Food is Love

Oatmeal Banana Almond Cookies - 2nd Annual O Foods Contest for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:52:37 PDT

I know that I supposed to care more about my blog, but what should I say except I don't have time to update my blog. My beloved got his knee operation (ligament operation - a well known injured among the football player) last August, and ever since he has to use crutches to help him walk. Due to his conditions, he depends himself on me in doing almost everything. Thanks God that he is getting better now and on 14th of October, he wont have to use the crutches anymore.

Actually I don't want to update this blog until I read Michelle of Bleeding Espresso wrote a comment here about the 2nd Annual O Foods Contest for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month that she organized together with Sara of Ms Adventures in Italy and by luck, I made this cookies last month and was able to take the photos, so I decided to join in the last minute.

The O Foods tradition started in honor of an award-winning pastry chef Gina DePalma, author of Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen; Gina has been fighting ovarian cancer for the past year and a half, and in addition to physically battling the disease, she has also started the Cowgirl Cure Foundation to raise awareness and money for research as well.

From the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:

* Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women; a woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 1 in 67.
* The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often vague and subtle, making it difficult to diagnose, but include bloating, pelvic and/or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly; and urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency).
* There is no effective screening test for ovarian cancer but there are tests which can detect ovarian cancer when patients are at high risk or have early symptoms.
* In spite of this, patients are usually diagnosed in advanced stages and only 45% survive longer than five years. Only 19% of cases are caught before the cancer has spread beyond the ovary to the pelvic region.
* When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early on, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92%.

You can always help by donating for Ovarian Cancer through FirstGiving.

Now let me jot you down the recipe. I did some modification by substituting walnut with almond (without toasting the almond) and chocolate chunks with chocolate flakes.

Oatmeal Banana Almond Cookies
Recipe from Martha Stewart's Cookies, The Very Best Treats to Bake and to Share through Vania, Dita and Elsye and modified by me

Ingredients:
1 cup all- purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 large)
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
8 ounces semisweet chocolate flakes (original recipe use: 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into 1/2 inch chunks (~224 gr))
1/2 cup coarsely chopped almond (original recipe use: 1/2 cup coarsely chopped wanuts (about 2 ounces))

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Whisk together both flours, salt and baking soda in a bowl.
2. Put butter and both sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Add egg and vanilla; mix until combined. Mix in banana. Add flour mixture just combined. Stir in oats, chocolate flakes, and almond.
3. Using a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 12-13 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 days.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Related post:
Onion Gravy - O Foods For Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month

Sambel Kecap (Sweet Soy Sauce Chili Paste)

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:19:51 PDT

Actually this one is a re-post that I present it for "Masak Bareng Yuukk..!!!" (Let's Cook Together) with August theme "Aneka Sambal Nusantara" (Various Kind of Indonesian Chili Paste). I chose this chili because I have the new picture of it that I made for SLF Special Edition: The Beauty of Red and White.

If you notice, the color of the chili in the first photo above is not as brown as the one below. It happened because I wanted to have the red color for representing our national flag, red and white.

This chili is really a keeper in my family. My better half loves it very much and once when we invited some friends over dinner and served them this chili, they love it too. Thanks to Dita, who just gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Neo, for giving me the recipe. Please click this link for the recipe.

As one of the main ingredients of this chili is fried garlic, I want to send the photo below to Click: August 2009 - Allium hosted by Bee and Jai from Jugalbandi.

Garlic

Sate Padang (West Sumatran Satay)

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:36:17 PDT

I prefer to translate Sate Padang into West Sumatran Satay as Padang is the capital city of West Sumatra province. According to Wikipedia, there are 3 varieties of West Sumatran Satay but they are commonly called as Sate Padang.
Those 3 variants are: Sate Padang, Sate Pariaman and Sate Padang Panjang (it named after the city in West Sumatra). All of them are made from beef and oxtongue, the differences are from the sauce.

Sate Padang has a very hot and thick sauce made from peanut and lots of chilies. It is said that Sate Padang has a combination taste between the other two (Sate Pariaman and Sate Padang Panjang).

Sate Pariaman has a red sauce while Sate Padang Panjang has a yellow one. The both sate has different taste. Sate Ajo Laweh is the famous satay from Pariaman and Sate Mak Syukur is known as the best one from Padang Panjang and well known all over West Sumatra.

So, I believe now you know where to go to eat Sate Padang where you are in Pariaman or Padang Panjang. For the one in Padang, I haven't got any information which one is the best, but when I was there, it's easy to find the one that can spoil your belly. Yummy!

I've been trying so long to get the recipe of Sate Pariaman, but never got one. Then I always try to avoid using turmeric when making it, yet you can see from the photos here that they are still yellowish. I believe it happened because of the turmeric leaves I used.

Let's not worry about the color of the sauce I made since the taste was really heaven. I'm not writing this because I'm the one who made it, but when my better half grilled the satay, the smell reminded me of the one sold by our fav street vendor back home. Then when you put them all together, my hubby said that it's like Eid in his mouth (you might known is as "it's like Christmas in my mouth").

Now, let's me share you the recipe so you don't have to suffer from seeing the photos or reading my story as you can make your own. Believe me, this recipe never failed.

Sate Padang (West Sumatran Satay)
Recipe from various sources and modified by me.

Ingredients:
1 kg oxtongue (or beef or combination of two)
12 lime kaffir leaves
4 stalks of lemongrass, take only the white part, bruised
2 turmeric leaves, shredded (optional)
Salt and sugar as needed
12 tbsp of rice flour, dissolved with small amount of water
Water for boiling the beef tongue
Bamboo skewer
Cooking oil

Spices, grind:
12 cloves of garlic
10 red chilies (you can add more according to your taste bud)
2 knucklebones of ginger
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp galangal powder
1 tsp white pepper powder
1 block of beef broth
Salt as needed

Condiments:
Rice cake
Fried shallots (bawang goreng)

Method:
1. Boil the tongue until half cooked. Sift the water and set aside. Clean the white part of the tongue and cut into cube form.
2. Mix the ground spices with the water from boiling the tongue. Fold in the tongue. Add lime kaffir leaves, turmeric leaves and lemongrass. Bring into a boil then reduce the heat, simmer until the tongue completely cooked. Sift the broth and set aside.
3. Thread 3-4 pieces of tongue into a skewer. Do it until all the tongue used up. Brush with a small amount of cooking oil and grill couple of minutes until both sides are brown (do not grill too long as tongue is already cooked).

Sauce:
1. Reboil the broth over small heat.
2. Gradually pour into rice flour mixture while stirring.
3. Keep on stirring until the gravy becomes thick.

Serving Suggestion:
Place Sate Padang and rice cake on the plate. Pour onto the sauce and garnish with fried shallots. Serve hot.

Now, what do you wait more? Let's eat your own homemade Sate Padang.

By the way, The Beauty of Red and White event is extended until 31st of August. Just send us your best red and white food photo.

The Beauty of Red and White

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:22:22 PDT

SLF Special Edition "The Beauty of Red and White"

The month of August has always been the special month for Indonesia because in this month the Indonesian regained their independence from the colonists, partly due to the brave citizens of Indonesia who fought the wars aggressively and with perseverance.

To commemorate the Indonesian independence this year, Still Life Food (SLF) Photography club is proposing an event of still life and still life food photography with the theme “The Beauty of Red and White”.

This event is going to be held on August 3 until August 24, 2009, in which the event is open to all member and non-member of SLF, citizen and non-citizen of Indonesia.

The criteria of participating in this event is as follow:

1. Photo submitted must have the theme “The Beauty of Red and White” with the object of the photo must be related to culinary point of view, either it be food or non-food related objects.

2. Send your entry to this email: stilllifefood@googlemail.com with the following details:

Your name:
Your blog's name:
Your location:
The URL of the post containing the photograph :
Attach one of your best pictures in JPG format, 500pxls in width

Photos that are submitted will be judged by a team of juries who have expertise in photography in general and food photography in particular. Here they are:

1. Prio Adhi Setiawan of "Priotography"
2. Leemei Tan of "My Cooking Hut"
3. Peter G of "Souvlaki for the soul"
4. Thorsten Kraska of "My2Penn’orth"
5. Oezank Setia Nugraha of "Oezank Photography"

Concept: The judges are looking for a photo that can convey the theme visually and uniquely that can captivates and inspires the audiences right away. Any clever or fresh idea to represent the red and white in the composition is greatly sought after.

Edibility: The judges are looking for an enticing and engaging photo that tempts people's sense of smell and taste, in other words, the photo must be a drool-worthy photo in visual context.

Aesthetics: The judges are looking for terrific composition, lighting, focusing, styling, clarity and color, and direct relevance to the theme.

Originality: The judges are looking for interesting image that catch their attention. A “WOW” image that we haven’t seen it before.

We will also be looking for an “Overall Winner” to whoever gets the most highest points in all combined categories.

HOST PICK is another bonus! :)

Photos that are coming in will be accessible for viewing in the "The Beauty of Red and White" gallery which will be updated daily. Click the image below for viewing.

Let us enliven this event by sending us your best “The Beauty of Red and White” photo!

Regards,
SLF Administrators

Host entry:

by Dwiana P

By Eliza A

LET'S PARTICIPATE AND MERDEKA!!

Summer Drink - When Things Went Wrong

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:34:13 PDT

As I promised myself and my readers to back on track in foodie stuffs, my camera and lens were (and still are) broken. It happened when I took a photo for my assignment as administrator of SLF. But thank God that I still could make some shots though it took some patience out of me. One of the shot goes to my friends Bee and Jai from Jugalbandi for their faboulous monthly photography event called CLICK. This month the theme is Bi-Colour.

Summer Drink

Not only got problems with the camera (Canon EOS 400D) and lens (Canon EF 50mm f/1.8), my external hard disk, which I stored 100GB of my photos, were broken too. Some of photos there are needed for my food photography exhibition and some are the memories when my mom, sister and niece came for holiday last year. I hope they can still be recovered.

About the recipe of Martabak Kubang from last month's post, I'll try to post it as soon as possible as now I am having a very bad flu since last weekend.

What a month!

PS:
More photos of my summer drink can be seen in this album: SLF #7: Summer Drink - Shooting with Broken Camera and Lens

For The Love of Friendship and Food Photography

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:53:31 PDT

More than one month I let my blog empty without updates. Some of my beloved readers emailed me and asked how are things going with me. They wished that I am okay since they've never seen me blogging again. To read those emails, I'm touched. I felt loved. Thank you for your concern.

As I told you in my previous post (which is last month), I've lost my mood in foodie stuffs (both in food blog and food photography). I have postponed some food photography projects and taken a break from my food photography group. But last week, when I saw some people admired my food photos on the exhibition at Indonesian Day (a program held by PPI Bremen - Indonesian Student Association in Bremen), I felt sad as I realized that I let my passion of food photography's gone (even I don't have any mood in photography at all). I have to fight to gain the feeling back.

Last night over the phone, my best friend, who has been my photography critic, asked me to participate in this month Click photo contest organized by Bee and Jai from Jugalbandi. She said it might be the way to fight against my blue, but I told her that I really don't have any idea what to do with this month theme Stacks. She told me I can use my old photo (her fav) that I put in Flickr, since it has not been published yet in this blog.

So, here I am, for the love of friendship and food photography, I submit the photo of Martabak Kubang (Pastry Stuffed with Spicy Egg Meat Mixture) below to Click June 2009 - Stacks. Hope I still can make it since today is the last day.

Martabak Kubang
Exposure: 1/4s
Aperture: f/3.2
ISO: 100
WB: Daylight

And I present the cherry blossom photo's above to all my beloved readers who keep reading and visiting my blog. Thanks a lot, you are the best!

I'll write the recipe on the next couple posts.

Click May 2009: Cookies - Egg Drop Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:26:05 PDT

Today I planned to stay at home and get more sleep as yesterday was a long day for me (as I've told you here), but I couldn't sleep. Thanks to my neighbors upstairs who played music so loud. I really don't have any idea and energy at all to ask them to decrease the volume since I've been doing so for more than 10 times. They did decrease the volume every time I made a complain, but then after sometimes, they will do it again and again. The worst was last summer when my mom was here, they played their music loudly at 1AM! Too bad at that time I was being nice not to call the police (yup, here you can report such action to the police) but I don't think I can stand being nice anymore (FYI, the landlord has warned them about this issue, but they will repeat it again after a few day break).

Enough with them, let's talk about my egg drop cookies that I photographed last month for my assignment on SLF. Normally I ate these cookies as the base of my cheese cup cake, but these days (as my tiny oven is getting weird and the big one is broken) I ate them as my snack during my work or when I was waiting for my meal to be cooked.

Egg Drop Cookies

Exposure: 15s
Aperture: f/32
ISO: 100
WB: Daylight

Without further bla bla, I send the egg drop cookies photo above to Click May 2009: Cookies, hosted by Bee and Jai from Jugalbandi.

Ayam Bumbu Paniki (Chicken ala Paniki)

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:39:43 PDT

Gosh! My blog is dying!
This is my first post in May (3 days before June). Can you imagine that? I let my blog dying! I even let my camera crying for not touching her (yup I prefer my camera to be female) for quite some time.

Frankly writing, I lost my mood not only in food photography, but in photography as well. If it's not because my dear friends Ayin at AG'S Food, Dheeta at ...mLebu paWoN... and Shinta at .:Berkreasi di Dapur Mungil:.. who organizes an event called "Masak Bareng Yuukk..!!!" (Let's Cook Together), this blog will not have its May posts. I pulled myself together to photograph this food just to be able to join the event. So please mind the quality of the photos.

The dish on the photo above called Ayam Bumbu Paniki (Chicken ala Paniki) originally from Manado, North Sulawesi. Paniki actually means bat (but not the one from Gotham City). According to the owner of the recipe, Mrs. Baasje, the Manadonese or Minahasan eats everything, including bat. But they eat only the one that eats fruits. If you want to know more, please read the story here.

I did slightly modification only in amount of the ingredients and substituted the lemon juice with palm vinegar as I ran out lemon or lime at that time. I added more coconut milk and chili, but you can adjust the chili according to your taste bud.

Thought it was my firs time cooking chicken ala paniki, but it turned delicious. Hope that I can eat chicken ala paniki from the native North Sulawesi *wink to her*

I'll write you down the recipe before the laziness will strike me back *LOL*

Ayam Bumbu Paniki (Chicken ala Paniki)
Recipe by Mrs Baasje, slightly modified by me

Ingredients:
1 kg chicken thighs, skin out, halves
500 ml coconut milk
1 tbsp palm vinegar
3 lime kaffir leaves
Black pepper powder as needed
1 tbsp oil
Salt as needed

Spices, grind into paste:
3 shallots
3 cloves garlic
1 knucklebone ginger
½ knucklebone turmeric
3 kemiri (candlenuts)
15 bird eye chilies
5 red chillies
Lemongrass, take the white part
1 knucklebone

Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok pan. Add ground spices and stir for 1 minute.
2. Add chicken thighs and other ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and continue to cook over small heat until the gravy reduces and oily. Turn off the heat.
3. Serves with warm steamed rice.

PS: I grilled the leftover chicken ala paniki on the next day, it was a very good idea as it tasted even better. Yummy.

Judging for Click April 2009 - Spring/Autumn

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:12:07 PDT

When Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi, the founder of Click, emailed me and asked whether I can be one of the judge for Click April 2009 - Spring/Autumn, I was surprised and honored as I am still a rookie in both food photography and foodblogosphere. I said yes since I am sure it will give me some experience in learning how to review a photo.

Unfortunately I am in my blogging and photographing blue period (I hope it can answer your curiosity why I abandon my blog for long). I really don't have mood to take any photo, but since at the same time I am asked to be one of the judge for KBB Flickr, so I forced myself to take some shot that I can present it to both event. Gladly that I made it, not only I enter the photo for Click and KBB Flickr, but I can use it for SLF #4 - Food and Props too.

So here it is, my entry for Click April 2009 - Spring/Autumn hosted by Jai and Bee from Jugalbandi.

Vanilla Ice Cream
Camera: Canon EOS 400D
Exposure: 1/30s
Aperture: f/4.0
ISO: 100
WB: Auto

To see more from this set, please visit my album in Multiply.

Binte Biluhuta

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:33:00 PDT

I really don't have any idea how to translate the name of this soup. This soup is originally from Gorontalo, a province in the northern part of Sulawesi. I didn't know that Binte Biluhuta is a dish until last couple months, what I've known was this is the title of song I used to sing when I was in elementary school.

I knew about this dish from my best friend. She told me about it when I needed a list of Indonesian dish for my project. After seeing the recipe and photo in her blog, I decided to search more about this dish. Binte Biluhuta is also known as milu siram/jagung siram with the corn (jagung) as the main ingredient.

I found two kind of recipe for Binte Biluhuta, one with grated coconut, one without. In this recipe, I am using the one without.

Without further bla bla, I better jotdown the recipe right away before my mood to blog drop below zero for more. (Yup, I am in my blogging blue period).

Binte Biluhuta
Recipe by Evia Koos

Ingredients:
1 can (150 gr) of tuna, drained (tuna in water, not the one in oil)
300 gr small size shrimps
1 can 340 gr) of corn kernel, drained
1 liter water for boiling
Salt and sugar as needed
Juice from one lemon
Kemangi (Indonesian basil), as desired
Cooking oil

Spices:
4 red chilies, angle sliced
10 green bird eye chilies, angle sliced
3 stalks of green, roughly sliced
3 shallots, finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced

Garnish:
Fried shallots
Lemon juice

Directions:
1. Bring water to a boil. Add corn kernel. Season with salt and sugar. Continue cooking over a small heat. Add half of lemon juice, stir for a while and turn of the heat.
2. Heat oil in a skillet. Sauté spices until fragrant. Add tuna and shrimps. Cook by stirring continuously until the color changed and cooked. Adjust the taste by adding salt and sugar. Add the rest of lemon juice, stir for a while and remove from the heat.

Serving Suggestion:
Place tuna and shrimps in a bowl. Top with Indonesian basil. Ladle the corn soup over it. Garnish with friend shallots and drizzle with lemon juice. Eat while hot.

Thank You Bluehost!

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 01:18:05 PDT

Alhamdulillah, finally.. the copycat blog has been terminated by the Bluehost (webhosting). At first I thought it hosted by WordPress, but then when I wrote a report abuse to them, they referred me to Bluehost as the real host.

I directly reported the copycat blog by email on April 15, and on April 16, they replied me by giving me a form about a copyright infringement claim. I filled the form and sent it back to them. At 8PM, April 16, they replied my email and informed that the copycat blog has been deleted.

I checked to the copycat blog straightaway, and found out that it doesn't exist anymore. When you click this link, it will say: Error establishing a database connection.
To make sure about it, I called my friend to recheck. Thanks God, he found the same result.

I hope it wont happen again in the future, not only to mine, but to yours as well. Thanks a lot mates for the support and help.

Thank you Bluehost!

FYI, now I am registering my foodblog on http://myfreecopyright.com/. It is free, so why don't you register yours too?

PS: It's kinda annoying when someone said because my photo's great that's why people steal it or copy paste my blog. I always tried to do my best in producing food photos or other kind of photos and put them in my blog to make my readers enjoy being in my blog, not to let them steal my work!

Related Posts:
Another Copy Paste Blog!
My Letter To WordPress Administrator

My Letter To WordPress Administrator

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:31:07 PDT

Dear Admin,

I just found out that one of blog hosted in WordPress has copied and pasted some of my journal from my food blog.

Here are the links of the copied pasted version and inside the bracket is the original post in my foodblog:

1. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/soto-kudus-mamin-kudus-style-chicken-soup/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2008/12/soto-kudus-mamin-kudus-style-chicken.html)

2. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/gulai-cancang-kambing-west-sumatran-lamb-curry/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2008/12/gulai-cancang-kambing-west-sumatran.html)

3. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/pepes-ayam-iniaku-iniaku-style-steamed-chicken-wrapped-in-alu-foil-masak-bareng-yuukk/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2008/11/pepes-ayam-iniaku-iniaku-style-steamed.html)

4. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/banana-pudding/ (http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2008/11/banana-pudding.html)

5. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/dmblgit-february-2009-announcement/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/02/dmblgit-february-2009-announcement.html)

6.http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/candies-introducing-a-new-food-photography-group/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/01/candies-introducing-new-food.html)

7. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/click-january-2009-red-ayam-goreng-pedas/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/01/click-january-2009-red-ayam-goreng.html)

8. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/im-back/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/01/im-back.html)

9. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/food-o-grafie-2-lens/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/01/food-o-grafie-2-lens.html)

10. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/ikan-bakar-iniaku-iniaku-style-grilled-fish-original-recipes-round-up/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/01/ikan-bakar-iniaku-iniaku-style-grilled.html)

11. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/best-of-year-2008/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2008/12/best-of-year-2008.html)

12. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/hazelnuts-in-flourless-cake/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2008/12/hazelnuts-in-flourless-cake.html)

13. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/tahu-gejrot-sederhana-simple-bruised-tofu/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2008/12/tahu-gejrot-sederhana-simple-bruised.html)

14. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/apple-cake/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/03/apple-cake.html)

15. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/click-march-2009-wood-cinnamon-sticks/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/03/click-march-2009-wood-cinnamon-sticks.html)

16. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/click-february-2009-cheesetofu-blueberry-cheese-cake/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/02/click-february-2009-cheesetofu.html)

17. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/my-cooking-hut-featuring-food-is-love-ayam-masak-habang/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-cooking-hut-featuring-food-is-love.html)

18. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/blogger-aid-cookbook-pearl-sago-porridge/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/02/blogger-aid-cookbook-pearl-sago.html)

19. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/13/apple-cake-2/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/03/apple-cake.html)

20. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/13/food-o-grafie-4-software/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/04/food-o-grafie-4-software.html)

21. http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/13/nasi-goreng-saus-tiram-oyster-sauce-fried-rice/
(http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/03/nasi-goreng-saus-tiram-oyster-sauce.html)

I hope you can do something with this blog as all the contents in my blog are copyrighted and all rights reserved.

I am posting this email in my blog, in this link: http://dapurnegeridongeng.blogspot.com/2009/04/my-letter-to-wordpress-administrator.html

Regards,
Sefa Firdaus

Another Copy Paste Blog!

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:42:06 PDT

Just read an email from Bee of Jugalbandi (thanks a lot Bee) that told me about someone copied and pasted one full (Nope, not only one but 21 full) of my journal in his/her blog.

Here is the print screen of the blog:

Click image for better viewing

You can see the original post in my blog here and see the stolen version here.

Just found out that he/she posted lots of my post, like:

http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/13/nasi-goreng-saus-tiram-oyster-sauce-fried-rice/
http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/13/food-o-grafie-4-software/
http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/13/apple-cake-2/
http://food.iphonetopgame.com/2009/04/12/blogger-aid-cookbook-pearl-sago-porridge/
and more.

This is definitely a copy cat of my blog!

It is hosted in WordPress and I have commented on this post (and well, it is moderated). If in the next 24 hours there will be any response, I will report abuse this blog to WP admin and I will need your help to report abuse as well, so WP admin will definitely delete this blog.

Thanks a lot!

Food-o-grafie #4 - Software

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:06:44 PDT

As I promised Zorra of Kochtopf - 1x umrühren bitte that I will participate in the fourth edition of Food-o-grafie with Software as the theme, here I am writing you the post about software I use in editing my food photos.

If you think I am using a modern and sophisticated software as the famous Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom, you are wrong. I don't know how to edit photo in Photoshop though I have PS CS3 on my laptop. At present, what I always did in my PS CS3 is only making watermark and putting them on my photo as all editing was done with another software, a user friendly one.

In my early time of photography, I used Picasa to edit all my photos, but after one year using it, I found that it is not enough for me. So I surfed the net to search another software.

I am really glad that I bumped into this software that suits to my need in photo editing and the most important "user friendly". This software is similar to Lightroom, but more easy to use and understand. It can be used to process RAW, JPEG and TIFF image files as I was curious to try shooting in RAW. It's called PhotoStudio Darkroom.

I started to shoot in RAW since last February and I found it really fun as you can do more in editing than shooting in JPEG. Though shooting in RAW gives me more flexibility and possibility in editing, but I've always tried my best to do less editing as possible. In my book, a photo with heavy editing is like a beautiful girl with tons of make up in her face. Lose her natural beauty!

Yup! I am the biggest fan of natural looking photographs, especially food photos. IMHO, food photo doesn't need heavy editing otherwise it will look artificial and make me lose my appetite. Heavy editing is not my cup of tea.

I will share you the two type of image files that I edited with PhotoStudio Darkroom.

1. JPEG image:

Camera: Canon 400D - Lens: 50mm f/1.8
Exposure: 13s
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 100
Metering: Evaluative Metering
White Balance: Cloudy
Date and Time taken: 02.12.2008, 16:05

The photo above I shot with JPEG and the editing process was in increasing contrast, brightness and sharpness. I also cropped the upper side of the spoon. That's all.

2. RAW image:

Camera: Canon 400D - Lens: 50mm f/1.8
Exposure: 1/10s
Aperture: f/3.2
ISO: 100
Metering: Partial Metering
White Balance: Cloudy
Date and Time taken: 18.02.2009, 16:05

The photo above I shot in RAW file. The editing occurred in increasing contrast, cropping and straightening the image so the cake stood out clearly. That's all.

As you might notice that I set my white balance to cloudy for those photo above since I shot them when the sky was cloudy. You can see as well that I love taking photo when it almost dawn as the light is soft. When I shot during shiny day, I always used daylight as the white balance.

Hope my short posting about software and the before-after photos could give you something.

Have a nice day mates!

Nasi Goreng Saus Tiram (Oyster Sauce Fried Rice)

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:41:52 PDT

Gee! If you ask me "Are you that busy even to make fried rice?" Unfortunately the answer is Yes, I am.

I really am busy at the moment (that make me wish that one day is 30hours). I am now in the middle of learning AutoCAD so I am able to draw for my thesis. I knew about this software from a long time ago, but never care about it but now. Lucky me that my better half is good in it and he is really good in delivering knowledge as it helps me a lot in understanding the subject.

Back to the fried rice, three friends of mine in blogosphere Ayin at AG'S Food, Deta at ...mLebu paWoN... and Shinta at .:Berkreasi di Dapur Mungil:.. are organizing an event called "Masak Bareng Yuukk..!!!" (Let's Cook Together) and I've been skipped two months of the event though I've promised them to join with many reason. Now, for this month, the theme chosen from voting is nasi goreng (fried rice) and no excuse for sure since to make nasi goreng is easy and quick. This reason is one of my reason to delay it, since it needs one hour to be done.

I kept on delaying until today in the morning my reader is full with various nasi goreng recipes. I almost gave up with another excuse since today I had to make a cake for my friend's birthday. But, I felt embarrassed to skip again as I don't want to break my promise to them for the third times. Enough!

After delivering the cake to my friend at the university (yes, he celebrated his birthday with his colleagues there) and dropped by at my office, I went home and slept. Yup, instead of directly cooked the fried rice, I preferred to sleep as the weather outside was cold and I was tired for getting up early making the cake and cleaning my kitchen afterward. I set my alarm at 2:30PM, but turned it off when it buzzed to wake me up. Fast forward, I got up from bed at 3:30PM and started making fried rice at 4PM.

The idea of making this fried rice has been in my mind since nasi goreng was voted as March's theme. I just used simple spices for it and made it colorful (yellow, green, red). It is really quick and easy but for sure tasty. If you don't believe me, please just try it at home. Since the recipe is created by me, this oyster sauce fried rice goes to my dear friend Lore of Culinarty with her Original Recipes Round-up monthly event.

Nasi Goreng Saus Tiram (Oyster Sauce Fried Rice)
Recipe by me

Ingredients:
1 bowl of cooked rice
4 tbsp green soy bean, skin out, boil for 10 minutes, drain
4 tbsp corn kernel
Oyster sauce to taste
5 red chilies, angle sliced
4 shallots, finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste
1 tsp sesame oil
Vegetable oil

Condiments:
Omelet
Fried shallot (bawang goreng)

Method:
1. Heat oil in a wok pan. Sauté shallots, garlic and red chilies until fragrant. Fold in green soy bean and corn kernel. Mix well.
2. Season with oyster sauce. Continue cooking by stirring until cooked.
3. Add rice and mix well. Season with salt, sugar and pepper. Continue cooking until set.
4. Drizzle with sesame oil, mix well for a while and remove from the heat.
5. Ready to serve with omelet and fried shallot.

Apple Cake

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:39:20 PDT

This recipe has been drafted since November 2008 and it's time for it to be published after I adjusted the date. The apple cake that you can see from the above has an original name "Mom's Apple Cake" as it's written by Deb's mother, the author of Smitten Kitchen. It tasted so delicious that become one of our favorite apple cake. Thank you Deb, please send my regards to your mom.

It said that apple is a fruit of winter but in fact, apple is always available through the seasons (at least I always find apple in the supermarket nearby). I like apple, but only the green one or known as Granny Smith's apple. Why? Because it always reminds me of my childhood when I spent my school holiday in my grandfather's house in Batu, Malang, East Java, Indonesia. At that time, my uncle took me to the apple plantation and let me to pick it myself. It was the harvest month of the green apple or known in Indonesia as apel Malang (Malang's apple).

Malang's apple is believed to have a good effect for those with high cholesterol and those with cyst in their reproduction system. I don't know that much about Granny Smith's apple (I've searched through the web but found nothing), but after all, eating one apple a day will keep the doctor away.

Deb's mom used McIntosh apples to make this apple cake, but I used Granny Smith's apples instead. It was the only thing that I modified from the recipe, the rest I just followed what Deb's written on her blog. I didn't use walnut, as my better half wanted only apple in the cake.

For those who needs the recipe, please simply click this link. Make sure you browse around her blog to find another tasty recipes she has posted.

Click March 2009: Wood - Cinnamon Sticks

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:42:19 PDT

As you might have known that I am an administrator for an Indonesian based food photography group in Multiply. This month, we are having our 3rd challenge hosted by my best friend, Elsye and she chose "Herbs and Spices" as the theme.

I almost skipped this challenge as Bremen was always cloudy without sun shines and I depend on natural light so much. But then one day, when I was at my office, doing my master thesis, I saw that the sun shone brightly and the sky was blue. I decided to go home earlier to do the photo shooting.

Since we (the administrators of SLF) are in a hot discussion about high key and low key photography, I decided to give myself a try. I made some experiment from what I've read about high key and low key, too bad that none of those article I've read using natural light as the key light and I don't have any equipment to do artificial lighting (my one and only table lamp is broken).

The cinnamon sticks photo above is one of my experiment for low key photography. I still can tell you whether I was succeed in implementing it or not, but I do love the result. I love the mood given in the photo by photographing the cinnamon sticks on a low light condition.

The set up for my cinnamon's photo was I put a packaging carton of my monitor under the window and covered it with brown paper as background. I placed the cinnamon sticks in the middle and the supporting element behind it, and on the right and left side I put reflector covered by black fabric to block the light. So only the light from above window as the key lighting for this photo session. It was 6.30 PM so the light source was from the sunset sun.

As the star on the photo above is edible and categorized as wood, I send it as my entry for Click March 2009: Wood hosted by Bee and Jai at Jugalbandi. But before I made it sure by emailing the hosts whether cinnamon stick is considered as wood or not.

Thanks Bee, thanks Jai for the quick response.

If you are interested in seeing my experiment, just click this link.

Magnificent Click Contest - 2009

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 03:43:42 PDT

I just read about this contest over Lubna of Yummy Food. I surfed directly to the host blog and read the rules.

Gayathri of Just Urs created this wonderful event called: Magnificent Click Contest - 2009. What we have to do just send our best picture that has been posted in our blog. The photo also can be the one in the series but didn't post in the recipe.

So here I am, 46 minutes before March 16th (Central European Time), sending her my entries.

Ayam Masak Habang

Heidelbeeren Grießpudding

All photos above are taken by me with Canon EOS 400D.

Heidelbeeren Grießpudding (Blueberry Semolina Pudding)

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:42:11 PDT

And I broke my promise. Sorry :(

I supposed to continue writing the recipe on Tuesday (March 10th, 2009) but I was sick after coming from Budapest. During my sickness, some freak who I heard always online 24/7 (no wonder she doesn't have anything to do but gossiping with her online buddies) has threatened me. But let's not talk about her, she is nothing but a looser.

Last month, inspired by the recipe written behind the packaging cartoon of soft wheat semolina, I created a new recipe. Did some experiment in my kitchen and created the dessert that my beloved love to eat it but I was the one who ate all of them. It was yield 6 ramekins, he ate 2 and I ate 4. I couldn't help it, though this kind of dessert can be eaten both hot and cold, but the longer you store it in the fridge, the yummier it tastes.

I am sending this dessert to my beloved friend Lore of Culinarty with her Original Recipes Round-up, a monthly event that has made lots of foodie blogger (including me) become creative. Sorry Lore, I missed last month edition. I was busy with my first experience as DMBLGIT host. Hope, I will not miss any in the future.

Heidelbeeren Grießpudding (Blueberry Semolina Pudding)
Recipe created by me, inspired by the recipe behind the packaging cartoon of soft wheat semolina

Ingredients:
Pudding:
200 gr Weichweizengrieß (soft wheat semolina)
10 tbsp granulated sugar
600 ml fresh milk
200 ml whipped cream
80 gr butter
1 package of vanilla sugar (8 gr)
100 gr frozen blueberry, defrost, blend
2 medium size eggs
Pinch of salt

Sauce:
150 gr frozen blueberry, defrost
1 tsp granulated sugar
Lemon juice as needed
Water as needed

Garnish:
Fresh/frozen blueberry

Method:
Pudding:
1. Mix fresh milk, whipped cream and butter in a sauce pan. Add pinch of salt. Bring into a boil over medium heat until butter is melted.
2. Combine semolina wheat flour with vanilla sugar. Pour into the boiling milk mixture. Continue boiling by stirring the mixture until thicken. Remove from the heat and let it cool.
3. Beat eggs and sugar until well blended. Pour into the semolina mixture. Mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula.
4. Add blueberry, mix well.
5. Spoon the batter into a ramekin that has been rinse with water. Repeat until all the batter use up. Bake in a preheated oven of 160°C for 15 minutes. Can be served while hot or keep in a refrigerator before serving.

Sauce:
1. Blend blueberry in a blender. Add small amount of water if it's too thick.
2. Pour the blueberry in a sauce pan. Boil over a small heat. Add sugar, mix well.
3. Add lemon juice after boiling. Stir for a while and remove from the heat.

Serving suggestion:
Place pudding in a serving dish. Pour the sauce over. Top with fresh/frozen blueberry.

DMBLGIT February 2009 - The Winners

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:47:11 PST

Hosting DMBLGIT was really fun. Through 76 entries, not only I found some new blogs, but some new friends as well. Thanks to Andrew, the administrator of DMBLGIT, to give me this opportunity.

Before I reveal the winners of DMBLGIT February 2009 edition, I would like to apology for the delay as some judges were busy with their daily activities while me busy as student. But don't worry, our judges have done their best by spending their valuable times in analyzing all the entries. For it, let's give a big applause to our panel of judges: Andrew Barrow, Dwiana Porter, Helen, Sandra Avital and Thorsten Kraska. Words cannot be able to represent how I appreciate your hard work, judges. Kudos!

As you might have known that there are 6 winners in every edition, winner from Edibility, Originality and Aesthetics categories. From these, there are another three winners who has top overall scores in all three categories combined, called as Overall Winners.

Now, let me announce you the winner of DMBLGIT February 2009 edition:

Overall Winner - First Place:

Chestnut Mascarpone Mousse and Tuile Cookies
@ Baking Obsession by Vera from Vancouver, Canada
taken with a Canon 400D

Judges comments:
Everything in this shoot just so lovely. Well done styling and great lighting; Clean, simple and sharp. The composition is pleasant to the eye, the subject is original and the simple setting let the food speak for itself; Love the colors like a brown gradient with little notes of orange. Nice styling, elegant; Great presentation and food styling. The composition is easy, but it gives the attention to the styling here, which is important here.

Overall Winner - Second Place:

Classic Puff Pastry
@ My Culina Sanctuarium by Dita from Kuwait
taken with a Canon EOS 350D

Judges comments:
A lovely photo with a summery feel; Fresh and colorful fruits bring this shoot even more beautiful; The fruits are fresh, the plating is gorgeous. Everything screams "fresh" and "eat me!". Even if the back props are a bit blown out, this is completely forgotten because the food stand out so much. Great focus and DOF; Perfect light, focus, excellent composition, bright colors: the green paper surface is brilliant; This one is great. I like the strong backlight very much. Especially the colors are great and the fruit is standing out well. On a nitpicking point: I would have turned the plate a bit, so that the diagonal line would be more emphasized.

Overall Winner - Third Place:

Chocolate Cream Puffs
@ Café Chocolada by Medena from Michigan, USA
taken with a Canon EOS 350D

Judges comments:

A lovely shot; very mouthwatering; Good lighting and simple styling but yet very nice; Great focus and light. Good cropping and angle. The powdered sugar could be toned down a bit because there is too much blow out towards the back. Great composition with the alternating of white and dark pastry cream. There is thought behind it and care; I'm no chocolate fan nor like pastry cream but this shot makes my mouth water; The food styling is well done and also the presentation. The tight cropping is working here, because the sharpness on the front piece is well done. Maybe I would have tried to balance the blow out on right side more, but that is a personal thing.

Edibility Category Winner:

Tom Yum Gong
@ Our Family Favorite Recipes by Vania Samperuru from Mumbai, India
taken with a Canon 300D

Judges comments:
Yummy looking food with unique looking bowl; The photo has a nice comfortable feeling. The warmer color setting is working here. Maybe I would have chosen a "not black" background to get a brighter overall impression. I would have preferred the front handle more on the left side. It is almost in front of the food and tending to be distracting.

Originality Category Winner:

Seared Duck Breast with Pomegranate Reduction
@ FotoCuisine.com by Christey Krause from Melbourne, Florida
taken with a Canon 10D 50mm macro f/2.8

Judges comments:
Lovely range of colours, good positioning of props although the light highlights on the two glasses is off putting; The food styling is pretty as well as nice table arrangement; Very interesting color setting. I wished the focal plain would be more defined. Interesting cropping though.

Aesthetic Category Winner:

Roasted Garlic and Winter Squash Soup with Spicy Tomato Salsa
@ We [Heart] Food by Chris Duval from Seattle, WA
taken with a Canon Rebel XSi

Judges comments:
Complicated dish pattern is not too distracting from the soup; Nice play with the color, the silver tint seems dull compared to a clean spoon. Beside that framing is good and the tones are very inviting; Lovely colors and tones; The colors and lighting are well done, the focal plain should be on the garnish in center of the soup though. Although a dominating plate, it makes a nice framing.

As the host, I have a privileged from Andrew to give award to the photo I like, so this is my choice:

Host Award:

Sour Cream-Hazelnut Bundt Cake
@ notes from my food diary by Eliza Adam from Oregon, US
taken with a Nikon D300, 60mm lens

I love the mood given by this photo while the composition and presentation are perfect. This photo also got into the big five in overall categories. So it really deserves the badge of host award.

Congratulation to all winners. Hope this win will motivate you to keep on producing beautiful food photos. Please check your email for the badges and be proud to display it on your blog.

Thanks to Matthew for designing those beautiful badges and to Shari for sending them my way (thanks a lot for answering all my questions).

I thank all the participants for sending me your entries. I apology if during my work as the host, I did some mistakes. Don't forget to send your best food photo of February 2009 as DMBLGIT March 2009 will be hosted by Nika Boyce of Nikas Culinaria.

Have a nice day everyone!

Click February 2009: Cheese/Tofu - Blueberry Cheese Cake

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:56:10 PST

When one of my friend asked me to make her Blueberry Cheese Cake, I haven't got any idea about it. Never made one before. But I said yes because I had faith that I can do it.

I started by googling for the recipe on the net. A lot! But nothing has interested me. Few days after, one of my contact in Multiply posted a recipe of blueberry cheese cake and it looked yummy. Directly I asked her permission to use her recipe and baked my first blueberry cheese cake for my friend.
Guess what? She, her husband and their friends finished it only in a glimpse! Even she told me that normally her husband doesn't like cake, but he ate it religiously. Thanks God!

Knowing the good review from her, my better half demanded to try himself. So I baked my second blueberry cheese cake and the story had a happy ending. He liked (and still does) my blueberry cheese cake and I was able to photograph the cake.

Now, I am sending this blueberry cheese cake photo above to Click February 2009: Cheese/Tofu organized by Jai and Bee from Jugalbandi.

Since my friend who has the recipe hasn't answered my email whether I can post the recipe here or not, so I cannot post the recipe this time. But I promise you, as soon as I get the permission, I will post the recipe with the new photo (I hope).

As some of my readers asked me when I will post the result of DMBLGIT February 2009, so it's better to let you know that our judges are still reviewing all the entries. Please bear with us. It wont take long, I promise!

My Cooking Hut featuring Food is Love: Ayam Masak Habang

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 22:46:18 PST

It was Helen who introduced me to Leemei through her blog, Tartelette when she informed us (her readers) that she wrote an article about Food Photography on My Cooking Hut. I clicked the link right away and started to explore the site after reading Helen's post.

It was love at the first sight if you may call between me and Leemei photography skill. Then I subscribed as her reader after leaving a footprint by writing a comment. Leemei visited my blog and after sometimes asked me to be a guest writer in her blog, writing about traditional Indonesian dish.
When she asked me to make Ayam Masak Habang (Chicken Cooked in Red Chilli Sauce), I directly asked my friend who's originally from Banjar, South Kalimantan, the origin of Ayam Masak Habang. Lucky me, she gave me the authentic one from her mother plus the bonus recipe of Nasi Kuning (Yellow Rice).

Thanks Mbak Hani for the recipe, please tell your mother how honor I am, getting the opportunity to try her recipe. This is the best Ayam Masak Habang and Nasi Kuning I've ever eaten. My better half love me more because of it. He ate a lot and forgot his diet. Kudos!

Thanks to you too Leemei, for featuring Indonesian dishes. All the best for you!

Need the recipe of Ayam Masak Habang and Nasi Kuning? Read them at My Cooking Hut by clicking this link.

See you there mates!

Siomay with Peanut Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:02:56 PDT

Been busy these days especially with my daily life as student. Lately some friends have trusted me to cook or bake something for them. Frankly, cooking or baking for customers only by myself took lots of energy. This thing makes me miss my homeland, since there you can make your homemade business with the help from family or by hiring some assistants.

Last Friday I stayed a wake until 3:30AM to make siomay for a friend. His wife has craved for it since last month, that's why he asked me to make it for her. I started to make siomay from 10PM and in the normal condition, it takes only 2 hours to complete all 1.5 kilos. Unfortunately, my steamer was broken, so it took me more than 5 hours to complete.

Enough said, I'll share you the recipe of siomay I made as ordered by customer. Haven't got any feedback from him or his wife. Hope they like it.

Siomay with Peanut Sauce
Recipe from various sources, modified by me

Ingredients:
Siomay:
600 gr shrimps, shell intact, deveined, cleaned, chopped
600 gr chicken breast fillet, chopped
200 gr tapioca flour
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 stalks of scallion, finely sliced
2 tbsp fish sauce
4 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
Salt and pepper as needed
6 block of fresh tofu, divided into 24 triangle forms
50 pcs wonton skins

Peanut Sauce:
10 tbsp peanut butter
4 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
4 shallots, finely sliced
4 red chillies, finely sliced
6 lime kaffir leaver, shredded
Salt and granulated sugar to taste
Hot water as needed
Lime/Lemon juice as needed (can be substituted by white cooking vinegar)
2 candlenuts, fried and bruised (optional)
Indonesian sweet soy sauce as needed
Vegetable oil for sautéing

Condiments:
Indonesian sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
Indonesian chilli sauce (saus sambal)
Lime kaffir juice

Method:
Siomay:
1. Mix shrimps and chicken meat in the food processor. Blend until soft. Place in a big container. (You may add small amount of water to help the mixture to be soften)
2. Add flour, scallions, beaten eggs, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Mix well using wooden spoon or your hand until incorporated.
3. Spoon two teaspoon of mixture and place in the middle of wonton skin. Form as any shaped you are desired. Repeat the step until all wonton skin are used up.
4. Scratch the bottom part of tofu. Fill in with the shrimps and chicken mixture.
5. Place both siomay and tofu in steamer containers. Steam until done (around 1 hour). Remove from the heat.

Peanut Sauce:
1. Heat oil in a sauce pan. Sauté garlic, shallots, chillies and candlenuts until frangrant.
2. Add peanut butter and water. Mix well. (You can add water according to your desired thickness).
3. Add lime leaves, and lime juice (vinegar). Season with salt, sugar and sweet soy sauce. Mix thoroughly until set. Remove from the heat.

Serving suggestion:
Place siomay and tofu on a plate. Ladle peanut sauce on top and add kecap manis and saus sambal if desired. Drizzle with lime kaffir juice.

Blogger Aid Cookbook: Pearl Sago Porridge

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:27:00 PST

Thanks to Jenn The Leftover Queen who posted an announcement about Blogger Aid Cookbook organized by Val from More Than Burnt Toas t, Ivy from Kopiaste and Giz from Equal Opportunity Kitchen, so I can join the event by contributing one of my recipe. This event is to make a cookbook that all profit from sales will go directly to The World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations frontline agency.

If you want to help, submit your recipe for this cookbook. The deadline has been extended until the end of March 2009.

The recipe that I submit is created by me, so it wont get any problem with the copyright in the future (since it is mine). I concocted it on the last day of 2008. It called pearl sago porridge and served with a coconut milk sauce, a common Indonesian dessert that can be served as appetizer as well, usually during Ramadhan (fasting month). It tastes better while cold, but you can eat it hot as well.

There are lots of ways in making this porridge, but mine is the simplest one. It is easy to make and worth to try. You'll love it as much as we (my beloved and I) do.

For the recipe, you can read it on the cookbook after it's published around late of this year. Don't forget to buy the book ;)

By the way, just to remind you that I'm still waiting for your entry for DMBLGIT February 2009 until 20th of February (at any time according to your location). The gallery can be viewed by clicking the gallery banner on the top bar of this blog.

DMBLGIT February 2009 Announcement

noreply@blogger.com (sefa firdaus) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:34:24 PST

I am so exciting to host February edition of DMBLGIT (Does My Blog Look Good In This), a monthly food photography event, called by some as "the grandest foodporn event available" on the web. Thanks to Andrew of Spittoon Extra, the administrator of DMBLGIT, who gave me the opportunity to be the host.

On DMLBGIT January 2009 hosted by Zorra, my Kudus Style Chicken Soup photo got a badge (the red one on my side bar) for winning the originality category. I really am honored to be chosen as one of the winner. Thank you judges and congratulation to all the winners.
In case you missed the round-up, please visit Zorra's blog.

The judges who are willing to spend their time and share their expertise in judging your food photos, are living in four different countries (US, France, UK and Germany). I'm proudly said that I love their photos and can spend hours staring at them. I adore their talent and good work in producing beautiful and mouth watering food photos while as the same time I admire their passion on food.

And here they are:

Andrew Barrow, an administrator of DMBLGIT, is a member of the prestigious UK based Circle of Wine Writers and WSET Diploma holder. His wine and food writings appear regularly on the Guardian Word of Mouth website. I love the simplicity in his food photos and how he made them look so natural. His photo of Cherries in Kirsch with Chocolate Brownies (my fav) was the winner in the aesthetic category on DMBLGIT October 2008. Check out his food photos by visiting his two blogs; Spittoon Extra and Spittoon and his photostream on Flickr.

Dwiana Porter who now resides in US, is a very talented Indonesian foodie photoblogger that never failed to amaze me with her food photos. Nowadays, her hands are full in sharing her knowledge for members of Indonesian based food photography club named Still Life Food Photography, where she becomes one of the administrator. Her skill in food photography has been awarded by two badges of DMBLGIT and three badges of Click. Those badges can be found on the right side bar of her blog, The Adventure of My Cooking Diary. There you can enjoy her photos or enjoy more on her Flickr's account.

Helen, whose blog just won the Best Food Blog in the Chef Category and the Best Food Blog Of The Year in the 2008 Food Blog Awards, is a France-expat living in US. Her excellent food photos with amazing food styling have inspired lots of foodie bloggers around the globe. So far, she's won six times in DMBLGIT with her lovely food photos that can be seen in her blog, Tartelette or on her photostream on Flickr. Just in case you need help for recipe developing, consulting, food styling, food photography and food writing, she is available and is reachable here.

Sandra Avital is really an amazing and talented French foodie blogger. Recently she won in both January 2009 edition of DMBLGIT and Click. I knew her through DMBLGIT August 2008 where we both got our first badges. Since then, I can stop myself admiring her food photos in her blog, Le Pétrin. She wrote her blog in French, but to enjoy her gorgeous photos, you don't need to be fluent nor able to speak French, all you need is only a handkerchief or tissue paper as you might lick your monitor by seeing them. Visit her food photos collection on her Flickr's photostream.

Thorsten Kraska, who resides in Germany, is a founder and administrator of Food Photography Club. His constructive feedback is always expected by the members of that club. When you have a question or need help in improving your skill in food photography, he will give you tips and trick without hesitation. His wonderful food photos can be accessed both in his portfolio or in his Flickr account. I warn you to full your belly first before seeing his photos as your eyes will be spoiled by a high quality and beautifulmouth watering food photos taken by him.

Now let me give you detail in entering this food photo contest.

The Rules to participate the contest:
1. Send a photo that has appeared on your blog during January 2009. The photo should be food and/or drink related. No diptychs allowed.
2. Only one entry per person.
3. The photograph must have been taken by you and must be text free (copyright is allowed).
4. Deadline for submissions : February 20, 2009.

Send your entry to sefafirdaus1208(at)gmail(dot)com with DMBLGIT in the subject line with the following details:
- Your name.
- Your location.
- Your blog’s name and URL.
- The photograph that you wish to enter, of no more than 500 pixels wide.
- Your photograph’s title.
- URL of the post containing the photograph.
- Type of camera used, lens if you wish.

By submitting a photo, you agree to your picture being redisplayed and altered in size on the host's page and on DMBLGIT page.

Judging
The judges will review your entries on the basis of:
- Aesthetics: composition, food styling, lighting, focus, etc.
- Edibility: "Does the photo make us want to dive in and eat the food?"
- Originality: the photograph that catches our attention and makes us want to say wow!, displaying something we might not have seen before.

From these categories, the judges will come up with:
- Overall Winner: top overall scores in all three categories combined.
- There are three overall winners for photographs with the highest point totals in all three categories combined, and one winner in each of the three individual categories.

And as a host, Andrew gives me a privileged to give award to my fav photo.

For complete set of instructions on participation, visit DMBLGIT page on Spittoon Extra.

Gallery
All submissions can be viewed in this gallery that will be updated as I receive the entries. The gallery can be reached too by clicking the gallery banner on the topbar of my blog.

Looking forward to receiving your entries.

Have fun and good luck!
Sefa Firdaus