It has been a while since I last posted a blog update.
It’s because my days are now infinitely busier. It’s wonderful and amazing to be busy but also slightly overwhelming at times.
My lack of posting is certainly not due to lack of cooking – it’s just the writing part that has been slowing down.
Today, however, I am going to share a little secret …..
……….that I am becoming a part time Vegan.
Why part time Vegan?
Posted in My Special Edition
It has been a while since my last post ……
Yeah, I have been very busy and at the same time been very lazy to cook and blog as I used to.
But today, while I was thinking on what to eat for lunch, suddenly an idea popped into my head…..
The same thing that I should have for my lunch is also the thing I should write and post in my blog
It’s the “A_ Pop”
What is A-Pop?
Posted in My Food-o-pedia
Tagged ayam pop, A_Pop, Indonesia, J_Pop, King of Pop, K_Pop, Organic free range chicken, Pdang restaurant
Have you ever got too tired of deciding what to cook? Have you ever had days when you get indoors and are tired and feeling lazy, and you really don’t know what to cook?
I have ……………….
and when that happens, nothing in my recipe repertoire feels quite like worth making the effort for.
In such situation, it’s always good to have quick and easy ‘meals’ that you will probably have the ingredients for and are going to enjoy.
These meals are quite filling and comforting as well as being really easy to cook – probably just what you need on a day when cooking a meal just seems like too much trouble.
One of the meals I suggest to cook when you don’t know what to cook is Nasi Goreng.
Why Nasi Goreng?
Posted in My Recipes & Beyond
Tagged fried rice, Indonesia, nasi goreng, too tired and lazy to cook, Ziploc plastic bag
The first time I’ve been encountered with “this friend” was at a buffet dinner in one of the 5-star hotels in Jakarta.
Who is this friend who knows no strangers?
This friend’s name is “Potato au Gratin”
Tom Hirschfeld in http://www.food52.com wrote about Potato au Gratin as follows:
“Have you ever had a friend who knows no strangers? The kind of genuine person to whom everyone in the room gravitates — someone who doesn’t have to work at meeting new people, because somehow it is coded into their DNA for others to like them?
A potato gratin is just such a friend. A friend who hangs out with all the cool entrees too: an herb-crusted roast beef taking a bath in a platter of flavorful juices or a perfectly roasted chicken with crackly brown skin are its best friends.”
I couldn’t agree more with Tom Hirschfeld hence the title of this post.
What is potato gratin?
All Moms are special, including my Mom.
Every time Mother’s Day arrives, I always remember special foods that my Mom cooked for me during my childhood.
No doubt that there’s a powerful connection between my Mom and foods. After all, it was my Mom who fed me my first meal and most of the foods I ate growing up. My Mom comforted me with my favorite soup, cheer me up with sweet treat, and made my favorite meals just because she loved me.
To sweeten Mother’s Day, I would like to share a simple sweet treat locally known as “Manisan Kolang Kaling” (candied palm fruit) which my Mom often made for me and my sisters as sweet treat when we were kids.
What is ‘Kolang Kaling’?
Posted in My Food-o-pedia, My Special Edition
Tagged Arenga pinnata, candied palm fruit, Kolang Kaling, mother's day, Ramadan
When I first saw the sign board of “Buffalo Wings” restaurant in Jakarta, I mumbled “does buffalo have wings?” while at the same time I was having a wild imagination just like the picture above (found in http://www.worth1000.com)
I was ignorant hence that ‘stupid question’ and ‘wild imagination’
Then I found out that Buffalo Wings are actually chicken wings and they taste soooo good!
For those of you who haven’t heard that “buffalo does have wings” perhaps you are interested to know “where did Buffalo Wings get their name?
Easter is coming again………
It’s time to hunt for those multi-colored painted eggs.
Talking about egg, there’s a culinary tradition I miss quite a bit from my childhood that has to do with egg. Duck egg….. salted duck egg.
What?
Salted duck egg?
Yes, that’s right! We, Indonesian (and also many Asian) eat salted duck egg.
The egg white has a sharp, salty taste. The orange red yolk is rich, fatty, and less salty. The yolk is prized and is used in Chinese moon cakes to symbolize the moon.
Despite its name, salted duck eggs can also be made from chicken eggs, though the taste and texture will be somewhat different, and the egg yolk will be less rich.
What is salted duck egg?
What is it after Chinese New Year?
Did the fun of Chinese New year celebration stop after that?
Well, guess what…….
Precisely 15 days after the Chinese New Year celebration, there is Cap Go Meh.
What is Cap Go Meh?
Cap Goh Meh is a festival celebrated in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar calendar.
In Hokkien dialect Cap Go Meh means the fifteenth evening (cap= ten, go =five, meh=evening). It is also known as the Lantern Festival (Yuanxiao Festival or Shangyuan Festival) in China; Yuen Siu Festival in Hong Kong, Tết Thượng Nguyên or Tết Nguyên Tiêu in Vietnam; and Koshōgatsu in Japan. It officially ends the Chinese New Year celebrations.
This year, as Chinese New Year fell on 19th February 2015, the Cap Go Meh Celebration took place on 5th March 2015.
It is interesting to see how the celebration has evolved through the years and how it is celebrated throughout Indonesia today. It has become a major festival attracting many local tourists to the various cities.
Several Cap Go Meh fairs and parades (including dragon & lion dances) took place throughout the archipelago, sometimes with an interesting local touch.
In Singkawang, Kalimantan, people are attracted by Tatung performers – people believed to be possessed by the spirits of ancestors – the performance has similarities with Dayak rituals and is also performed by local Dayaks.
This year the celebration of Cap Go Meh festival in my country become very special as our President Jokowi attended this celebration in his favorite satellite city Bogor. This visit to Bogor Street Festival Cap Go Meh 2015 was to encourage other cities to do the same to attract more tourist and also for supporting pluralism.
In my country, Cap Go Meh is also associated with a very well-known dish for this festival named “Lontong Cap Go Meh”
What is Lontong Cap Go Meh?
The Lunar New Year is fast approaching and countries throughout Asia are gearing up to celebrate.
In my country, Chinese New Year is declared as a national holiday. This year it falls on 19 February and is called as the year of goat. The goat is the lucky eighth sign of the zodiac. It’s meant to be a year of harmony, home comfort and abundance!
While New Year’s customs vary throughout Chinese Indonesian communities in the Indonesian archipelago, the spirit underlying the celebration of Chinese Lunar New Year is the same; a sincere wish for peace, happiness and prosperity for family members and friends.
As Indonesia counts a large population of those with Chinese descent, most of whom have lived here for generations, Chinese New Year, also is known as Imlek is celebrated with lots of fanfare in many townships across the archipelago.
On New Year’s eve, Chinese families whose members may be living far apart, make it point to gather at New Year’s eve family dinner. The next morning they will all go to the temple to pray.
Picture from Kompas.com dated 18 – 2 – 2015
Although our family don’t celebrate Chinese New year but since it’s going to be a holiday, I am planning to mark the occasion by cooking one of our favorite homely Chinese Foods called Mun Tofu or also known in my country as Mun Tahu.
Why Mun Tofu?
It’s just the right dish for a humble welcome to the Year of the Goat, with easy-to-find ingredients and a dish that is effortlessly achievable.
Here’s the recipe of my version of Mun Tofu
Ingredients:
Spices:
Directions:
Serve warm with rice.
GONG XI FA CAI
Posted in My Special Edition
Tagged Chinese New Year, Imlek, Indonesia, lunar new year, Mun Tahu, Mun Tofu
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 42,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 16 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
My Cooking Without Borders 