I spent a week reading "Buku Memasak Untuk Orang Bodoh", practically to improve my knowledge of cooking. But you can't improve your cooking skill unless you go to the kitchen and doing some 'dirty job'. That book can only improve my reading skill, in English. Two days ago, Nino and I tried a recipe: Chicken Wings with Oyster Sauce. It's a simple recipe (that's why we dared to try). We, however, still had an argument on one of the spice. We didn't know what 'spring onion' was. First, I tought it was bawang bombay. Nino thought it was bawang merah. But in the recipe picture, it looks like prey/daun bawang. I looked it up in my "Buku Bodoh", but it didn't help. Desperately, Nino said, "Oh, for someone didn't know what spring onion was, he did'nt have a hope in cooking." Finally, we put bawang merah and prey to our chicken. And it was not bad. Yesterday, I tried to make spring rolls, snacks for breakfasting. I put ve...
Closer to lebaran, I realize that I miss Lebaran atmosphere in Indonesia so much. This surprises me as I've never felt homesick before. To be honest, I enjoy living here. I can read as many books as I want. I breathe the fresher air. I eat better food, and I learn so many new things, inc. cooking, not only aussie's but also international meals. However, I really miss the hectic atmosphere of Lebaran, when people rush to get to the hometown, when people do unreasonable lebaran shopping. Here, I just can't feel the atmosphere. I didn't know where to go for Eid Pray, until this afternoon. I hear no takbir. Plain. I did my best to make this lebaran a real lebaran. I did shopping spree for lebaran clothes (ehem, it's an excuse to buy new clothes actually, hehehe, but it worked). I cooked ketupat (not in coconut leaves, but in polyethylene plastics), gulai and cucumber pickles. Nino asked me, "Why bother?" Well, I just wanted to. I just wanted this to be speci...
Today is my last day working at this supermarket . I will take a maternity leave for... uhm, maybe forever? Cause I don't know whether I'll come back. I've been working there for a whole year. I remember my first day, I was so nervous that I made a lot of mistakes. I didn't understand most of what people said. I thought those NOT English (at least not clear English as I learnt from school). But I learnt many things from working at a store, especially learnt how to handle a very demanding customer. Aussie people, especially the grumpy old man and woman likes to complain, almost on anything. Sometimes it's annoying but sometimes it's sooo silly. Now I am a more confident person and can handle the most difficult customers. I was promoted to be a supervisor on January. Writing a ticket (price tag) was one of my job as a supervisor. Some friends said I had a beautiful handwriting. Oh really? I told them that back home I'm an author. It's nothing to do with h...
The best things we have in our first month here, suprisingly, is the food. It's great to master my own kicthen, as in Malang, its the authority of our maid. hehehe. We start cooking the simple things such as any ingredients w instant spices. no wonder if our cooking is always special. sate, soto, empal, rendang, nasgor, opor, ayam goreng, anything w instant spices. thanks for bamboe, and indofood and kokita, for making me not such an idiot cook. then we dare to try another recipe w/o the instant help. and we're still success. my Mum would not believe me if 'this lazy girl' can cook Sapi Lada Hitam w/ Paprika. Hem, yummy! A.K. ps: in the pics, Nino's cooking in our kitchen
I am longing for "real" Indonesian food, not the one with instant bumbu. Especially these: 1. My Mom's soto kentang 2. Soto Pak Sholeh 3. Soto Mang Udi 4. Soto Kudus Simanjuntak 5. Ayam bakar and telur coklat Yu Yem 6. Hot Cui Mie Gloria Malang 7. Bubur ayam Muntilan 8. Gudeg Yu Djum 9. Bakso Kota Malang 10. Es krim Tip Top Jogja 11. Sate Ayam Madura deket rumah 12. Kupat Tahu Blabak Glurp! I am writing this to ease my pain. Here, I can only find one food that satisfy my tastebud, which is: Turkish Gozleme. It's kind of martabak, with chicken mince, cheese and spinach inside, served with chilli sauce and lemon wedge. We have plenty Indo restaurant here but they are far far away from home, need one hour journey to reach Kingsford aka kampung Indo. Actually, 5 minutes from my place, there is a small Indo resto, but the taste is far far away from our expectation. But since whinning is not good for the baby, better to think positive. At least here, I can easily find a ...
A perfect birthday morning: 1. a birthday kiss from him 2. a hot cuppa 3. homemade (w/ instant spices) nasi kuning 4. a perfect gift from my wish lists (sure I had to give him a clue, or I'll get another book, hehehe...) A.K.
Lamington is a traditional Aussie cake that they love so much. It is like a sponge cake, coated with chocolate (or lemon) icing and desiccated coconut. At first glance, I thought it was like wajik or jadah (our beloved traditional cake from sticky rice). But then I was wrong. Come on, Aussie would not bother with sticky rice. This cake becomes a symbol of Aussie. At Australian Day, January 26th, which is also Nindipong's birthday, they decorated lamington with green and yellow icing. I don't know where the 'green and yellow' come from, as their national flag is blue and red (look at Nindi's tatto at her right hand). But they use green and yellow as their sport team uniform, as in cricket, soccer and football. A.K.
Hari ini ada open house di sekolah Anindya (7 tahun), berikut pameran karya seni dan parents brunch . Acara open house semacam ini memberi kesempatan pada orang tua murid untuk melihat kegiatan belajar mengajar di kelas. Tentu saja kesempatan seperti ini tidak kami lewatkan. Sebelum mengintip ruang kelas, kami melihat-lihat pameran karya seni murid-murid Hampden Park Public School (HPPS). Setiap siswa menampilkan satu karya mereka, entah itu lukisan, kolase, sketsa, gambar atau karya seni rupa yang lain. Tiap kelas mempunyai tema tersendiri. Tema kelas Anindya adalah membuat lukisan vas bunga. Hasil kreativitas anak-anak usia SD ini sungguh mengagumkan. Mereka tidak takut untuk mengeluarkan ide mereka dalam bentuk karya. Beberapa kelas mengambil tema Picasso. Dari tema Picasso saya menjumpai karya sketsa dan kolase yang unik. Mungkin tema Picasso ini cocok untuk anak-anak karena mereka tidak terintimidasi untuk membuat lukisan atau karya yang "indah" dan "sempur...
Sabtu pagi, pukul 6 kurang sepuluh menit, aku ada dalam perjalanan dari rumah tante di perum ITS menuju Juanda. Nino, Om Hita dan aku yang ada di mobil tidak merasakan apa-apa ketika itu. Sekitar pukul delapan, ketika aku sudah sampai di Malang, Nino menelpon, katanya ada gempa yang mengguncang Jogja. "Lihat Metro TV dan segera hubungi keluarga di Jogja!" My God, breaking news di Metro menyebutkan gempa mencapai 5.8 skala richter dan Kawasan Bantul Rata dengan Tanah. Aku nyoba nelpon Dila, adikku. Susah banget nyambung. Ketika nyambung, Dila ngomong buru-buru, panik, dengan suara bergetar. "Mbak, kami sekeluarga ngungsi ke Muntilan. Rumah salam nggak papa. Tapi jalannya ramai banget, semua orang panik. Katanya ada tsunami.. Doain ya, Mbak." Terputus lagi. Aku baru bisa menghubungi Dila lagi sore harinya. Ternyata waktu gempa, Dila masih ada di kosnya, deket UGM. Dia dengar gosip ada tsunami dan langsung "melarikan motornya" pulang ke Salam (20 km utara Jo...
I take a (paid) leave this week. The employment system here is generous enough to give you a paid leave for a month every year, if you work fulltime. Whether you take it or not, you still get paid. They call it holidays. Usually my fellow workers (most of them migrants) will fly to their countries for holidays. But (sadly) not for me. I take it because my husband would go to US for a conference. It's babysitting my daughter, not a 'real' holiday. Still I'm excited with this 'holiday'. I don't have to catch a train every morning, I don't have to be sandwiched with tall and big bules in that sardines-package train. My feet will free from 4 hours standing in the register. Oh, what a luxury. "Don't you think you will need a part-time husband, a casual one, Marla?" one of my friend joked. "Hahaha, no, no, no. I think I can manage that." I will make myself busy with things that I couldn't do when I work fulltime, such as: 1. ta...
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