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Jakarta-Bandung Trip 2010

We finally decided to go to Jakarta & Bandung, instead of Shanghai Expo Tour because I didn't want to go on a 8-day trip. Besides, tours to the Expo was fully booked till September. I heard 3 days was not enough to finish visiting the Expo so I wasn't excited to be couped up in large halls, competing with millions of other tourist for anything. That's not a vacation!

Jakarta was hot and was like what I expected...

 

J_B 010

Interesting canon, huh?

J_B 023

Had this super delicious cendol @ Taman Mini Indonesia, cost 10,000 Rupiah a glass. It had cendol, tapai ubi, 2 types of manisan, coconut milk and some ice.

J_B 119

Singapore Trip 2010

 

 

The Merlion

I was in Singapore for a short trip. Took the night train, Senandung Malam from Kajang to Tanjong Pagar. On arrival, had this delicious capati with kari daging kambing at the platform canteen. Sentosa Resort's new casino was opening the next day. But didn't have a chance to go for a look-see.

 

Nice new building with new casino

 Instead, went for Duck Tour...a current tourist attraction. A vehicle that moves on land and water! Hmm...bumpy ride on road and smooth on water.

 

The Duck

 

Kadazan Fish Dish

This is a favourite dish in the Kadazan community. You'll find most Kadazan food simple to cook but not really that easy to master, in my opinion. Most recipes call for simmering or boiling or simply 'cooked' with lime. And most Kadazan people loves 'toonsom-oonsom', which means sour appetizers.

For this dish, 'Pinasakan Sada', which means fish that's simmered till water is reduced, I'm trying to enthusiatically re-create my mum's recipe from memory. Let's see what I've managed to concoct...

8 small pieces of fresh Sardines

1 inch Ginger

1/2 piece of Bambangan ( a sour fruit found in Borneo, a cousin of the mango :D)

1 1/2 inch Tumeric (fresh from the garden)

1 Tumeric leave

Salt to taste

2 Tbs of Vegetable oil

Some water

 

The Ingredients

Note: You might wonder...why is the bambangan not fresh? Well, because it was frozen in the freezer for over a month. Can't get them in the peninsular so it was 'imported' from Sabah and frozen for later use. The taste has less oomph kept in this way but it'll do.

Mix all the ingredients together...

Add water to the cooking pot and place everything inside. Let it simmer till cooked ( amount of water is significantly reduced) 

 

How it looks like before it's cooked

Here's the Pinasakan Sada, which is a tradisional Kadazan dish. It's an acquired taste for most but for a Kadazan it's delicious..!!

 

Pinasakan Sada being cooked

 

Tonjiru...delicious Japanese soup

Inspired by Cooking with Dog , I made Tonjiru for the first time today. Based loosely on the recipe given by Francis, I thought the soup turned out quite well :D

Francis's recipe calls for Konnyaku (jelly), Taro potato and extra Dashi (fish flakes). I replaced them with Tofu, Holland potato and dashi that was pre-mixed in miso paste. 

 300g White radish

 150g Carrot

 120g Thin Pork Slices

 2 small potatoes

 1/2 packet Tofu

 2 Tbs Sesame oil

 6-8 pieces of Medium-size Shitake mushrooms

 6 cm of Gobou (Burdock root)

 1 stem of Leek 

 2 Tbs of Miso (with Dashi) paste

 

The ingredients

 

 

Burdock root @ Gobou

Here's the delicious soup...!!

 

Tonjiru

Hope you'll be inspired to try it out too...

 

Cooking without Dog

Hymn during Tenebrae - 31st March 2010

HOLY DARKNESS (Dan Schutte)

Refrain:

Holy darkness,blessed night, heaven's answer hidden from our sight

As we await you, O God of silence, we embrace your holy night.

Verses:

I have tried you in fires of affliction;

I have taught your soul to grieve.

In the barren soil of your loneliness there I will plant my seed

 

I have taught you the price of compassion;

You have stood before the grave.

Though my love can seem like a raging storm, this is the love that saves.

 

Were you there when I raised up the mountains?

Can you guide the morning star?

Does the hawk take flight when you give command?

Why do you doubt my pow'r?

Sheila Sipaun RIP 10th Anniversary

Our dearest Sheila,

We were heartbroken when you left suddenly. Guess you never expected to, neither did we. All that's left are memories, re-hashed in our own quiet time. Moments passed and events unfold, yet we were never the same anymore. Because everything happens in the Lord's time,  our hope and prayers will follow you all the days of our life. Till we meet again.

Lots of love,

Your family

Sheila's 10th

A crummy Monday morning

I didn't have a restful sleep last night, hence the crummy Monday morning. Couldn't sleep till way past 1am and then got woken up by nothing at 3 am. Then again at 5.46am.
Yesterday, I was reading Fourier & Radon Transform from 4pm till about 9pm. Had a KFC break in between. Did a short+ robust + drenching exercise that ended at 10.20pm. Then 10.30pm watched 8TV's Ghost... wahh damn shiok that local series!!
Had avoided coffee and tea the whole day but still I couldn't sleep well.

Is this what the old people call 'penyakit susah tidur'?
Tsk tsk ...and I've still got a couple of years to go till I reach the new 20s ;)

On Living

-NAZIM HIKMET-

On Living

Living is no laughing matter:
you must live with great seriousness
like a squirrel, for example--
I mean without looking for something beyond and above living,
I mean living must be your whole occupation.
Living is no laughing matter:
you must take it seriously,
so much so and to such a degree
that, for example, your hands tied behind your back,
your back to the wall,
or else in a laboratory
in your white coat and safety glasses,
you can die for people--
even for people whose faces you've never seen,
even though you know living
is the most real, the most beautiful thing.
I mean, you must take living so seriously
that even at seventy, for example, you'll plant olive trees--
and not for your children, either,
but because although you fear death you don't believe it,
because living, I mean, weighs heavier.

Let's say you're seriously ill, need surgery--
which is to say we might not get
from the white table.
Even though it's impossible not to feel sad
about going a little too soon,
we'll still laugh at the jokes being told,
we'll look out the window to see it's raining,
or still wait anxiously
for the latest newscast ...
Let's say we're at the front--
for something worth fighting for, say.
There, in the first offensive, on that very day,
we might fall on our face, dead.
We'll know this with a curious anger,
but we'll still worry ourselves to death
about the outcome of the war, which could last years.
Let's say we're in prison
and close to fifty,
and we have eighteen more years, say,
before the iron doors will open.
We'll still live with the outside,
with its people and animals, struggle and wind--
I mean with the outside beyond the walls.
I mean, however and wherever we are,
we must live as if we will never die.

This earth will grow cold,
a star among stars
and one of the smallest,
a gilded mote on blue velvet--
I mean this, our great earth.
This earth will grow cold one day,
not like a block of ice
or a dead cloud even
but like an empty walnut it will roll along
in pitch-black space ...
You must grieve for this right now
--you have to feel this sorrow now--
for the world must be loved this much
if you're going to say "I lived" ...

Are things changing or is it just me?

I had lunch with my non-muslim colleagues today. Lakam was buying lunch to celebrate his recent excellence award. Lunch was great but somehow I felt dead with the company. I just could not connect with them. I was quiet most of the time. I was a very unexciting company. Has things change since I came back from Japan?? Or is it just me? Friends by circumstance??

Yutaka Ozaki and Tonjiru

I was watching Yutaka Ozaki's I love you on youtube to polish up my Japanese language skills and I keep hearing this word which sounded like ' tonjiru ' that is actually my favourite Japanese soup. Ahh...tidak jadi belajar language! Bagus belajar masak ja lah...