Have you been thinking about this topic. I mean, I do love how Jakarta can provide everything for everyone especially anything food related. Jakarta is very open about food. You can find almost everything in Jakarta. But have you noticed the food OUTSIDE Jakarta? I mean every province around Java island has their own super famous local foods. When I was on a Idul Fitri holiday this year, I literally trying to eat everything that i can chew. Here are some of the food I managed to snap before eating them:

1. Bebek Goreng Pak Pinggir

BEST FRIED DUCK EVAAARR! I know Bali already got popular by it's crispy duck but this is different both in taste and the price. I was introduced to this place by my dad. He used to work around the area and often went there to eat so he took us (our family) to this place ever since. I think we are their loyal retaining customer. We always eat here every time we had the chance for the past 5 years I guess. I mean we saw this place evolves. From a small stall to the last time we visited they already had 6 stall just to provide the seating space for their customers.

Sorry for the shaky picture :(

And that's how it looks like. Pretty simple but tasted REALLY GOOD! Too bad I only had this pic while actually every portion comes with some veggies (lalapan), 2 kinds of sambal; sambal korek which is REALLY SPICY and sambal bawang (my favorite) and a bowl of steamed papaya leaves. We used to have 2 pieces of those fried duck for each person and we are a family of 5 so..10 pieces of duck meat served on our table. The price was normal, actually. around 15 to 17K each. 

Here are my thoughts on this place and what makes it different with others:

1. The steamed papaya leaves on the side. I've never had that in any other place.
2. They use crystal sugar to sweeten the drinks.
3. They always cool down the rice before serving them to the customer. how thoughtful right?

4. The duck itself, it is really crispy on the outside and very tender on the inside. the bone fell off easily. I mean, I've had so many rubbery overpriced duck meat before. The almost comparison to this probably at Kaleyo, but Kaleyo serves really small pieces of duck while at this place, as you can see.. how big it is. Yep. Worth every kilometers and penny.

2. Sate Sapi Suruh

This place is legendary if you know/lives at Salatiga. Have you even heard about this city? well this is actually my mother's hometown. It is a small city between Semarang and Solo, i would say. It never changes, and that's why I love it.

So there's this small stall in front of Suruh Market that opens around 5 pm. Run by 2 really big woman (that's what I always remember about this place). There's a distinct flavor in this satay that really memorable and makes you craving for more. It has a strong nutmeg flavor and big chunks of crushed peanuts for the sauce. The price for a portion of this is around 20K. Pretty expensive considering this was sold in a small village, but we can always splurge once a while, right?

3. Ronde Apotek Wahid

This snack/ drink is not my favorite but my mom loved it. There are tons of Ronde seller all along the Salatiga main street but this particular one located in front of Apotek Wahid is my mom's favorite. It consist of jelly cubes, mochi, kolang-kaling and peanuts with ginger ale. Definitely what you're looking for in a cold night.

4. Il Tempo di Gelato

First of all, no I didn't go to Italy straight from my Idul Fitri holiday. This new hip place was actually located in Yogyakarta, in Prawirotaman area to be specific. I went to Yogyakarta for a day just to hang out with friends and meet my bf there. The place was nicely decorated but kinda hot around 2-3 pm. They have so many flavor options in here but all was pretty normal for me. I decided to go "all fruity" and apparently "all sour" also. The cone one was actually pretty big and they made it homemade. I got the kiwi and raspberry combination just out of curiosity. For me the raspberry was pretty nice and very "fruity" but the kiwi one...was definitely not my cup of tea. It's too sour for me and It has a bitter/bad taste in it.

5. OPOR AYAM!!!

I mean, what's Idul Fitri without opor ayam right?? so here is the picture of it. I can finally confirmed that opor ayam that cooked in a fire pot is 1000x better than the one you cooked at stove. It was a lot more tender and the soup was a lot tastier. I am actually drooling over this right now.

I guess those are my highlight. Hope it'll be informative for you!


EnjoyReading!

This just hits me. I just went back from my Idul Fitri trip to my grandma's house in a small village where there's no TV (it's because we don't put on antenna receiver on our house, not because the village was out of nowhere), there's no internet connection/wifi, the signal was poor so I cannot have at least 3G signal there. It pushes me to appreciate the little things, and here are some of them:

1. WiFi

My daily activities was pretty much always connected to WiFi. When i get to the office, i instantly connected to the WiFi. My home was also connected to the WiFi so I (mostly) connected to the internet 24/7. Internet is my source of entertainment. Just like everyone else, I constantly checking my social media apps and I don't even watch TV that often anymore, I just streaming Korean dramas/ Reality shows or watch Youtube, everyday without realizing how dependable I am to the Internet.

It hits me when I can't open any Youtube videos when I was in the village, because it will not only immediately use up all my internet quota but also drains my battery since my phone is constantly looking for at least 3G reception. At the end, I have to be satisfied by only playing old offline games on the Ipad or.. socializing with (older) people I barely knew.

2. Prices

I obviously cannot shop at supermarkets there, but there is a new supermarket opened up last year at the city. Funny how I call it "the city". I went to the traditional market to buy groceries. Here's the thing, I am not anyway sounded/acted like a diva or something but you know, it is always nicer to go to a supermarket and picking out what we need, putting them into the basket and stroll around in a air conditioned room. ANYWAYS, the point is, I get really amazed by how cheap things are. You can have a huge chunk of meat that can feed a 5 member family with 50K Rupiahs. HOW AWESOME?

With that stated, I can safely say things in Jakarta are always overpriced and every time I remembered it I get so irritated. WHY IN THE HELL SHOULD I BUY A BOTTLE OF COCA COLA FOR 10K AT THE SUPERMARKET MEANWHILE I CAN BUY IT WITH 7K AT THE SUPPLIER STORE 5 METER NEXT TO MY HOUSE?

Ugh...capitalsm!

3. Daily Needs

I mean, back at home, when I opened the fridge I can get anything that I need to eat most of the time but back in my grandma's house I literally need to get everything by myself. Need some chilli? go pluck them at the backyard. Want a coconut water? go climb the trees and get them (no, I obviously can't climb the trees and get them myself, I asked the people that taking care of the house to get them) Want to take a bath with hot water? go lit up the fire first at the fireplace/stove or "pawon" and boil the water first. Yes, those veggies and coconut are really fresh but I mean, you need so much effort to get them first.

Those are probably it, being disconnected from the internet is my biggest anxiety nowadays. I just can't live without it. Can I get an amen on that? LOL.

EnjoyReading!

SKITS/COMEDY

link to their Youtube channel are on each title/name.

1. Wah! Banana

I just discovered Singaporean youtubers lately and stumbled upon the Wah! Banana channel. I really love skits and lists of whatever on videos (ex: top 10 foods, 10 types of people) and they just captured them really nicely. I also like how they post the bloopers after they post the main video because it's not only entertaining but also making us learn their effort on making a single video. Their contents are really creative and always fun to watch. Let's talk about the casts shall we? I mean i really like Eden Ang. He is really talented, he can even talk with many different accent and don't forget Terence, he's hilarious! both of them are my favorites!

2. Tree Potatoes

I don't know what happened in the past but apparently Tree Potatoes casts are initially Wah! Banana casts before the Wah! Banana team changes their entire casts in 2014.  I also never seen them collab in a video. Anyways, I watched this channel because they have really nice contents and skits, really original with not much of property but still entertaining. My favorite? definitely Elliot. Even tough he mostly got an annoying person role on every videos, I still laugh at his acting and how irritating he is.

3. The Fung Bros

This brothers duo are really good at anything asian. They are famous on having/being ASIAN as their main content. I first discovered them through my youtube home page, I believe in "top 5 fried rices" video and found Indonesian fried rice is one of them. Since then I always visited their channel for their "fung bros food" episodes.

4. Ryan Higa

NIGAHIGA! who doesn't know ryan? he has 14K subscribers. But he's definitely everybody's favorite in youtube channel because he's just that hilarious. I really admire how fast he can talk in a single breath and how good he is at making bad puns (in which i still laugh at them). His videos are nicely made, his editing tho.. he's taking it to the next level.

5. Eatyourkimchi

I'm kinda confused on where to put the EYK channel group at first but then decided on putting it here because I discovered this channel through their skits in mimicking K-Pop videos. They have a program called "Music Mondays" back then where they reviewed recently launched K-Pop music videos and putting some small skits on the video. Oh! forgot to tell you about who they are that I've been calling as "they". They are Simon and Martina, a married couple who moved to Korea to teach English at first then after 2/3 years they decided to be a full time youtuber and quit their teaching job.
Since I love K-Pop so much, i always watched their videos because they are not only covering K-Pop stuff but they also putting Korean culture and food in their videos.

UPDATE

6. Miranda sings

Who doesn't know miranda? especially when she sings? LOL. I am amazed on how consistent she played the miranda role. She is literally one of a kind. Go check her videos out!


EnjoyReading!

Well hello there!

So in this post i would like to list all my favorite youtubers, since I literally watched youtube everyday. Before going to bed or when i wake up. Yes, I am that addicted to youtube. I always feel hungry on new contents, new videos, or even new youtubers. So here are the list of my favorite youtubers in no particular order

Fashion/Beauty Gurus

1. Elle Fowler

She is probably the first person i subscribed when i discovered "beauty gurus"-thing. I was like amazed when I know that there's people like her in the opposite of my world that does videos like that. I really like the way she talks, she's definitely a girly girl, if you know what i mean. I love her video quality although sometimes her contents are kinda boring now.

2. Ingrid Nilsen

Love her video quality. I love her fashion style, because she's not that edgy yet not really girly at the same time, I love the way she talks, but not so much these days because she's getting really awkward on her intros. Oh and also she recently claimed that she is a lesbian. Way to go Ingrid! 

3. Jenn Im

Who doesn't love her? I mean her face is beautiful. I definitely loves the way she talks, her fashion style is edgy yet always looks pretty all the same time. As for the video, I can safely say that she's taking her video editing game seriously. I always love watching her travel vlogs. Her editing and BGM selection was genius. 

4. Claire Marshall

WOW! I mean literally wow. LOVE HER! love her editing skill, love her fashion sense, love her make up tutorials, love her vlogs. I literally ship her, like person goal. I initially discovered her through her tattoos video (and by the way, her tattoos are really cool) and after watching some videos of her, i got hooked. go check yourself to understand what i'm talking about.

5. Sophia Chang

Hey girl heyyyy! she's another korean (jenn and claire are also korean-american) that has flawless editing skill. I really like how she talks. She's really capturing the independent and smart woman image through the way she talks. She also does a really great makeup tutorials.

6. Amanda Steele

A 16 year old girl that i discovered through video walking. I just love the way she talks and looks. You probably getting sick of "i love the way she talks" on this post but it is actually the thing that makes me subscribe to a certain channel on youtube. I mean you will paying more attention to people that feels connected to you right? And that's the thing with youtube. Contents are always important, because at the end of the day titles like "what's in my bag" or "monthly favorites" are no longer makes viewers curious and watching your videos.

7. Gigi

A transgender woman that I always love to watch. This is probably weird, but her personality definitely makes people watch her videos. You should see it yourself to judge. She's really open about her life, her process on being a transgender woman, although I sometimes see her as a stupid blonde sometimes. Probably because she's capturing a party-rich-girl image who wears designer shoes and bag and also does thing carelessly but other than that, i still love her videos. Stay gorgeous!

8. Estee Lalonde

Finally moving to British youtuber! I discovered her from Ingrid actually. She always mentioned Estee (read: essiebutton) when she is reviewing products. So I started to watch her videos and as expected, I was hooked on the way she talks. She is really pretty and her personality definitely makes people loves her. She's not that girly girl but her contents are nicely made.

Wow, it's kinda long post isn't it? Those are not all of my favorites but it is pretty much my top favorites. I will probably going to write more list in the future but this is what i have currently.

EnjoyReading!

Hi!

Wow, ever since i opened the juice bar, i literally work everyday. Days are passing so quickly, even though I opened the cafe at 12:00 and closed at 21:00 on the weekend or 22:00 on weekdays, I always feel exhausted when I get home. I know that this probably just a "phase" since I have this new routine.

Managing a cafe is not an easy job, AT ALL. I often use my working time to manage the finances, and trying to find the best and the most economic supplier I can find around the area. Fruits prices are often went up like crazy and this problem surely making me having a headache all the time. But that's the challenge after all, if things goes well and smooth i'll probably be lounging around by the time I'm writing this. Another challenge would be promoting the cafe to the public. My biggest problem since I got the place was the parking space, It was literally can only fit 1 car with ramps that went up so high and making people feel burdened to stop by. Since then, I went crazy promoting my cafe on Instagram. By the time you're reading this, please do visit the Instagram page and follow us! :P

Are you curious on what are we selling?

Banana Pops!

This probably one of the most wanted thing that makes people stopping by. We created this "weekend special menu" by accident actually but hey! It totally works and people love it. 

Another "specials" from this place is the Infused Soda. Consist of soda, lemon slices, orange slices and strawberry slices. People love it because it is somehow refreshing. I initially just have this in iced water but people often asks for the soda version and people always ordered it ever since.

Infused Soda

Grilled Cheese

This is literally my pride. I created this menu, since I find people are probably looking for a filling snack (although it's "snack" after all). I do my research and decided to create grilled cheese menu with mozzarella and melted cheddar. In Indonesia these kind of cheese are considered "expensive" since the cheese that commonly found at grocery stores are only cheddar, those one you grated on top of everything. The feedback from the customer mostly says it is worth the price or even considered cheap for others.

Go visit the cafe for the full menu. Those are just the "teaser" and hopefully you really got teased by it :P

Hopefully this cafe will go viral soon like those-so-called "modern kue cubit" stalls that people are always looking for. I will update the customers collage soon in this post or probably in another post.

EnjoyReading!

Last weekend me and bf went to see Fast and Furious 7 movie. He told me this would be his last respect for Paul Walker since his death back in 2013, i know, he's really emotional. 

The movie itself was great. I am really impressed with their visual effect work, especially those scene in Dubai. We watch it with so much anxiety since we know, Paul didn't finish this movie because of his death from car accident. Every scenario went through my mind every time there's an almost-farewell or parting scene. I just don't want to see Brian get retired from the mission or even die in the movie. Thankfully, he didn't and i'm really glad he's kept alive (at least) in the movie. I don't want to see anymore death! I mean i get really pissed since the Fast 6 movie when Giselle has to die just to keep Han alive and also already knowing that Han died in Tokyo Drift movie. I literally ship that couple, especially Han.

Did you know before all those Fast and Furious series, Han had his own movie/story about how he was until he met Dom in Mexico? go watch Better Luck Tomorrow and for the surprise, that movie was directed by no other than Justin Lin, the one who directed almost all Fast and Furious series.

The slight disappointment would be the last "war" scene when they are chased by missiles, it is so unrealistic to me. 

The shocking part would be knowing that Dom and Letty had already married since Fast 4 movie, before Letty was gone. WOW.

All in all, we do love the movie series, especially my bf who's obsessed with both Paul Walker as an actor and Brian O'Conner as a character. He even wore the same shoes as Brian wore in the movie and of course we cried at the last flash back scene at the end. Seeing Paul's smile in 2 Fast 2 Furious movie brings back all the memories. Thank you for your contribution and passion to the movie, Paul.

EnjoyReading!

Hi!

So, last weekend I am experimenting on making sushi. The only trigger to this is because I just bought a sushi roller mat at supermarket a few days ago so.. the journey begins.

PS: That oat crunch and astor packages are not the "secret" ingredient for a delicious sushi

Shopping for salmon, vegetables (read: cucumber), eggs, kani (crab stick), avocado (which i'm failing on choosing the ripe one) and organic rice. I initially wanted to buy Japanese rice but it was so expensive! 158K for 2kg? hmm.. no thank you. So i just bought a small pack of organic rice instead.

In my experience, the hardest yet the most important part of making sushi is rolling it. I tried so many times just to have the perfect size of rolls but ended up ruined them. I mean, just look at them.. they kinda looks sad.. but at least I did tried my best tho.

 

Oh! i forgot to mention this, I also tried a "kue cubit tiramisu" at a small stall near my bf's flat called "KEDAI ROBITS". I cannot describe nor translate this "kue cubit" to English because the literal translation to that would be a "pinched cake". This kue cubit was initially sold on a cart, usually in front of schools, like a traditional snack i would say but today it is sold in a modernized way (read: various toppings and flavor). And the fun part was having them half-done with gooey and runny uncooked batter on top.
Disclaimer: although it is delicious, try not to eat this too often because it is a raw (egg) batter after all, bacteria are definitely in it. 

Is it just me or every place that sells this modernized cake have overly sweet batter? but overall it was nice. I ordered tiramisu batter with cheese on top. You can check their instagram for more mouth watering photos.

See you on the next weekend!

EnjoyReading!