www.indrani.net - indi + rani = noe | kei

20080514-015 [Flickr]

Indrani Soemardjan — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:32:50 -0500

This is the master of the house, enjoying dinner. Ratatouille with balsamic vinaigrette, pan-seared foie gras and french bread.

Hope you liked it, Jeremy!

Regards,
Sari and Rani

20080514-014 [Flickr]

Indrani Soemardjan — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:32:50 -0500

Indrani Soemardjan posted a photo:

To accompany the sweet-tangy-spicy ratatouille we decided to have a simple pan-seared foie gras. We cut the foie gras 1cm thick and season it with rock salt and pepper.

This was my first time cooking foie gras, so we decided to just buy the cheapest foie gras available, which is still very expensive anyway. But cheaper than having foie gras in the restaurant. This is my indulgence for this month (no more eating out this month!)

So.. we try to not waste them. We even use the dripping fat as the base for the vinaigrette sauce.

20080514-013 [Flickr]

Indrani Soemardjan — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:32:49 -0500

Indrani Soemardjan posted a photo:

20080514-011 [Flickr]

Indrani Soemardjan — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:32:49 -0500

Indrani Soemardjan posted a photo:

Sari and I tried to make ratatouille like in the movie Ratatouille. And we managed to do it! This is the Ratatouille after 90 minutes of baking.

Recipe here
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confit_byaldi

20080514-007 [Flickr]

Indrani Soemardjan — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:32:49 -0500

Indrani Soemardjan posted a photo:

Sari and I tried to make ratatouille like in the movie Ratatouille. And we managed to do it! This is Sari, drizzling the uncooked ratatouille with a mix of garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme.

Recipe here
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confit_byaldi

We Lost to #1 Seeded Players

indi — Tue, 06 May 2008 08:51:01 -0700

We fought hard against the #1 seeded doubles team of Singapore open. Royson's powerful flat serve and Arjun's tricky net game really killed us. They always returned our serve low over the net with a slice and the balls never bounced high.

We lost 0-6 in the first set but managed to break Royson's serve in the second set secured better loss at 2-6.

Not a bad game knowing that Royson is a tennis coaching pro at Laguna Country Club and has been playing with Arjun in many tournaments.

At least we got killed by the best!

PS: Thanks to Oom Firman, Andre, Lina, Antony and wife, Mariah, Jayson, Kae Fong and Arpita.

With Rani's Support, We Won

indi — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:17:13 -0700

For the last four weeks, Rani has been taking a very good care of the kids at home during my regular tennis practice with Yodhi. Yodhi and I even troubled her by adding more to the laundry basket with our smelly tennis clothes. I felt bad that she sacrificed a lot of her time for me and Yodhi almost every weekend. From time to time, Noe came with us to the courtside and helped us collect practice balls and put them into the basket. Various Sparing matches with Andre, Widiyo, Andrew and Henry really helped us in developing better doubles teamwork.

And last night, it all paid off. Yodhi never got a double fault (100% of serves in).

We won 6-4, 6-0 against two Americans (Anthony Blass and Dylan Tinker) in the first round of Sony Ericsson Singaproe Tennis Open 2008.

And tonight we are supposed to play in the second ron against #1 seeded pair: Royson Kwan and Arjun Varma. 8.30pm Kallang Tennis Centre.

PS: Raniku, thank you for the support at home! Without your support we would not have a chance passing into the second round :) I love you!

Dr.M's Blog

rani — Thu, 01 May 2008 23:34:10 -0700

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad started to blog at chedet.com, including receiving comments from people too. He could be the first and only (former) country leader that blogs, and a blogger of the highest government rank - Prime Minister, that is (albeit retired).

In Singapore the bloggers with highest government rank are MPs such as Siew Kum Hong and Minister such as George Yeo. In Indonesia, so far the bloggers with highest government rank are Ministers (Juwono Sudarsono, Anton Apriyantono, etc). Indonesian president and former presidents do not blog yet (perhaps under the influence of Roy Suryo?). I hope Indonesian president and former presidents will follow suit.

Tennis Doubles Tournament

indi — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:22:28 -0700

My brother Yodhi and I have registered to play doubles at the Singapore Tennis Association's SONY ERICSSON Open 2008 on 3-11 May.

The last time we played in tournament together was perhaps in the 1980s where we toured around Java for junior tournaments. As for me, the last competitive tennis I played was when Ben Metzger and I won the State of Maine 1993 high-school doubles title.

With aging and heavier (and slower!) bodies, we don't plan to win the trophy. We just want to have fun and give younger players a hard time!

How do we get motivated? Well, we got motivated by watching the Bryan Brothers (twin brothers, ranked #1 in the world!). Just watch how fast these guys' hands are:

Apart from getting our groundstrokes together, we have also been watching Oscar Wegner and Brad Gilbert videos. If you want to improve your teamwork in doubles, you gotta watch Sportskool: Doubles Strategy with Bryan Brothers

Come see us play next month at Kallang Tennis Centre! We're lucky enough if we get into the second round!

Mama Africa

indi — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:22:55 -0700

After sending our DNA sample to National Geographic's Genographic Project, I found out that, based on our Y-chromosome lab analysis, my body carries a true African blood.

But why Y-chromosome? It is something which is passed directly from father to son, unchanged, from generation to generation.

If we trace my Y-chromosome back to the "good ol' days", here is simplistic version of the migration trail:

50,000 years ago: Originated in Northeast Africa in the region of the Rift Valley, perhaps in present-day Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda or Tanzania.
45,000 years ago: Migrated to Middle East, perhaps in present-day Saudi Arabia.
40,000 years ago: Migrated to Persia, perhaps in present-day Iran and Kashmir and then to Northern India.
35,000 years ago: Migrated to Central and then to East China.
30,000 years ago: Migrated to Southeast Asia, perhaps in present-day Vietnam, and then to Borneo (not through Malay peninsula).

The point is:

If you are still paternally related to my late grandfather, then your Y-chromosome is likely to have the same origin as mine. See our Rodovid family tree to see if yours meets mine.
If people ask what race I am (like what they always do in Singapore!), they had better see this and figure out my genetic sequence for themselves.

The more people do this DNA analysis, the more we know where we come from. Go get your kit today!