut, and I'm not familiar at all with this ingredient. I even never see it before, let alone taste it. I googled it out of curiosity -and even tried to translate water chestnut into Bahasa Indonesia, which came up with silly word not representing water chestnut at al-.

So I tried my luck to local supermarket, and found canned water chestnut on it's isle. Great.

Before you start turn up the heat, better be sure that all ingredients are ready, sliced and measured. All stir fries I experienced was always a quick cooking process, left you no room to stop, break and catch if anything missing from your prepared ingredients, let alone turn down the heat. Your stir fry won't taste the same.

So, for 4 serves, you will need:

* 350gr noodle (I used 1 pack fresh hokkien noodle)

* 2 large chicken breast fillet, cut into finger-size, season with salt n pepper, put aside.

* 1 bunch of bok choy, cut lenghtway, wash.

* fresh ginger, about 3cm, finely slice.

* 4 cloves of garlic, finely slice.

* 3-4 spring onion, finely slice.

* 4 shiitake mushroom (optional), tear into pieces.

* 1 fresh chilli, de-seed if you don't want it to spicy, slice

* 400g canned water chestnut, slice, put back on it's original water.

* Nut oil (about 30 ml)

* 2 teaspoon corn flour.

* 3-4 tablespoon soy sauce.

* sea salt & freshly ground pepper.

* bunch of fresh coriander, pick the leaves and finely chop the stalks

* 1 small lime, halve.

How to:

* Preheat a wok/large frying pan on high heat, add the oil, swirl it around.

* Stir in the chicken for couple of minutes until bit brown, then add the ginger,garlic,chili, coriander stalks, mushroom ad half the spring onion, stir for another 30 seconds.

* Boil a pan of water, once it boiling add your noodle and bok-choy for about 2-3 minutes. Don't get overcooked.

* Add the cornflour and water chestnut and it's water to the wok, stir again and make sure nothing stick on the bottom of the wok.

* Remove from the head, add the soy sauce and juice of the lime, mix well.

* Drain the noodle & bok choy, reserving a bit of cooking water.

* Stir in the noodle and bok choy to the wok, add little cooking water if needed to loosen up.

* If you like, add more soy sauce to taste.

* Sprinkle with the rest of the onion and coriander leaves, serve with lime wedge.

Enjoy!

Day Tripper : Miniapolis

2011-05-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

As much as we don't favour indoor playground, we kinda run out of option few Sundays ago. We don't usually do Sunday outing but since government decided that following Monday it's public holiday so we think it's ok to splurge another day on the weekend.

We could not stand the heat and humidity, so the idea to go play in Miniapolis- a kind of indoor playground-just pop on our head. We never been there as a family but Little Miss R went once with her school mate. She jumped for joy when we told her our destination and therefore busy telling her big brother for do and don't in Miniapolis.

It should be 30 minutes drive -tops- from our residence to Miniapolis -which located right in downtown Jakarta, on the 3rd level of Plaza Indonesia-. Thanks to our lack of information about half day traffic detour every 2nd and 4th Sunday on the bloodline of Jakarta -jl.Sudirman and jl.Thamrin,- took us more than 1 hour -which include circling around same streets couple of time, Google Map wasn't helping either-.

As we expected, not many visitors when we arrived about midday. We learnt our research that many Jakartan start flocking shopping mall around 1-2pm. Means we got chance to enjoy most before getting to crowded. We decided to bought day-pass ticket which covered all venues and unlimited playing time -and it's not cheap for sure, double it as well-.

{ Amazed }

{ Getting the ID tag }

Miniapolis itself bit larger that I thought, with shops surrounding its carousel and playground, mini-train track plastered on the floor, snaking around between shops and connecting one area to another. We jumped on the train and I had a good look of the shops when aboard while my kids enjoy the ride. Well-known shops like Mothercare, Crocs or Okaidi -the newest brand from French- were among them. I like independent store like Little Heirloom with their gorgeous display. One if them like Brown Tree displayed very cute doll with -unfortunately-not-so-cute price tag attached.

Since we bought day pass tickets, we had the liberty to stop playing, grabbed our lunch on foodcourt 3 levels down, and back uplevel to play more. There were couple of restaurants and cafes on the same level as Miniapolis. We choose cafe Excelso and got ourselves -me and my husband- caffeine while our kids conquered tha playground. This cafe was packed with parents waited for their kids play on the playground. So we had to kept ordering so we don't get kick out ;-)

No children happy when its time to go home. Mine too. If following day still a holiday, I would be happy to let them play for a couple more hours, and I could also have more times to enjoy my afternoon coffee with my husband.

One last game before we headed home, Digiwall. Here, my kids in one team play another sibling, and hey, it was so much fun. Physical -as they had to touch all the light that on randomly and having their score announced at the end yet challenging. I do not mind playing it if they allow me.

{ Ready to climb the Digiwall }

Will we back? Hmmm...yes, not anytime soon but yes.

See you in another day tripper.

Apologize... And I'm back on business...

2011-05-29T03:16:00.000-07:00

Dear readers,
I'm sorry to let you down for not post anything in the past 4 days,
not because I'm lazy or gave up, it's my internet connection that
giving up on me.
It's back to business now, fingers crossed, and I never feel so
eager to write like now.

;-)

Day 3 Challenge: Sweet and Sour Beef

2011-05-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

After potato and pasta, I though doing Asia with rice would be nice.

Taken from quick stir fry chapter on -still- Jamie's Ministry of food, this recipe originally using pork instead of beef. We don't eat pork, but I guess beef will do just great. And I never cooked with pineapple before, so diced a can of pineapple was hard to me, not that I don't like doing it, I merely capable to dicing without putting some on my mouth. Bad bad chef!

Based on my experience, for 4 serves,

you need:

* sea salt & freshly ground pepper

* 350g Jasmine Rice (original recipe using Basmati rice)

* 400g beef fillet, dice.

* 2 small onion, peel and dice.

* 2 red pepper, deseed and cut into dice.

* about 4cm of fresh root ginger, finely slice.

* 4 cloves of garlic, finely slice.

* a small bunch of fresh coriander, pick the leaves and put aside, chop the stalks.

* peanut oil (Jamie's used Groundnut oil, I could not find one in Jakarta. Sad sad sad..).

* 2 heaped teaspoon five spice powder

* 2 teaspoons cornflour

* 4-5 tablespoon soy sauce

* 1 tin of pineapple chunks (mine is about 450g)

* 3-4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

The original recipe also use round lettuce and sesame seed, which I skipped, simply because I had no time to get it from my local supermarket.

How to:

* Cook rice as directed on its packaging

* Pre-heat a wok or large frying pan on high heat, once it's very hot add the oil and swirl it around.

* Add the beef and five spice powder, stir.

* Cook for a few minute until brown, move to a bowl, and wipe the wok with kitchen towel.

* Return the wok to the heat, when its rely hot add about 60ml of oil ad all chopped ingredients.

* Stir everything together for about 2 minutes, then stir the cornflour and soy sauce, let everything cook for 30-40seconds.

* Add the pineapple chunk with it's juice, beef and balsamic vinegar. Season with pepper and more soy sauce if you like (which I did)

* Cook for a few minutes so the sauce get thicker -gravy like.

Superb!

Day 2 Challenge: Pasta with a creamy smoked (beef) bacon and pea sauce

2011-05-25T02:38:00.000-07:00

We love pasta. Simple pasta like aglio olio was always a comforting food. But I want to go further from simple aglio olio or simple tomato based pasta.

So here, my first ever creamy pasta cooked in Jakarta ;-)

Taken from 'Quick Pasta' chapter of Jamie's Ministry of Food, I cooked gnocchi-shaped pasta with a creamy smoked (beef) bacon and pea sauce.

For serves 3-4, I need:

* 7 slices smoked beef bacon (original recipe using bacon or pancetta, we don't eat pancetta so we used beef bacon instead);

finely slice

* a small bunch of fresh mint, pick the leaves and discard the stalk

* 100g Parmesan Cheese, finely grated

* Sea salt & freshly ground pepper

* 300g dried gnocchi-shaped pasta

* Olive oil

* a knob of butter (me, 30g)

* 200g frozen peas

* 1.5 heaped dessertspoon creme fraiche

* 1/2 lemon

How to:

* Bring a large pan of salted water to boil, cook pasta according to the packet instruction.

* Get a large frying pan over a medium heat and add olive oil & butter, add the beef bacon to the pan, sprinkle with pepper and fry until golden and crisp.

* As soon as the beef bacon is golden, add the frozen peas and give the pan a good shake.

* After a minute or so, add chopped mint and creme fraiche to bacon and peas.

* Drain pasta in colander, reserving some of the cooking water.

* Add the pasta to the frying pan

* Squeeze the juice over the pasta

* When it's bubbling away, remove from the heat, add the grated Parmesan and give the pan a shake to mix it.

{If the sauce is to thick, add reserved cooking water to thin it out a bit before you add the Parmesan}

Serve with green salad

(We just eat it with fresh rocket from our garden. Heaven!)

Day 1 Challenge : Chicken , Leek and Mushroom Stroganoff

2011-05-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

{-based on Jamie's book : Ministry of Food-}

Here I am on day 1 cooking challenge from my daughter, finding myself flipping hundred pages of few Jamie' book I owned. Back and forth between recipes and stocks inside my fridge and my kitchen cupboard, I'm delighted with what I could put together and turn into something simple and delicious:
Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Stroganoff.

The book stated it will takes 19 minutes -no further info whether its include cleaning up kitchen mess and washing all pots and pans, or not-.

Here the recipe, for serves 2 you will need:
• 1 large leek
• a big handful of oyster mushroom
• 2 chicken breast, diced
• Olive oil a good lug of it (me, about 30 ml)
• a knob of butter (me, 20gram)
• a glass of white wine (I use none)
• a bunch of fresh parsley
• 285ml single cream (I use half sour cream and half cream, based on supply left on my fridge)
• 1 lemon
• sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
• long grain or basmati rice to serve (we swap the rice with potato)

How to:
• Cook the rice as packaging instruction.
• Cut both ends off the leek, quarter lengthways, slice across thinly, then wash well under running water ( I learned to do the right thing with leek this time...)
• Slice the mushrooms
• Put a large frying pan on high heat and add the olive oil and butter.
• Add the leek to the pan (+ white wine), a small glass of water and a good pinch of salt and pepper.
• Let it bubble away for 5 minutes, covered loosely with foil.
• Finely chop the parsley.

• Remove the foil, add chicken, cream, mushroom and bit of parsley to the pan. Give a good stir, bring back to boil then turn the heat down and simmer for about 10 minutes until the chicken cooked.
• Just before serving, cut your lemon in half and squezee the juice of one half into the stroganoff.
• Season to taste.

Needless to say that my stroganoff didn't last long.
Great!

See you on day 2 :-)

Jamie's Dinner - our version

2011-05-23T02:24:00.000-07:00

We all love Jamie -whether its Cullum or Oliver ;-)

So often I would sit and flipping Jamie's cookbook for inspiration, my daughter set me a challenge. Why don't we cook dinner from Jamie Oliver recipes this week, and see how far we go.

And I said yes to her challenge, which echoed by hip-hip-hooray from my son -he is my greatest supporter when it's come to cook a different food or try new recipes, no matter how ugly it look when it served or how tasteless it could be sometimes.

So, its become like "Julie & Julia" (or was it Julia & Julie? Can't remember...) but I'm less ambitious of course. Julie cooked different recipes everyday from Julia Child book, nothing to be missed -and pushed herself too hard, in my view-.

Me? I just want to have fun with simple recipes. I wouldn't go near butterflying chicken, I'll let the expert on my local market do it for me.

The starting line been crossed last Sunday. I'll post my 1st dinner soon -if I have spare time- ; now I better start cooking dinner before its too late.

Cute Cute Cute

2011-05-19T22:33:00.001-07:00

Doesn't she look cute on those simple outfit?

Great inspiration for weekend

Celebrity Look: Anne Hathaway by marymary91 featuring printed bags

Summer top
jigsaw-london.com

Acne draped top
$110 - lagarconne.com

Sportmax Code denim jeans
138 GBP - matchesfashion.com

Prada white shoes
$340 - bluefly.com

Gucci printed bag
419 GBP - profilebrighton.co.uk

Agent Ninetynine summer hat
$20 - generalpants.com.au

Chanel glass shade
175 GBP - shadestation.co.uk

India in da hoz : Butter Chicken Curry

2011-05-18T19:06:00.000-07:00

I always wants to cook Indian curry -not kind of curry using factory-made paste sold on supermarket, more like make from the scratch. Every time I looked on to recipes, it was always putting me off with those long list of ingredients need to prepare. Until yesterday, somehow I feel I got an encouragement from inside to steel my way preparing all those spices needed without missing any.

I choose to do butter chicken, the-not-spicy-at-all curry so my kids could eat it. What's the point cooking a meal that your family could not enjoy it anyway.

So, for 4 serves, here what you need:
* 60gr butter
* 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 onion
* 750gr chicken fillet, diced
* 1/2 tsp ground cumin
* 2 tsp ground coriander
* 1 tsp ground ginger
* 3 tsp garam masala
* 1 1/3 cup tomato paste
* 1/3 cup light sour cream
* 1 1/2 tbs sugar
* 1/2 cup greek yoghurt
* handful of corriander leave
* nan bread or basmati rice to serve

How to:
* Melted butter on saucepan with medium heat, add oil, mixed, add onion and browned about 5minutes.
* Add chicken, stir until it half cooked.
* Add all spices, mix well.
* Add tomato paste, sugar and sour cream, mix well. Reduce heat to minimum, put the lid on and let it simmer for about 10minutes until chicken well cooked.
* Turn off the heat, add yogurt and corriander, stir well. Season with salt and pepper.
* Ready to serve.

{recipe from Real Living Magazine - Aust, April edition}

It was not the greatest week on my life

2011-05-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

{pictures of Little Miss Grumpy by Roger Hargreaves - Little Miss Series}

Yes, last week was not the greatest week on my life. I had to deal with internet breakdown, electricity breakdown, server breakdown and yet my car collided with super silly bikers that drive me mad.

The first three afternoon I had to face my internet connection breaking up with me on working hours, wasted our time -I guess this is the downside having business dependent on internet-; calling the customer service did not help either, they gave me -not-so-soothing and very standard answer like:

*we will check with our field man about what happen (and I rang them after service was down for almost 2 hours, they apparently had no clue)

*when service back to normal, we will let you know (hey, what is the point if you ring me after service resume back?)

*we promise we will get your internet back on normal after 3 hours (the fact: more than 5 hours)

Mind you, we hooked to the company that called themselves the best internet provider in Indonesia. How if we choose the 2nd best? Will it better -or it might?

Then our car got hit by motorbike on one of mid-week afternoon.Right before our eyes. We saw it coming, we were on right position,turning right to our 'gang' and this super fast motorbike used our car as their brake, literally. The bang was so loud, I was worry at first if they died -seeing one of them flipped on our nose-. Consider they lucky for being alive, not so lucky had to face me furious -the only thing stop me for punch their faces is my son, he was inside the car- . What made me even more furious is they both had no driving license -I do-; yet they accused me for did not know how it's like to drive a motorbike. God knows that only in Jakarta if there is accident between car and motorbike, no mater what, car get blame often. So I proved myself -for what one newspaper mentioned few times- that most biker in Jakarta have no license, if there is a raid the could just pay at least Rp.10,000 to the officer(s) and off they go....

Then an electricity breakdown on working hours, when I was editing bunch of photographs need to send to customers, when I was smoothly surfing on the net. Only half an hour but enough to get me re-do my editing process almost from the scratch.

Is that it?

Nope.

Server 'meltdown' on Friday afternoon -again, downside for having a business relay on internet connection- ; I just hate to spend my weekend working on my computer just to make up for what I've been loosing during the week.

Call me grumpy, I am grumpy for those whole thing.

It's not that I'm ungrateful -like one of my friend comment on my FB account, when I spilled the bean on my wall- ; I am grateful for my life, I am kind of an optimistic person, it just not a great week to face, can't a being such a grumpy-whingeing woman once in my life?

Hope you have a great week this week!

Day Tripper: Stasiun Jakarta Kota

2011-04-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

I was standing on one of the corner of Stasiun Jakarta Kota. The very last platform -line 12- was behind me. On my left, I could see people come and go to a well known convenience store tried to grab whatever they forgot on the last minute before their train depart. There were long fence stretched in front of me, divided this big station hall into two areas: Free access area where people could walk across this hall, from one main entrance to another entrance on the other end; and restricted area or platforms area, which only passenger holding their ticket could go in and wait their train on green painted wooden bench, or people like us who bought what so called 'Peron ticket' that allow us to join those passenger.

I could see another chain convenience store on free access area, and people walked their walk.

I feel like travel back in time.

It was few years ago - I was standing on similar spot. Not in Stasiun Jakarta Kota, Sydney Central Station instead. I clearly remember there was 1st platform behind me-for intercity train-; a ticket office for intercity train next to a small convenience store on my left, and I could see the grand entrance of Sydney Central Station on the same designated spot Stasiun Jakarta Kota had.

Apart from my melancholy feeling, our last Sunday day tripper was fun. We wanted to go visit this train station since last holiday. Not for specific reason though. We heard people talked about this beautiful vintage building, we feel like proving it.

It's true, so beautiful and quite well looked after building. I amazed with the cleanliness of this public place-by Indonesia standard of course-. The platforms were also well looked after.

While we -my husband and I- adored the architecture, our children enjoyed the view of those trains, come and go in every ....mmmm...10 minutes I guess. Rama was so thrilled to get chance peeking inside one of the carriage -an old, on aircon carriage- ; while we agreed he could aboard inside this parking carriage -to get the idea how's look like inside- ; he was over the moon. And Ramya get scared to let her brother swallowed by this big toast-shape metal; she was super worried the train will start moving when Rama still inside; so they would not see each other again -OMG! - .

Another half an hour and hundreds of pictures later, we decided to end our day tripper with quick tour de convenience store to get cure of our thirsty throat, and peek inside a Japanese train serving express route to Bogor -an opposite of the carriage Rama went in beforehand- stationed on platform 12.It's air-conditioned, clean floor with cushioned seat, and extra staff plus very polite security guy guarding its door.

By then, we knew what will be on our next day tripper agenda: Catch an express train to Bogor!

Spiced-Pumpkin Mini Cake

2011-03-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

For 12 mini cake, you need:

3/4cup white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4cup canned pumpkin - if using fresh pumpkin, steamed and mashed
1/4cup water
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

How to:
Preheat oven to 200C. Prepare muffin pan, greased or use papercup for easy option.
Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin & water, mix well.
On separate bowl, mix flour with baking powder, baking soda, all spices and salt.
Add wet mixture to the flour mixture, mix well.
Fill papercup 2/3 full, bake for 20-25 minutes , check with inserting skewer on middle of each cake.

(I made two batches, 1st batch I used electric mixer, 2nd batch I did hand mix. Both mixed well, the one mixed with electric mixer came smoother compare to other)