Kala Nasi Telah Menjadi Bubur... Cari Ayam

One of my favorite breakfast foods or even for lunch back home is bubur ayam (chicken rice porridge). Depends on where you live, all you have to do is find your favorite vendor...hahhaa They are widely available from chinese restaurants in the mall to cart vendors who would go around certain area in the morning until they run out of their porridge. Another way of getting it is from someone who knows what they are doing a.k.a. my auntie or my mom.

Well, since I am here in a place where there is no chinatown nor cart vendors, the only way to get it is when I have the mood to make it...hahahhaha So when it is Saturday morning and the weather forecast is not looking good, while there is chicken breast in the pot that no one wants to eat, it is porridge time!!!!

I made mine today like my auntie used to do, but I am pretty sure she had more stuff that goes into hers. Mine is less messy -- with chicken and coleslaw mix. However, since it is time consuming with occasional stirring; the porridge turned out pretty good (although that maybe my biased opinion)

This is how it looks like...

Once a surprise, now a happy quick snack

Once upon a time, when I was still working outside the home and was still getting paid..hahahhaa I told my hubby that I wished I could walk to the market and buy me lumpia goreng like in Pasar Blok A. Later that night when I got home from work around midnight, I found lumpia goreng on the kitchen counter... Freshly fried, by my BELOVED hubby!!! Wow that was one of priceless moments I would remember for the rest of my life.

Well apparently making lumpia goreng is not hard. Just like anything else that I like to eat, I would figure out how to make it. Since I don't like cutting vegetables, I thought lumpia would be something with more preparation than I want to do. Apparently, I was wrong.. (Again)....

Making lumpia is as easy as opening a ready mix of coleslaw from the bag, put them in a bowl, put your seasonings and then wrap them up in the egg roll wrappers. You can get them all from the salad section of your local grocery stores.

The only problem now, since it is easy to make and I am the one having the cravings....Well, you know the rest...hahahha

Bak Pao

I love Bak Pao.... Ever since when we rode the bike early Sunday morning to eat Bak Pao at Monas to when I found out there were SPECIAL Bak Pao at Kuningan. Or GIGANTIC Bak Pao as my friend called it!

Never have I imagined that you couldn't not find one over here, even in Chinatown since they all would say "Pork, this is Pork" answering what kind of meat were in the buns..hahhahaha And the ones I tried were never as good as the ones back home.

So after watching Kung Fu Panda, Gil wanted to try the "white bread like Kung Fu Panda". To my disbelief, I found a ready mix in my pantry. It must have been there for a long time, since when I tried it, the dough did not rise. Yet, Gil was too happy to see ones that look like the movie and kept saying how good they were.

Just enough motivation to look for a good recipe, I FOUND ONE and made my first Chinese steamed buns without any fillings..hahhaha Since I thought I would try how the buns turn out before I made the filling.

Now I just have to eat them with the fillings on the side...hahahhaha Cannot help it...Yummm

Sewindu and I still LOVE you

Eight years,

It's been eight years

When we said our vows

To be by each other through happiness and sorrows

Then there were just two of us,

two friends who became lovers.

Then there were two of us,

sharing our lives, our small part of heaven

Now we have two kids,

Two kids with whom we share our lives as a family

Now our lives might be more complicated and full of noises,

still we share our lives together, our small part of heaven

Eight years, hopefully many more years

Since I still love being with you in our small part of heaven.

Memory Lane

Long time ago, when I still spent vacations and weekends at my granparents' house, my favorite foods to eat was fried chickens, water spinach stir fry, sambal, and emping.  Then I told my mom how good the foods were whenever we stayed there.  

"So simple, yet so good!" I said.

So of course, she then asked me what we ate. After telling her what we ate, she asked, "So which part of it is simple?"

Now being a mother of two, I think I know the answer.

There is nothing simple about cooking them, since there are so many things you need to prepare.  But there is definitely a simple way to do it, just with Tender Loving Care (TLC) like my grandma said all the times and it sure is a SIMPLE way to make my heart happy to reminisce of all the things she cooked for me and now I know how to make them.

The Evolution of Chocolate Breads

I cannot believe that it was my first blog when I talked about chocolate breads and that was a year ago when I wrote it.  Now one year and one baby later, I tried a new recipe that had already more than a thousand reviews -- averaging five stars.

Well, now I can claim that I have made chocolate breads from scratch.

The recipe ended up with two loaves of breads, but being the usual me, I had to add chocolate on the second loaves and just layered and rolled them before I put into my loaf pan.  When  my brother and sister in law stopped by they also agred that it is a GOOD recipe.  So when our friends stopped by later, I gave half of the chocolate loaf bread.

Guess what happened next?

My hubby asked me right away after they left whether I was going to make another one, he said he likes the chocolate bread..hahhahahahaha

So now, I am already on my next project -- baking breads for the second times in one day.

Here is how they look like.. Pretty good, huh?

Oh by the way, I also made them into smaller breads the second time around --about the size of dinner rolls.  

Then and Now.. My Soul Foods, Not Much Change

A long time ago, whenever I could, I would usually go to the market in the weekend to get some traditional Javanese snack that seemed only available early in the morning. Some days they would be gone before I got the chance to get to the market. So there were many disappointing days when I had to come home empty handed. Once I was in the US, I saw the same thing (I always thought it was corn) in KFC buffet line. I asked them what they called it and they said it is called HOMINY and they come in cans....hahhaha


So here whenever I want Grontol, or so I think they are called, all I have to do is go the grocery store and get a can of yellow hominy and sweetened shredded coconut from the bakery aisle, put them in my favorite bowl and warm them up in microwave...Voila Grontol is here...

Also on Saturday I used to walk to this donut shop in town in the morning. Their donuts are really good and I enjoyed the walk to go buy some..;))) Well, the store owner changed and gone. So I heard that they have one in the neighboring town. Today, another Saturday morning with the forecast that was supposed to rain in the afternoon, we decided to drive and find that store.

Well, after about three gallons gasoline later, we found the store. And they are GOOOODDDDD!


Soul foods make you happy, it doesn't matter that it is now 2009, I still enjoy eating Grontol as much as I did hundreds years ago and I still love my donuts although I have to drive to get them since they are out of town..hiiii hihihi I AM WORTHED!