My thought about marriage

Hi again, its been long time.

To be honest i kind of sad to see my friends who act like teens on social media, and complain about how single they are. I dont thing being single in a bad thing. Im 25th now, and i think its okay to stay single. Some of my girlsfriends who still single always post something on social media about their crush. They post it on some code, love codes, so they crush can read it and translate it. If they are lucky, they crush gonna make a move towards them. Alright lets be real, boys dont read love codes. I feel sad about how insecure they are because they are still dont have boyfriend/husband. Some of my girlfriends have great attitute about it. They feel confindent, they focus to be good person, more religious, and stay happy. I truly understand why women in my age feel insecure being single, because of society. Our parents, aunts, uncles and other people around force us to anwers they ultimate questions :

“when will you get married?”

“you are old enough dear, dont be over 30, think about it. why do you still single?”

“look around,  Chelsea already get married, even Evan is going to get married next month, he is younger than you. when will you?”

I totally understand our parents, they just want to see you happy with someone. Have family, have kids. They want to be part of our live being grandparents. But ladies, looking for the right one is not like buying a dress. You’ll gonna spend you whole life with him. If i lived for 80 years, and i get married at 25th years old. So, i spend 55 years live with someone. I mean, i only have 25 years to be alone, being myself, being the best just for myself. So being single is not a bad thing. But, i dont suggest to not find the mr.right. Be a good person for yourself, being happy, being smart, being independent, men will come eventually. Please stop send love code on social media, and being sad. Work hard, stay beautiful, workout, help people, hangout with families, those are more than enough to attract a good man.

I really want to get married someday, but i dont like being force with someone or society. Married is a personal thing for me. Is not about age, is not about what other people say, is about my happiness. If im going to get married someday, i really want to have small wedding for my family and close friends. I dont like the way Indonesian make marriage/wedding is super expensive. I dont get it. Really. Some people even take huge debt to have big wedding, and then spend years to pay it off afterward. What?? what is that? To be honest, after marriage i really want to built my own house, not paying debt.

Some people are crazy because of society. Dont be that people.

Girls, be happy, be smart, be independent and stay beautiful your man will come eventually.

 

Kue Bawang

If you are Indonesian specially Sumatran people you may be love this chips. Kue bawang or onion chips is one of the most favorite snack during Ramadhan and Iedul Fitri. Actually i love eat with rice and rendang.

Best Lullabies List

Hi, hello, halo, busy and lame days lately. Im gonna share some ‘lullabies’ that i’ve been like for several months, and became my lullabies every night. I just knew that Korean song is so so good (indie music), maybe i would start to listen more of those. One of the best for me is from Oohyo. She is so good, her music makes me calm. Another song from Arcade Fire from ‘Her’, his score is perfect. Oh i forgot mention Ólafur Arnalds – Ljósið, awesome awesome melodies. Here are the list of my lullabies :

Oohyo – Vineyard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KtvnQTbvUU
Arcade Fire – Photograph http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knTY2hpHwEY
Arcade Fire – Song on The Beach http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knTY2hpHwEY
Oohyo – Teddy Bear Rises http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3Q_hBoI_M4
Ólafur Arnalds – Ljósið http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYIfiQlfaas

I think 5 songs are good enough to make me more calm and rest properly.

We were dentical toddler

I think me and my sister were identical toddler, she even dont know which one of herself. When i told her the left photo was me, she was like “Really?!” My cheeks were not as chubby as hers.

Honey Sweet Potato, Cilembu

Hi, long time no blog. Because nothing interesting in my life lately, just had lot of classes, bunch of homeworks. One day, i decided to had one day off to helped my friend doing her research about Ubi Cilembu or Cilembu Sweet Potato which is honey potato. Why honey? because when you roast it for 1-2 hours, there’s honey pop out from the skin of it.

Here are Cilembu Sweet Potatoes

Okay, i know, that doesnt look appealing. Boring look. I know but …its good, really good.

Because my friend was doing research for this potatoes, the seller was kind and gave us a lot of roasted potatoes for free. They were below standard potatoes, but it still good, and we enjoyed it so much.

Here are the fresh potatoes right from the oven, hot and nice. Can you see the skin was brown because caramelized and tasted like honey. The nearer from the skin the better, the skin is the best, lot of sugar (honey). And the potato itself sweet as the skin. I dont know how they grow this kind of potato, but its one of my fav snack and good friend for cup tea in rainy day.

Thing that you must know about this potatoes :

1. Dont boil it. Because its not sweet. Because the liquid inside potato doesnt caramelized. I’ve tried, and it wasnt sweet.

2. Roast it for 1-2 hour in oven.

3. Dont roast fresh potatoes, because the older the better, you have to store it at least 3 months. Because the liquid inside the potatoes are still developing (getting sweeter) after you harvest it from soil.

4. Dont pick the smelly one. Because that is bitter.

Okay that all my story about honey potatoes, i hope you interest with it. Fantastic!

Bika, Minangkabau version of cake!

I love Bika! Bika is a traditional small cake baked in with ‘Daun Waru’ or waru leaves (Hibiscus tiliaceus L). You can find it on local market in West Sumatra weekly (like thursday market) in morning. Fortunatelly i found the recipe on Minangnese Community on facebook. I bet you want to try it at home, so i should probably write them up. You’ll gonna need :

250 g of rice flour, 200 g fermented cassava (tapai), 200 g sugar, 300ml coconut milk, 150g grated coconut and baking powder.

Here we goes, mix rice flour, fermented cassave and sugar evenly, then add coconut milk gradually and mix until it combined. Last, add coconut grated and baking powder, stir it. Let it settle for 30 minutes or hours before bake. Add Daun Waru in muffin tins and fill it after that put it on baking sheet and bake in hot oven.

For the record, i never try this recipe. This cake is kind of dry cake and has crumbs. It isnt too sweet but so coconuty. Perfect for breakfast or night. The most famous Bika in West Sumatra is Bika Mariana in Koto Baru, Bukit Tinggi. I sugest to come at night, why? because Koto Baru is so cold at night and you’ll be hungry and Bika served right from the hot oven, perfect.

Durian! Durian Madness!!

December oh december, durian knows how to celebrate New Year. Why? because Durian Madness always on December in Payakumbuh, West Sumatra. Like i said before, minangnese people are crazy about King of Fruits, sometimes we eat it as breakfast, lunch, even dinner. Eventhough some people said, “uugh its smell awful”, ahaa you should take second chance, its good, its exotic, its so hearty.

Okay, let start talk about what happened on December 2013. I spent whole December in Payakumbuh, my hometown. My family had about 4 durian trees, unfortunatelly just one tree which had fruits. The durian tree is about 30-40 years old, my mother said, her grandfather planted it. Its so tall, really tall, same height with coconut tree.

Our Durian Tree

Because not every family has durian tree, so whole people got insane. Why? some of them stealling others at midnight. I would say, durian is kind of precious fruits for minangnese people. In 23th of December morning, my father talk about stealling durian in our village. They were teenage boys and stole durians around 1AM-5AM. No, no no!! My father and my mother decided to stay whole night under durian tree. I was thinking, “wow thats crazy” Because it was so dark, im not kidding its dark, so dark on that place, no lights plus lot of graves right beside it. But, dreaming eating fresh durian, beated our fear. So, we stayed whole night under “Pondok” i dont know how you would call it in english, and we built tent too for my little cousin.

Our Pondok

I learned so many things about durian, i would call myself Durian Expert. So basically durian would fall 24 hours, as long as it wants. Most productive time is around 4-6AM. If at day the weather was so hot and at night was so cold, durian fruits would fall crazily around 2-6AM. I know that because i asked my grandmother and i’ve spent nights under durian tree.

Waiting durian is so tiring, and funny thing is we had schedule, i always took sleep (going home) in the morning, and my father was still in pondok. In the afternoon we swiched. Do you know how it sounds when it falls?

BRAAK!!!(1 Durian), BRAAK BRUUK!! ( 2 Durians), BRAAK BRUUK GUBRAK!! (3 Durians)

Aha! See?!! Lets take look closely. 

  Durian madness! (we had tons of durians in our kitchen during December)

You may be wondering, why we did that? Why dont you just buy it in market? Okay, most of our family not lived in village. We lived in city (Riau), they were born and raised in village long ago like my mom, so eating our own fresh durian is a special thing for us. We collected our durian, and delivered it to our other family members in Riau. And for me, collecting durian is so amusing and fun, eventhough its tiring.

Like my father said on that time, “I was lucky married your mom, because these experiences were so wierd and you should proud that we had that, not every kids has wierd crazy life like us.”

BYE BYE.. 😀

Inside The Local Thursday Market, West Sumatra (Part 2)

Okay, here is the rest of my story about local market in Payakumbuh. If you read my previous post, you already saw Satay, Cindua, and Lamang. So now i’ll introduce you to Sweet Potato Steamed Muffin.

So many traditional food in local market, and these muffins are the prettiest. The seller said they used yellow and purple sweet potato. I didt buy it, because i was full on that time, but i think its pretty good because people had line to buy these cute traditional steamed muffin. If i had chance to back this year, im pretty sure to buy it.

Another unique thing that you’ll find in Indonesian local market (not all of the local market)is Pila ampullacea (Keong Sawah) or local people say “Cipuk”. Indonesian people love it! I love it! Minangnese always cook it as curry, not too thick curry because it would be good if the curry little bit watery.

Most important ingridients of Minangnese cuisine fresh milled spices. For some people milling fresh spices is hard,and its local market sell it. Specially if you had a big party, and you have to cook for hundreds people, you’ll have teary eyes because have to mill kilos of chillies. You dont want do that, do you? These spices were fresh, because they milled it in the same day, right in the market. Good isnt it?

They sell a lot of things right there. For me, local market always interesting. So, if you had time, come to local market and have a good time there. Thats all, and bye bye.. 😀

Inside The Local Thursday Market, West Sumatra (Part 1)

Hello again, long time no post, and now 2014!! Wow time flies. This year i hope i can be more active and productive, so i can share lovely things from my life and my culture for everyone. 2013 was nice and amazing, i’ve been graduated and 2013 gave me a chance to have a new life being a student again. New campus, new life, horee!!

So, i spent whole December in West Sumatra, visited and took care my Grandmother. Things that i like about live at small village are i could have really nice air, nice soil to play (gardening), foods, old people were so nice and the local market (i like it a lot). We lived at small village Padang Kandis, Payakumbuh. Local market only open for Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, the biggest of all is Thursday Market. May be for Indonesian people there is nothing interesting about local market because its dirty, smelly, blahblah. But for me, local market always interesting, because something unique inside of it. For example, in West Sumatra there are couple things that you will find : 1. Satai (Minangnese Satai), 2. Lamang, 3. Es Cindua and friends, 4. Karupuak Sanjai, and  5. Nasi Kapau.

1. Satai

Im telling you, if you want to find out how the indonesian traditional food taste like, please dont eat at restaurant, go to local market, get your feet dirty, go inside the plastick tent, sit on wooden bench, and eat right there, thats the best way to find out. Do you like Satai Padang or Minangnese Satai? Ooo, you dont know what it is? want more pics? Okay.

Want me to explain it? no i wont, find out for yourself, just one word, DELICIOUS! 😛

2. Lamang

Lamang is glutinous rice cooked with coconut milk inside bamboo. Minangnese people eat it with Durian or Tapai (fermented rice). Its savory, smooky and salty, thats why we eat it with something sweet. Some comments from my friends, “you guys eat durian with what? lamang? really? that kind of rice? so wierd.” Hahaha, may be it sounds wierd but, its good, trust me, i wouldnt lie to you, most of minangnese eat Durian that way, with Lamang. Because Lamang is sort of rice, so we (minangnese) eat Lamang and Durian as breakfast, lunch or dinner. Sounds wierd again, but yes we do.

3. Es Cindua and friends

Why i call it Cindua and Friends, because there are so many stuff in it such as Cindua (cendol), Sumsum porridge, Black Rice Porridge, Lupis, Coconut milk, milk, melted brown sugar and and …. i forgot the rest of it. Im so sorry there is no picture about the final product, forgive me but please just imagine it, just put it all together. Because i was so full eating satay on that day so for desert i just ordered Lupis (first picture). Its triangle shape of glutinous rice, coated with grated coconut, eat with coconut milk and melted brown sugar.

Hohoho, im tired and full, so i hope you enjoy it. I will write the Part II soon as possible, and there are more story i would like to share, like waiting for Durian under the durian tree at 3 AM in the morning. Soon, soon, so bye. Have a good day. 😀

I have nothing to post, but here is Mindy Gledhill

I have nothing to post, nothing interesting or something crazy happened my life lately, but i insisted to post something. Do you know Mindy Gledhill? i hope you do. I decribe her music  in words : SWEET, LOVELY, PLAYFUL, ROMANTIC

Start with Winter Moon, i suggest you to hear puppets version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBuBjFwDj-E

Next, I do adore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP5cJfVScGw

Then, Crazy Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lUQs_TF9yE

California

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suYdhwmXASA

All the Pennies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvLRDhYGtuc&feature=player_detailpage

Listen to the lyrics, beautiful. Have a nice long long long super long weekend (*indonesia) everyone. 😀