Bali Highlights

.: March 27-31, 2013 :.

This holiday turned out to be a beginning of a new chapter for us, unexpected but it's a greatest joy, no question. More to that in later posts :D We had so much fun in Bali together with our dear family friends, visited Villa Maya in Ubud, attacked plates of salted egg crabs, and had tons of laughter. But towards the end of our holiday, I got sick with fever as high as 38.5 degree and had to take medical leave from office for a week. It was worth all the fun though haha. So here are the highlights:

~ My mom and dad, hubby and family friends at Villa Maya, Ubud ~

 

~ A view from our family's villa-to-be. Now it's a paddy field ~

 

~ Just three hundred meters away from the rice field, it's a beach. Well, it has black sand but a beach nonetheless ~

 

~ Learnt how to bake "kue soes" from the master herself, my mom ~

 

~ Sleepy head ~

Doctor Appointment

.: March 26, 2013 :.

Before our flight to Bali, we squeezed in Doctor appointment to check my follicle size. We were supposed to do the procedure on Saturday, according to the doc, but since we would be in Bali there was no way we could do that. So we purely hang on prayer and let nature took its course. 

Eat and Play on Christmas Day

 

 

~ Christmas Dinner at W Hotel, Singapore ~

 

Christmas Eve Dinner

.: December 24, 2012 :.

I love this night, we had a Christmas Eve dinner together at home. The food was superb. Minestrone soup - perfect for a cold night, roast chicken, bread, beef bourguignon - haha this one looked like rendang with a little bit of red wine flavor.

 

~ Our chef ~

 

"The beef bourguignon should have more juice in it, it was too long in the oven", my brother said. Well, didn't matter, it was super delish, full of flavor. Love it to the max. But we joked how much it looked like rendang haha

 

~ And this one is my ultimate favorite. Minestrone soup ~

 

I remember we always hung wreath that my mom made, right from the first Christmas that I remembered as a kid. And that tradition stopped when we moved to Bali when I was in a junior high school. So it was great that me and hubby bought this Christmas wreath, we'll start the tradition again :D

But it's kinda sad, I wish I could've kept at least one of my mom's Christmas wreaths, they were really well made and most importantly, made with love.

Homemade Dinners

My bro and grandma spent two weeks plus in SG from late March till early April. During their stay here, we rarely ate outside for dinner, we were having lots of cooking jam sessions :p My brother even invented a new recipe, "Terong Isi" haha. Oohh I will definitely ask him to make this dish again! It was sooo good. The filling was from diced aubergine, minced meat and some bread crumbs. One thing that I admire from him is that he's not afraid in trying out new things, like combining whatever ingredients at hand and turn them into a beautiful and delicious dish. He spread mayonnaise on the aubergine just before putting them into the oven, made them look glossy, loved it.

~ Terong Isi ~

 

This Minestrone Soup was also cooked by my brother. It was fresh and light and delicious. I have to get the recipe from him, it's healthy and such a perfect dish for moi, for diet lol.

~ Minestrone Soup ~

 

Oh this dish, poached pear, also by my brother… I think we both watched too many Masterchef series :D I forgot exactly why we discussed about poaching a fruit, but I remember I did challenge him to make a poached pear since we happened to have some bottles of red wine and he finally agreed and made this dish. The taste was… interesting. A scoop of vanilla ice cream would go well with the poached pear. Alone, the taste of the wine was just too overpowering, but hey, not that I mind it *wink*

~ Wine Poached Pear ~

 

Okay, this one below was a salmon wrapped in a puff pastry, aka Salmon Wellington. My brother made it after watching a cook-along video by Gordon Ramsay. There is a story behind the pastry. Well, at first, we wanted to make everything from scratch, that means rolling out our own pastry. Too ambitious I might say now, this was a puff pastry, not just an ordinary dough. We made the first batch and it turned out so gross looking and the texture was just not right. First glance, I knew it was over and beyond help, yet, my brother tried to fix the poor dough with more butter… the result was slightly better but come on, to wrap an expensive and beautiful salmon with it? Not a chance. So we went grocery shopping and bought a ready-to-bake pastry dough *cheating*. The dish was spectacular, the wrap was flaky, the herb-seasoned salmon, tender and moist.

The rissoles, these are the BEST rissoles in my whole life. I mean, no kidding. Our family recipe. The first rissoles me and my brother ate were those made by our mum. She used to take orders on this rissole when we were kids and until today, our family's rissoles is still unbeatable. I cannot find a better and more delish rissoles.

~ Salmon Wellington and Indonesian Rissoles ~

~ Wafu Dinner ~

 

~ The sauce for the pizza was made from scratch. It was more fresher ~

Another Yazawa Dinner

.: February 13, 2012. Monday :.

My mum and dad and my bro came to Singapore before traveling to Australia on the 14th. And today, we brought them to Yazawa for dinner. Yeah, it is the same Yazawa that my ex-colleague introduced to us and the beef was really on-par with those I had in Kobe that I wanted my family to try it as well.

And... they liked it, as I knew they would. Whenever I'm craving for a good (best?) bbq, i would go to Yazawa. Hmmm beefff… gimme more beef...

It's Official Now

.: July 09, 2011 :.

At first we didn't even plan to have a  婚約 party, but grandma said we had to follow tradition and there it was, on Saturday, July 09th, 2011 my extended families crammed into our relatively small living room to exchange gifts, have lunch and a photo shoot. Photo shoot? Uh yeah! That also one of the form of love shown by my uncle haha 

So basically, mum's family is a photographer family, started from grandma who was an event photographer herself. Following in her footsteps are my mum's two younger brothers. And, determined to capture this special event, mum's youngest brother brought along his photography gears, complete with the lighting stuff, mind you. And there in a very living room, he set up a mini studio photo for us haha... arigatou Ku :p  

Well, the session didn't end there in my house, we continued to have dinner at the W Hotel. Photos shown here are courtesy of my very beloved cousin, Nitha. Thanks girl :p

  



Home Sweet Home

October 01, 2010, Friday

Me and bf went to Bali for the weekend. It was a short trip but enough to lift up my spirit. Boy, heaven knows how much I needed holiday. Anyway, our flight was at 9 PM, so we had to rush after work to catch the flight.

October 02, 2010, Saturday

Early in the morning, we packed our bag again coz mum had booked us a hotel room at Nusa Dua. But sadly, mum couldn’t join us, she went to Semarang later that day. We had our breakfast at Sanur beach; a local fave, Nasi Bali. The place run by three Balinese women and not that commercialize that it’s known only to local. Afterward, we sent off mum at the airport and straight away went to have… a SPA!!! Oh gosh, my shoulder and back were killing me for the past few months, so having a spa was just a must ha ha. The last time I had spa was.. I think December 2007… Kinda like déjàvu to me. Only this time, I was with the person who, despite knowing the ugliest side of me still wants to be with me. Hmm.. enough about that, overall it was a nice, relaxing time.

After being pampered, me, bf, pa, phopho and her two sisters went to Sanur to have lunch at Mak Beng warong before headed to Novotel Hotel. Mak Beng warong only has one single menu, i.e. fish head soup and fried fish. The fish head soup? Super delish.

At the hotel, I couldn’t wait another minute to throw myself into the swimming pool. Hungry after rounds of swimming, there’s no better place for dining out than Jimbaran! Pa managed to get the big family gathered in. What a nice way to end the day with the lovely crowd.

 

The three sisters

 

Orchid Sketches

:: Watercolor ::
~May 19, 2009~
.: Wedding Anniversary Present :.

Today's post is about orchid. Anggrek tuh bunga kesukaan papa, keknya dari aku kecil, first impression and image papa itu pertama: anggrek, kedua: bonsai, ketiga: kaktus. Soale waktu kecil kan tinggal di Lombok, nah di rumah Lombok dulu, papa punya buanyak banget anggrek, bonsai n kaktus. Waktu pindah ke Bali, trus pindah lagi ke Jakarta, papa uda ga ngurusin bonsai lagi, tapi anggrek?... teteeeppp. So whenever I see him tending orchids, it feels so natural. I'm not exaggerate thing when I say orchid is his passion.

Nahhh... waktu tgl 14 may kemaren ini aku balik Bali, kaget liat di kantor bawah kok ada pot anggrek 2 biji. Ternyata itu mama yg beli buat papa, kado wedding anniversary ktnya huehehehe... it has story, so I decided to sketch it. Pertama kalinya gambar anggrek, ga bisa pula bikin daun huks...

About those two pots of orchid, lucu aja liat mama sm papa. Mama yg ga tau gimana ngurus anggrek, kasian liat daunnya ada yg kering, trus potnya jg kering. Judging that they need water as much as human does, mom poured a bottle of water into the pots. Trus papa kaget liat potnya kok basah banget, hihi so they were fussing over it for a whole day. Mama yg nuduh papa ga peduli-in anggrek yg mama kasih, papa yg bilang klo tuh daun emang uda waktunya kering, klo disiram banyak air malahan jd busuk akarnya. Pokok'e lucu ja ngeliatnya, ampe karyawan2 jg pada ketawa hoho

:: Watercolor ::
~May 21, 2009~
Orchids in the Backyard

Klo angrek2 yg ini juga aku baru pertama kali liat pas pulang kemaren. Ga tanya sih dapet dr mana. Papa taruh di halaman belakang deket dapur. Bunganya buanyaaakk banget, jd gatel pengen aku cabut