Month: March 2012

Precious Expression of a Tibetan Boy

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This is not picture that I took. It just happened to steal my heart the moment I saw it posted on the Facebook so I asked permission from the photographer to put it in my post.

The photographer said this child stood still in front of the stone monument as if he wanted to obstruct people taking picture. How cute it is, look at his face, don’t you agree with me that his expression is precious ?

Some people might think he was such an annoying boy but who knows what he was thinking about …. “ get out of my land, you all annoying tourists! Bring your pop cultures, your funny fashions, and your ugly gadgets out from here, let my ancestor land be serene and peaceful as it was”  … Ha!!!!

Just my random thought 🙂

I wish him a wonderful future, may God bless him.

Very Cocoa Nutella Pound Cake

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When I read the post about this recipe, it reminded me of my friend who is a big fan of Nutella and Dark Chocolate. The original version uses Nutella ( hazelnut spread ) but the writer of this post substituted it with dark chocolate spread. I thought why don’t just combine them and here we are … “Very Cocoa Nutella  Pound Cake”.

  • Preheat oven to 320° F.
  • Grease and flour the loaf pan ( 9 x 5 inch ).
  • Sift together 1 ½ cup flour, ½ tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp salt, set aside.
  • Lightly beat 4 eggs and 2 tsp pure vanilla extract, set aside.
  • Melt ¼ cup dark chocolate with 1 ½ tbsp butter ( double boiler method ), set aside.
  • Beat 2 sticks unsalted butter ( softened ) with 1 cup sugar until fluffy.
  • Gradually beat in the egg mixture until fully incorporated and add flour mixture slowly in low speed until just incorporated. Keep mixing for another 20 seconds.
  • Pour and spread ½ of the batter into the pan then spread 7 ounce Nutella on the top.
  • Top with remaining batter then spread the melted dark chocolate on the top.
  • Using the opposite end of a spoon ( or any kitchen utensil that similar ) make a light swirl to mix the chocolate spread into the batter.
  • Bake for 75 minutes, check with toothpick.
  • Enjoy !!

My special ingredients : Gratitude + 2 tbsp plain yogurt ( added before flour mixture )

Cucumber Salad

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This is a super easy recipe .. easy to make & easy to modify.

1. The Sauce

Remove the seeds of 1 red chili ( more if you like hot ), cut into thin strips. Mince the leaves of 3 sprigs cilantro. Combine chili and cilantro together in a bowl, add 2 table spoons lime juice, 1 table spoon soy sauce, 1 table spoon sugar, and 2 table spoons e.v.o.o, stir well. On this part you can adjust the ingredients to your taste. If you like sweet add more sugar, etc.

2. The Cucumber

Trim the end of 1 cucumber then cut the cucumber a long spiral way using potato peeler, stop just before the inner seed part. Make sure your potato peeler is in well condition, mine was not sharp enough and took time to make a long and nice cut.

3. Serve

Mix the cucumber with the sauce, sprinkle with roasted peanuts, add dried cherries. I also added blueberries just for fun. You can modify the toppings as you like.

Humble Fisherman Fish Stock Soup

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Karena Akong ( my mom’s father ) seorang pedagang ikan, mama sangat hobby memasak menu2 “fishy”. Kita anak2nya pun jadi penggemar seafood, ditambah slogan mama “makan ikan biar pinter!”. Ada satu menu yang berkesan bagiku karena meskipun sederhana tapi sangat bermakna, judulnya: Humble Fisherman Fish Stock Soup.

Mamaku berasal dari keluarga besar, 11 bersaudara. Begitu banyaknya yang harus diberi makan dapur seolah ngepul sepanjang hari. Ini adalah salah satu menu andalan keluarga saat itu, cara mudah untuk menyiapkan masakan dlm jumlah besar dan cepat, dengan kuali besar diatas kompor kayu bakar.

Aku beri judul Humble karena bahan terbesar menu ini adalah bagian2 ikan yang pada umumnya dibuang orang: kulit, kepala, ekor, tulang. Dari bagian2 ini justru akan didapat fish stock ter yummy. Mama membuat menu ini sekaligus saat membuat baso ikan tengiri. Sebagian dagingnya diambil buat baso, sisanya dijadikan bagian dari kaldu.

Long story short, here is the recipe :

1.   Iris halus 10cm ruas jahe.

2.   Iris tipis 2 lobak asin, jangan lupa rendam terlebih dahulu.

3.   Tumis jahe dalam minyak secukupnya, masukkan lobak untuk dimasak bersamaan, +/- 1 menit.

4.   Masukkan bagian-bagian dari +/-2 ekor ikan tengiri, tumis sampai ½ matang.

5.   Masukkan air sampai semua bahan terendam.

6.   Tambahkan baso ikan atau fillet.

7.   Garam dan merica sesuai selera.

8.   Perpanjang waktu 5 menit setelah mendidih.

9.   Masukkan cilantro dan minyak wijen.

10. Serve ( bagian2 ikan tidak perlu ikut dihidangkan, biar keliatan lebih menarik J )

Humble nya menu ini justru menjadi keiistimewaannya. kaya akan nutrisi dan history, reminds me to be humble.

Sweet Hyacinth

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The first flowering bulb I planted in my garden was Hyacinth. Coming from tropical country, I never saw this flower before until 4 years ago when I sat in an office with this flower gracefully sent its fragrant in the room. That moment I said I want this flower.

Its sweet fragrant brings back the memory of Ama, my beloved grandmother ( my mom’s mother ), such a talented gardener with extraordinary heart. She liked to put a flower above her ears. Her favorite one was a tiny yellow flower which fragrant was very similar to hyacinth, unfortunately I don’t know what is its name.

Now my hyacinths are almost spent, but the memory of its fragrant is always there, just like my memory of my Ama 🙂