.31 July 2009.

I am using my phone cam a lot lately haha me too lazy ass for using my pocket cam or slr -__-


2 days ago, my mom was trying a new recipe she got from her friend. She doesnt know this recipe's name. I googled it, it turns out that this is Gangan Ikan Patin [if i'm not mistaken]. That day, when i woke up, I think I smelled sayur asem, well appearently, the herbs and spices used are almost the same. It smelled great, but when I tasted it, I assumed it would be a lil bit sour and hot, well it didnt. I think it's because my mom's using rippen [almost rotten I think :P] pineapple, so it tasted really really sweet. The rest was okay, well I am a fish lover :)

Anyway about my mom, she likes to cook in the morning for my family, although I already said to her it's not necessary since everyone's in a rush in the morning, so I think if we eat something's easy and simple like sandwich, It would be more easy for her. But she wont, she insists everyone to eat breakfast, bring some for lunch, and ended it with a cup of chinese tea. And she thinks cooking noodle is more easier than preparing toast. I dont know, maybe me and her have different standarization of 'simple cooking' :D

Anyway, yesterday she made us this one. I dont know what's the name, my mom called it "Ke'a" [Hokkian]. Ke'a is sort of kwetiao, but it has thicker texture, a really thick one actually. This one is kinda simple [refers to mom's simple standard], boil Ke'a with Bean Sprout and Tau Hue for a while, and add some soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, salt and pepper. Served with fried taro, and of course my mom's secret chili sauce signature :P

And yes, it is vegetarian.

And yes again, it tasted damn good.

.Sushi Tengoku, Emporium Pluit Mall.

Few weeks ago, my sister is celebrating her birthday with family in Sushi Tengoku. We ordered lots of dish, I cant shoot all of them since my family is having the same mode with me, glutonny mode ON hehehe...

I remembered we ordered several sushi dish, and still the same with my last visit, it came after a long wait, and it's only so-so. The Volcano Maki [one of the best dish, they claimed] is not that good, I cant even finish it, It tasted kinda yuck, well it's because the topping is a really thick layer of sort-of-mayonnaise-sauce and tobiko. It does not taste good, really -__-

Aside from sushi dish, we also ordered other dish, such as Beef Katsu Curry, Kim Chi Cha Jang [Fried rice with Kim Chi] , Nabeyaki Udon, Tempura Furikake, Onigiri Salmon Shake, etc. The udon tasted like ... well it has no taste actually, I dont know why. Maybe because I'm having some flu that day. The rest was almost good [I said almost].

I found another dish that I like from this restaurant, Onigiri Salmon Shake. It's only a plain onigiri with sliced salmon grill filling, and wrapped with nori. It's type of food you want to eat when you're so bored with array of spiced foods for a whole week. It's simple and has a homy touch within the warm and rice fragrance from it. A very nice choice for a girl who's having flu that day.

I dont remember about how much our dinner costs, I think it's about 500K IDR or more. Well, personally I dont think it's really worth compared with the taste :(

.28 July 2009.

One of all the things i liked from being cinko [pisss, no offence hehehe] is this. Sarsi Soda cap Badak. I dont know the company history, all i know is this thing came from Siantar, it never had any advertisement in any media, it tasted like Root Beer with less soda, it's available only around North Jakarta, and definitely, a must try!


Anyhoo, lately I've been craving for cookies. Especially oatmeal / chocochip cookies. It's kinda funny, because since little actually I dont really like cookies. Maybe I eat nastar, but I say no to cookies. It started when few weeks ago when I watched old episode of Friends, Phoebe is apologizing to Monica by giving a plate of cookies [she claimed she made the best cookies in this world], and since then I've been craving for cookies. Especially the big one that almost as big as your face, with buttery taste inside...hmmm :)

Well, I dont know what's called as a great cookies, but so far I think the best one I ever had [not that I had really much, only a few :) ] is Choco Mania Cookies, it even beated Starbucks' Cookies or Good Time Cookies! It's local brand if I'm not mistaken. I like the firm texture, although it has no tempting fragrance. I think the most tempting cookies in my list is, Triple Magic from Bread Talk. It was consisted of Raisin, Cranberry, Orange Peal, Almond, Oatmeal, Brown Sugar and the last [and my favourite] is Cinnamon. I found myself buying this cookies at least one in 2 weeks [well, cookies is seriously not recommended on my diet :( ] The cinnamon smell is really really really divine.

My sister prefers Cookies from Starbucks, I personally dont think it really tasted. good. Yeah the texture was okay, the taste was okay, and the smell was okay too. Everything's okay, but okay is not tempted me [man, I'm gonna be a teacher with too high standard one day...] to eat more.

I havent got any chance to visit Famous Amos, maybe later. I forgot how their cookies tasted, hopefully it's still good :)

Anyway my weekend is kinda lost from track. The diet track, of course -__- Started the day with good breakfast, full of fiber and vitamin. And also a cup of Gui Lin Gao, I'm totally Lau A Ma heh? :P
Ended the day with lots of meat. Bah!

.25 July 2009.

Whew i've been wanting to post some photos, especially about food, since few weeks ago. But I am too lazy :P

Anyway, my sister [and the family, of course] has been officially put a label on me : Lau A Ma. It's a hokkian for Old Grandmother. yeah, rite. And why did this happen? Apparently, my addiction to old recipe is the reason, especially the one with loose texture. And uh yes, my attitude in enjoying food. I always ask my mom to heat the food for me, heat it till the last second before I dig in to that. My mom always called me Lau A Ma each time I ask her to do it :)) Well, you can not eat porridge when it's already cold right? Or fried rice, what's the enjoyable value you can get from, if it's already cold?

About old recipe, yeah I know I'm into it. I found myself absolutely blessful when I can eat Steamed Fish with Herb and Spices [and please, served it with soy sauce and chili!], Steamed Chopped Pork with Egg [with all that oily bouillon? how can you pass that?], Fish Porridge [with lots of ginger of course], Mun Tofu[chopped tofu], Cold Tofu [served with chopped Pi Than, and lots of things i dont know for sure, but absolutely beautiful and tasty], ahh I love steamed food.

Anyhoo, one of steamed food that I like is this.
This is my mom's Nasi Tim or Steamed Rice with Pork and Mushroom, and of course served with Lo Kio. Lo Kio is sort of garlic family. My mom only made it 1-2 times in a year, so when you can try my mom's Nasi Tim, that means you're lucky :P

So, that's it for today. I'll put more pictures later.

.Conversation.

I'm kinda tired of meaningless correspondence. Sometimes meeting a new person is fun, sometimes it doesnt. As a single fighter for God-knows-how-long-I-had, I think I already achieved the worst shit ever happened in a single life. Nope, i was wrong.

I did pass some shitty Valentine's Days, which everyone filled with love expression all around them.
I did pass few lonely Birthdays without anyone for cherishing the day.
I did pass the deepest dark-and-empty hole ever created in a human kind's heart.

I passed them, and I proudly survived.
Not only survived, I deal with them.

Before my 20s, I confess, I did not deal with them.

I saw Valentine's Day as a advertising propaganda by chocolate and flowers factory. I did believe everyday is Valentine's Day, but I learned that if there's a day celebrated for remind us to pay a little attention for someone we loved, why not?

I saw Birthday as a really important thing in my life, as my whole current year's happiness was cummulated on that day. But I learned that life's lessons was more than happiness, it was cummulative from your happiness, sadness and other's feeling that you had, and how you reacted with all that, that's the lesson.

I saw myself being up and down, mostly down, and found myself in that hole again. But I learned that we should being "Down", for there's "Up" moment in our life. And we will really feel blessed with that moment.

And now, I think I've achieved a great grade for my life's quality. Well, I still dont know how to cook, but I combined it with my bersih2 skill :P I still doesnt look astonishing like Jennifer Aniston or any of the Hollywoood stars, but I keep myself at the best condition I can :) I think I did a great life.

But now, my balanced life is kinda ruined. My fams and friends are seeing me as a too stand alone person. And I am not blaming them for that. Anyhoo, some of them are trying to change that fact. They want to see me more....hmm what's the word for it? bergantung pada orang lain, too be exact. Gosh, even writing this made me giggle, bergantung? I know how to lean with man, but I dont want it right now.

It's like you know you have to eat to continue your life, the food is served on the table, all you have to do is grab your fork and dig in, but you dont want it eventhough the food is really tempting. Have you ever felt the same way with me? I hate to start meaningless basa-basi things [I'm really not good for this type of activity], replying text messages [God know I only want to babi2an on my bed all night long], playing the tarik ulur game [Some people said I'm kinda good at this :P], showing my interest on random topic spoken by other game's player [totally depends on my mood], aghhhh I know even when I'm writing this, I looked like I'm not thanking God for whatever happens in my life -__-

I just...dont ready for grabbing a spoon.
Or maybe i'm ready.
But it's not the right dish.

.Ichiban Sushi, Pluit Village.

Ichiban Sushi has opened their new branch at Pluit Village. I'm not really a fan of Ichiban Sushi, but one of my old friend insisted us to eat there, and the voting result has win his choice T^T

Well, after that visit, i havent changed my opinion about this restaurant. Still so-so for me. At least i've spent some wonderful time with my old friends. And thx so much to CC who took care of the bill :P

.Old Taste, Pluit Village.

So, i found this little stall on Mega Glodok, Pluit Village. They also sell cookies and classic Indonesian biscuits, with modern touch of course. For example, Green Tea nastar, etc [ I completely forgot].

Anyway, I only tried their Curry Puff, Tau Sa Pia, and Siew Pau. Hmmm personally i've tried the better Pia than Old Taste's Pia. But their Curry Puff was good, but I'm not a curry fans, so I cant finish my puff. The Siew Pau was stuffed with meat, hmmm that combination not really that good, cause the pastry tasted too salty. I'd rather the one I had on Cuisine Cuisine, the pastry was not too sweet or salty, with red meat filling which was tasted sweet, It was a really good combination :)