Deep-fried Oreo is Life

Adults make decision. 

I am an adult. 

Therefore, I have the rights to make whatever decision for my well being.

Hence, I made deep-fried Oreos for lunch. 

Yes. 

And a 43-seconds video of me making my deep-fried goodness.

Warkop Yang Tertukar

Satu tahun yang lalu, di suatu malam minggu random dimana gue pingin banget nongkrong di luar karena nggak ada gunanya kalau gue ngendok sendirian di rumah, gue ngechat semua teman taruna yang namanya terlintas di kepala gue untuk gue ajak ngablu bareng di sebuah tempat tongkrongan di Jatiwaringin. Warkop yang Tertukar namanya. Akhirnya gue berhasil ngejaring dua dari sekian banyak taruna yang gue LINE. Entah kenapa kok mereka mau aja nurut pas gue ajak ngopi-ngopi cantik, apalagi salah satunya datang jauh-jauh dari Tangerang.


Bukan Kinan namanya kalau nggak pakai acara nyasar, alhasil gue nyasar dulu lah di pintu keluar Jatiwaringin. Yang harusnya belok kanan, gue malah belok kiri. Gue sempet kebingungan nyari letak si Warkop yang Tertukar karena, ternyata, tempat nongkrong itu terletak di suatu area yang isinya banyak tempat tongkrongannya. Dan, kebetulan, pintu masuk ke area tersebut nyempil banget di ujung jalan. Ya jelas aja akhirnya gue harus muter balik, masuk tol lagi, keluar pintu tol lagi, dan baru sampai.

Sesampainya di sana, tanpa banyak babibu, gue langsung memesan segelas Iced Chocolate dan Roti Bakar Oreo, yang disajikan dengan isian olesan Nutella, taburan potongan Oreo, dan sesendok es krim Vanilla. Di sini gue agak rancu, jadi gue pesen Roti Bakar Oreo atau Roti Bakar Nutella? 

Nggak banyak yang bisa diceritain dari tempat nongkrong ini karena makanan dan minuman yang disajikan nggak terlalu variatif dan spesial. Semuanya bisa kita bikin sendiri di rumah, dan mungkin bahkan bakalan lebih enak. But, it's not a bad place to hang out with your friends. 

Seperti yang gue bilang, karena Warkop yang Tertukar terletak diantara tempat nongkrong lain, jadi agak mudah buat kita untuk pindah tempat semisal udah bosan dan buntu mau ngapain lagi selain main-mainin sisa lelehan es krim dari roti bakar. 

Warkop yang Tertukar
Garden Kuliner, Jl. Jatiwaringin No.7
Pondok Gede, Jakarta

Opening Hours:
Monday - Sunday: 4PM - 12AM

Kue Ape

This particular street food is famous for its' physical appearance that resembles a woman's breast. Its' basic ingredients consists of flour and milk, with an addition of sugar to make it taste sweet. Natural food coloring, such as pandan leaf, is also used to give a hint of green in this munchie.

I live my life without the absence of the street food, as I usually spend Rp10.000,00 to get me five of this babies every Sunday after church when I feel like it. Surely, Indonesian citizen are already familiar with this particular snack. But, for those who aren't, allow me introduce you to the famous Kue Ape.

Kue Ape vendor near my church

A set of Kue Ape molder

As I have said before, Kue Ape is famous for its' physical appearance that resembles a woman's breasts. Half of the population in Jakarta are more familiar with the term Kue Tetek, instead of Kue Ape, as tetek is a slang in Indonesian for breasts.

How does it resembles a woman's breast, you asked. Well, the food itself is basically a super super thin pancake molded in a tiny pan - it is round in shape, with super thin crust on the sides and chewy cooked batter in the middle. Now, the chewy part in the middle of the Kue Ape peaked as the batter cooks, making it looks like a tense nipple, hence the origin of the name for this famous Jakartans street food. 

Look at that thin crust!

Kue Ape doesn't vary much in color, as they only come in two kinds, white and green. I have always think that the vendor used a generous amount of pandan leaf to make the green Kue Ape batter. But, there is also a chance that he is using an artificial food coloring to color the batter to save time and energy. Who knows? As for the white Kue Ape batter,  I assume the vendor didn't add any coloring into the mixture. 

My favorite part of Kue Ape is, obviously, the thin crust! I'm not a big fan of the "nipple" simply because is not as fun and crispy as the crust. In terms of flavor and taste, both crust and middle part are as sweet and as floury. Sometimes, the sugary goodness gradually develops into a bitter after taste, as if the vendor is using a low quality sugar. But, all in all, it is still fun to munch on this babies! 

Pandan flavored Kue Ape

Does it looks like yours?

Mickey Mouse Pancake Pan

This is a super late post because I bought the Mickey Mouse pancake pan earlier last year.

But, I don't see why I can't brag to you guys, so here it is. 

The pancake pan that costed Mom Rp60.000,00

One day, Mom and I was shopping at Ace Hardware, a shopping place where you can get hardware products and home improvement tools. As I was strolling around the kitchen section, I notice this familiar looking object on my left. The signature big circle in the middle with two smaller circle on top made me realize that it was Mickey Mouse. But, it was better than just Mickey Mouse. It was a Mickey Mouse pancake pan! 

Mom bought it for Rp60.000,00. We took it home, washed it clean, and immediately try out its' Disney magic. Since I was not in the mood to make my own pancake batter from scratch, I decided to use an instant pancake batter I found at the Supermarket. I quickly made the mixture, turn on the fire to medium heat, and cooked me some pancakes.

The result was satisfying! I got a plate full of Mickey Mouse pancakes with slight burn here and there, but it was like how I wanted them to be. You can clearly see Mickey's face printed on the pancake. Just add some additional toppings, like ice cream, chocolate syrup, and rainbow sprinkles, turn on your Disney playlist, and voila! your very own Disneyland treats at home. 

My Mickey Mouse pancakes

Very satisfying result, right?

Pulau Dewata: Flapjaks

Flapjaks: House of Pancake and Home-made Gelato was one of the restaurant that my parents and I visited during our stay in Sanur. The dining place was only a few steps away from the hotel that we were staying at, Sukun Bali Cottage, in Sanur. I recall the fact that we got lost for a bit because we took a wrong turn, but the restaurant was actually not that difficult to find. 

On the entrance gate, you will see this big statue of a chef, with a funky-moustache and a big "FLAPJAKS" written behind him in red, holding a plate of Pancakes on his right hand and three scoops of ice cream on a cone on his left hand. The staff welcomed us and placed us on the outdoor seats. She handed some menu, food menu and drink menu, and lent us time to go through every pages. 

It was five in the evening at that time, which was patchy because it was passed Tea Time and it was too early for us to have an early dinner. But, bah-humbug, we ended up ordering ourselves some thirst-quenching drinks, Potato Wedges, Pork Ribs, and Pancakes. I had me a glass of fresh Watermelon Juice which was very refreshing and pleasing to both my taste buds and throat. 

My Watermelon Juice and Mom's Cantaloupe Juice

Dad's Coca Cola

It didn't take long before our orders were up and served on the table. We started our post-tea-time-early-dinner with a bowl Potato Wedges. Them crispy and crunchy wedges were served with a cup of Cream Cheese, that was rather light and very scrumptious. I love the flavor combination produced from dipping the Potato Wedges to the cream, it was savory and salty, sizzling hot and cold, and very tasty!

Potato Wedges, with Cream Cheese

Crispy and savory wedges for starters

This Cream Cheese was very delicious!

Our other dish that we share among the three of us was a plate of Pork Ribs. The ribs were available in different weights and sizes. Knowing that we wouldn't probably finish the whole ribs if we were to have it that time, we decided to order just half of it. Or was it a quarter ribs?

The ribs came in four cuts with side dishes, such as Mashed Potato with Gravy, Mixed Veggies on the side, and Barbeque Sauce. The meat was well-done and very tender, it was very easy to unattached them from the bones. And the sweet delicious barbeque sauce helped everything go down like a spoonful of sugar. Juicy coleslaw, baked beans and lettuce were available on the side of the plate to eat our ribs with, but I prefer to have my ribs solo. The Mashed Potato, on the other hand, was creamy and simply delectable.

Dad's Pork Ribs

Will you look at that nicely-glazed-with-barbeque-sauce well-done ribs

Served with Mashed Potato smothered in gravy, veggie on the side, and a cup of extra barbeque sauce

Tender and juicy ribs for the win!

My Dad's friend named Oom Wahyudi was the one who recommend Flapjaks to us. "The Pancake is simply great and delicious," he said, "you should definitely try it when you go to Bali!". Now that I got the chance to dine at Flapjaks, after I helped in finished the ribs and wedges, I ordered myself some pancake for dessert. And not just any pancake.. TIRAMISU PANCAKE! (Yes, be jealous, MUAHAHA!)

I had me a plate of Single Tiramisu Pancake with Ice Cream. I would order myself a double if it weren't for the stomach-filling Potato Wedges. 

The pancake came in dark brown color, very uncommon and unusual for me, then topped with coffee-flavored cream and Tiramisu ice cream. Fluffy and slightly heavy describe Flapjaks' pancake well, and since the pancake itself had only a little bit of flavor in it, the cream and the ice cream played a big part in making the fluffy dessert stands out. All three component worked out well with each other, alas making the pancake deserved a standing ovation!

Tiramisu Pancake for dessert

foodporn

The perfect sweet dessert to end your day

Flapjaks is definitely one of the restaurants that you should visit when you go to Bali. The food here tasted great, with shockingly reasonable price. The staff were friendly and very helpful from time to time, and they smile all the time they were serving us. Great atmosphere, cozy butt-resting-thingamabobs, fun and relaxing music - it was simply enjoyable to dine at such place.


Flapjaks
Jalan Cemara, No. 27
Next to Stadium Cafe
Sanur, Denpasar - Bali

Phone: (0361) 287 882

Lattice Pancake

This morning, I woke up to a pork platter and a bowl of red rice. Mom and Dad were out to meet some friends, so I had full control of the house. Unlike other people who throw a party when their parents are out, I usually get busy with the piano or with the frying pan. Today, it was the frying pan's turn to get some affection.

I've been working on my latte art skill this few days, and I realized that we have to make the espresso and the steamed milk at its' proper thickness and density. Then, an idea struck me, "If we can draw on coffee, why can't we draw on pancakes?". I had some leftover instant pancake batter at the food cabinet and decided to make a good use of it. 

Lattice Pancake

Ingredients: 

- Instant Pancake Batter

- Eggs

- Water

- Chocolate Blocks

- Butter/Margarine

- Toothpick

How to Make:

-Cut the chocolate block randomly. The smaller the better as it melts faster. 

- Add a spoonful of butter, or margarine, into the cut chocolate and melt them.

- When the chocolate and the margarine are perfectly melted, mix them all together. This chocolate syrup will then be used to draw on the pancake batter. 

- After you're finish with your chocolate syrup, pour some instant pancake batter into a bowl. Add an egg and a wee bit of water into the compound, and start mixing. You don't want the pancake batter to be too liquid-like, so you must not add too much water. 

- When you are done with the pancake batter, it's time to do the fun part. Heat your non-stick frying pan before you pour the batter in. Make sure the fire is not too big because you don't want your pancake to cooked before you can draw on it. 

- Pour the pancake batter onto the frying pan, followed by the chocolate syrup. It's up to you what you want to draw on the pancake because it's your masterpiece after all! In my case, I made five series of lines on the pancake and drag them up with a toothpick. It's a design that I usually make on coffee, its' name is Lattice Latte Art, and I think it's a pretty simple yet pretty design. 

- After you're finished with your drawing, let the pancake cooked perfectly.

- When the pancake is well done, served it on a plate and decorate it accordingly. Since I have some left over chocolate syrup, I pour all of it on top of my pancake. Voila! Bon appetit~

When Bacon Strips And Pancake Batter Collide

I did an experiment with instant pancake batter and bacon strips today! A couple of weeks ago, I saw a random post on Tumblr about a person making Maple Bacon Pancake. It's a pancake, with cut bacon strips in it, coated in deliciously sticky maple syrup. It looked very very appealing and mouth-watery. I mean, come on, who doesn't love pancakes and bacon strips? So, I decided to give it a shot, even though I'm lacking of maple syrup.

Bacon strips, yum!

Pondan's Instant Pancake Batter

Started by taking out a couple strips of bacon and cut them to small squares. Take out your awesome non-stick frying pan and fry them bacons until they're crispy and brownish red in color. Before I fried the bacons, I applied some margarin to the frying pan, just for the sake of making the bacons a bit saltier. The bacons will shrink when they are fried, so you might want to use three or four bacon strips incase if you think the bacon is too few. 

When the bacons are perfectly fried, it's time to do make the pancake batter. I used an instant pancake batter I bought at the mini market a long time ago, so I just had to add some water to the powdered mixture and voila! your pancake batter is ready.  

A butcher for a day

The pattern on the bacon strips reminds me of Van Gogh's Starry Night

Fry them bacons like a bauss

When the non-stick frying pan is well-heated, take a scoop of the pancake batter and pour them to the surface of the pan. Sprinkle some fried bacon strips on top of the batter and let them cook. When the bottom of the pancake has turned brown, you can flip the pancake over and let the surface cooked as well. And then, ta-da, your very own Bacon Pancake is ready to be engulfed! Don't forget to pour a generous amount of maple syrup onto the perfectly cooked pancakes to make it tasted superb. 

Unfortunately, I didn't have any maple syrup with me, so I merely succeed at making Bacon Pancake, not Maple Bacon Pancake. I took a bite of my masterpiece and it tasted fine. It tasted like how pancakes should tasted like, but a bit salty because of the bacon. I bet the sweet and sugary maple syrup would make this dish has a balanced flavor. I'm gonna have to grab myself a bottle of that Canadian syrup when I get the chance. 

My No-maple-syrup Bacon Pancake!

Breakfast is served