Japanese Knick-Knacks

My Dad just got back from Osaka, for the third time this year, and he got me a sackful of knick-knacks! "I brought your treasure," Dad said when he arrived at our home. He unzipped his luggage and pulled out numerous colorful boxes, it lasted for several seconds. It's like watching Mary Poppins pulling out a lamp from her magic purse. 

Dad got me a pack of Hello Kitty Gum, a box of Strawberry Mouse, three packs of Asahi Biscuits, and three boxes of Popin' Cookin': DIY Candy Kit. All of them are very colorful, as expected from Japanese products. I can't wait to taste them all!

Hello Kitty Gum

Strawberry Mousse

Three different flavors of Asahi Biscuits

Blueberry Biscuit, Chocolate Biscuit, and Caramel & Fruits Biscuit

Three boxes of Popin' Cookin'

Me precious treasure!

P.S. Thank you Dad, for all of these lovely Japanese goods! 

Birthday Surprises

Dear readers,

I am proud to announce that I am now 18 years of age! 

November 23rd was the day I turned 18. I woke up to a sight of my Mom making Tumpeng in the kitchen. Tumpeng is a cone-shaped rice, with various dishes surrounding the mountain of rice, which is usually consumed by Indonesian during a special event. In this case, my birthday. Indonesian believe that the cone-shaped rice represent the mountains in the land of Java, which is the house of the Gods, and the side dishes surrounding the rice are the things given by the Gods that we harvested. The peak of the Tumpeng is usually cut and gave to the most important person. He, or she, could be the one you love most, the eldest, or simply the birthday girl.

Mom didn't expect me to wake up early (it was half passed ten in the morning. I usually wake up after midday), so she was a bit startled when I asked her about what we were going to have for lunch, on my way to the bathroom. I believe Mom was hoping to finish the Tumpeng before I woke up. But, since I was aready awake, I ended up helping her preparing the dish.

Yellow rice is usually used in the making of Tumpeng. But, since we didn't have any yellow rice, we used red rice instead. This dish is very simple to make, as it consists of cone-shaped rice and various side dishes. Mom started with peeling the tomato and make a rose out of it. 

Rose Tomato, Step #1:

- Posses a kick-ass skill in using knife

Step #2: 

- Peel the tomato in a swirly pattern. If you haven't an idea, you may open YouTube and type "How to Make Tomato Rose".

Slowly peel the tomato

Voila!

Step #3:

- Twirl the Tomato skin round and round, and voila! you just made yourself a Tomato Rose.

Twirl the Tomato..

..and there you have it, a Tomato Rose!

Step #4:

- If you don't have any idea on what to do with the skinless Tomato, you can cut them to pieces and start munching.

Tomato for breakfast

Other than Rose Tomato, my Mom also made a flower with a green tomato. Green tomato are usually used to make chilly paste (sambal), I don't think they taste as sweet as red tomatoes. 

Green Tomato Flower, Step #1:

- Master a more kick-ass skill in using knife.

Step #2:

- Make an X on the skin of the Green Tomato.

Make an X on the green tomato

Step #3:

- Slowly peel the skin. Make sure the inner part of the Green Tomato is detached from the skin.

Peel the skin a bit

Step #4: 

- Pull the skin apart from the inner part a little bit, and there you have it!

A plate of foodstuff for garnishing

One of the side dishes that Mom made to decorate the Tumpeng with was Tempe Orek. Tempe is a chunk of fermented soybean, and in Tempe Orek, it is cut into small pieces and fried with some nuts. Soy sauce and chilly are used in the process of making this dish. Fry the Tempe and the nuts together and you will end up with a bowl of crispy and flavorful dish.

Tempe Orek 

The next dish was Sambal Goreng Kentang. You only need potato, spices, and frying pan to make this dish. First, you diced the potato. Second, fry the potato with the spices. Last, but not least, dig in! 

I love Mom's Sambal Goreng Kentang because it tasted delicious! True, it's a bit spicy for my taste, but I like it. Especially when Mom add some meatballs to the dish, yum!

Sambel Goreng Kentang

Vegetables were also used to decorate the Tumpeng. Mom used four kinds of vegetable, which were bean sprouts, long beans, water spinach, and spinach. They were quickly boiled and mixed with a rubbing named Urab. Urab here is made out of coconut and spices. It tasted savory and a bit salty.

Mixed boiled veggies

Bean Sprouts 

Long Beans

Water Spinach (Kangkung)

Spinach

Put some urab on the mixed veggies.. 

..and mix them all together

Then, Mom took out some flour and corn, and made a batter to make a corn fritter. Indonesian are more familiar with the name Bakwan Jagung, which is Corn Fritter in English. It's basically deep-fried batter with corns in it. You have got to try my Mom's Corn Fritter. They are beyond delicious you ought to want more after you finish a piece.

Corn Fritter (Bakwan Jagung)

Sliced omelette is another side dish that you can found in a Tumpeng. We didn't use many eggs to make the omelette, one is enough. You simply crack an egg open and add some salt into the gigantic cell, and stir it until it's bubbly. Then, you fry the egg mixture with a non-stick frying pan, with low fire. After the egg is nicely fried, roll it and slice it. The next thing you know, the Tumpeng is garnished with eatable confetti. 

Make an omelette with one egg

Roll the omelette and slice it

After the side dishes were prepared, Mom proceed in shaping the red rice. Since we don't have a cone shaper, Mom cunningly used whatever tools that we got to shape the rice. She used a bowl to make the base and a funnel to make the peak. In the end, the Tumpeng didn't share the same shape with a cone, but you would get the idea. 

The base of the Tumpeng

Shaping the peak of the Tumpeng

Red Rice Tumpeng

After the rice was shaped and the side dishes were prepared, it was time to decorate the Tumpeng!

Chiko was curious to see what Mom was doing

Mom, decorating the Tumpeng

Mom made those Tomato Roses

Of course, fried chicken is essential in Tumpeng!

It was midday when Mom finished her creation. What used to be an empty white plate had become a luxurious dish that can feed three people. There was this mountain of red rice, surrounded by colorful side dishes. There were Tomato Roses and Tomato Flower, there were also fried chicken, spicy potato, and greens. The Tumpeng that Mom made was awesome! 

Then, we proceed to destroy the beautiful masterpiece and dig in. I had a spoonful of rice with a little bit of everything. I love every single thing that was on my plate, especially the Bakwan Jagung and the Sambal Goreng Kentang.

And there you have it, a plate of luxurious Tumpeng

Lunch is served!

My Dad couldn't go home on my birthday because he had a simulator test, so he wished me a birthday greeting via Whatsapp and gave me a virtual birthday present on his Tumblr. Thank you, Dad!

After lunch, I got a text message from my colleague at work, saying that I have to drop by at Gudang Rottie, so I did. I arrived at the restaurant and I was overwhelmed. I was welcomed with a plate of red Velvet Cupcake, with a pair of lit-up candles on top. They shook my hand and gave me birthday greetings, and we took picture together. The place was a full-house that afternoon, so we quickly celebrate my birthday and got back to work. 

I stayed for a while at Gudang Rottie and headed back home. I brought the Red Velvet Cupcake that my colleague gave to me and share it with my Mom. It was nice and sweet, and a little bit salty on the edges of the cake too. The cupcake was delicious!

Birthday surprise from my colleague in Gudang Rottie

At night, I was surprised by my best friends, Icha, Dila, Sally and Angel. The came to my house with cakes and presents. The fantastic four sang "Happy Birthday" as they walked into the house, while I was giggling to F.R.I.E.N.D.S. that was aired on Fox Channel. I was overjoyed, I squealed the entire time. It was the most awesome birthday surprise I had!

Quick intro!

There were two cakes, one was from Icha and Dila, and the other one was from Angel and Sally. Angel and Sally's cake was decorated with lit-up 1 and 8 candles, and the cake had "Happy Birthday Kinan" written on it. The cake was glazed with white cream and decorated with green icing sugar and chocolate block. 

Icha and Dila's cake was bathe in chocolate ganache, and decorated with strawberries and chocolates. "NABUNAGA TWINS" was written on the cake, which I supposed would be "NOBUNAGA TWINS" if the one who wrote on the cake didn't accidently switched the vowel. Dila, Icha, and I are fans of Takehiko Inoue's Slam Dunk. The two of them made Slam Dunk fan-fictions, in which I was the twin sister of a character named Kiyota Nobunaga, hence explained the writings on their cake. 

I blew the candle and the five of us cheered happily.

SURPRISE!

Birthday Cake from Sally and Angel

Birthday Cake from Dila and Icha

We had the Tumpeng that my Mom made for dinner and the cakes that my friends brought. The five of us chatted at the dinning room while munching on fried chicken and chocolate cake, and simply had a great time. 

Dila gave me a homemade popped-up birthday card, with drawings of me, Kiyota Nobunaga, and Hanagata Toru playing basketball in it. The birthday card is plain genius because I could actually move the basketball around! "We don't have a birthday present for you because we haven't buy one," said Icha, "but, hey, we got you some cake!".

Sally and Angel got me a box filled with knickknacks. "It is called the Box of Metamorphosis, because you will find things inside the box that will transform you," said Angel. I opened the box and I was welcomed with beauty products, accessories, and a beautiful dress. I was in cloud nine when I receive such present! They told me to dress up and be a girl, so I did. The next thing I know, we were in the living room taking endless frames of pictures.

Me and my best buddies!

In summary, my 18th birthday was awesome! I got to spend it with my family and my friends. I ate lots of delicious food and cake. I had a great time keeping in touch with my friends. I was showered with surprises. I got loads of birthday greetings and presents. It was awesome!

Thank you, everybody, my 18th birthday would be dull without you guys in it!

Regards,

Kinan L. Wirastani

On the 30th of September

On the last day of September, my Dad got a belated birthday cake from Oom Wahyudi, one of his closest friend in Doha, Qatar. Oom Wahyudi and his family, Tante Rosi and Nabila, surprised Dad by popping out out of nowhere with a big cake from Opera Patisserie decorated with candles and singing Happy Birthday. My Dad was overwhelmed as it was already a week after his birthday and he still got a cake and being sung birthday songs.

"Tiup lilin-nya," said Nabila, teling my Dad to blow the candles. The 44 years old thanked Oom Wahyudi, Tante Rosi, and Nabila for the cake, and thanked everybody for singing along to the birthday song. He then blew the candles and unwrapped the plastic that was sticking on the sides of the cake so that he could cut it. 

"Happy Belated Birthday, Pakde Unggul"

Dad, thanking Oom Wahyudi, Tante Rosi, and Nabila for the cake

This cake is the most beautiful cake I have seen in my life so far. The sides of the cake are decorated with thin cake in a shape of tribal design, or so I think it is, which reminded me of the writings in Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire. The chocolate ganache with writings "Happy Belated Birthday, Pakde Unggul" on it literary melted. Bellow the chocolate ganache, you can find a generous amount of chocolate cream as mushy as oil paint. When you cut the cake open, you will find a luscious chocolate cake, sandwiching some chocolate cream beautifully. Can you imagine how delicious this cake tasted? If food is sin, then this cake will be the ultimate sin. 

The Chocolate Mousse cake tasted so good. It literary melted in your mouth. No, seriously! The cake is very chocolaty and very sweet, words cannot describe the epic-ness contained in this cake. It was the most epic and mot sinful chocolate cake I have ever eaten so far. And, yes, I am a fool for not wanting to have another slice of this cake.

Can we all just agree that the melting cream looks delicious?

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This cake tasted so good!

On The 23rd of September

My Dad turned 44 last September, on the 24th to be exact. We held a small party at home, with close friends and family. A round Red Velvet cake was cut into pieces and handed out to those who still have  empty spaces in their stomach for dessert. Two bottles of alcohol, a Glenfiddich and a Dalmore, were continuously poured into shot glasses and everybody who got a share clinked their glass with each others. The birthday boy (technically a man, but still a boy in his heart) was beyond excited to receive a box of GoPro as his birthday present. It was a fun small gathering!

It all started with my Dad telling me that he was going home on the 23rd of September. "You must not tell Mom, because it's a surprise," he said. I still don't get it why he threw a surprise for my Mom, when the one that should be surprised is himself. In the evening, 24th September Eve, Dad called me saying that he almost arrived at home. "I'm bringing the whole crew with me. Just tell Mom that you're gonna have friends coming over," he whispered. Again, I still don't get it why he whispered, when I should be the one who's whispering. I went to a warung (a small grocery shop) to buy some beers because my Dad told me to. Of course, I lied to my Mom, saying that I wanted to buy ice cream.

The clock showed that it was six in the evening. Three cabs arrived at my residence. Out of them, came out foreigners with fancy casual clothes. My Dad and I were very eager to surprise Mom. "Now, go get inside the house with the crew," said Dad. So, I did. Mom was having some companies, my dog's trainers to be exact, and they were all chatting in the living room. They had to pause when I exclaimed, "Mom, my friends have arrived!" The look on their faces was priceless as they saw grown-up foreigners popping out from the front door. My Mom got a "What even..." stamped on her face.

But then, my Dad popped out out of nowhere. My Mom was very surprised and we all cheered for reason that escaped me. Since we didn't have any food at that moment, the crew are welcomed to leisure at the backyard, with bottles of beer and packs of snacks that I got from my working place. Soon, my Dad's friends showed up one by one, and they brought food, which was a good thing because I'm pretty sure that the guests were all famished.

Tante Risni, the wife of my Dad's roommate in Doha, Qatar, came with ehr children. She brought boxes of traditional snacks, which were Martabak and Bolu. Martabak, you see, are deep-fried thin egg filled with meat, veggies, and some more eggs, while Bolu are cake. Later on, Oom Uda (Oom means uncle, but it doesn't have to be blood-related) and Tante Merry (Tante means aunty) came with their children. They brought big pots and dinning utensils, and the next thing you know, the table was decorated with food.

Preparing the Eco-friendly plates

Put this here and put that there

A bowl of mixed lungs, meat, and crispy skins

A plate of Martabak

The broth for Soto Padang

Various dishes, awesomely cooked by Tante Merry

Tante Merry cooked us wonderful dishes! There were Soto Padang, Rendang, Sambal Goreng, and many more. The dishes were spicy to my liking, but they were all awesomely delicious because Tante Merry is a great cook. I love her Soto Padang very much I even got myself a second serving. Soto is actually broth with mixed foodstuff in it. It's technically a soup, but soup and broth with foodstuff are two different things here in Indonesia. In Soto Padang, you can find crispy skin, meat, lungs, rice noodles, crackers, peanuts, and bean sprout in it. It is very delicious, a must-try for those who are not familiar with it. 

The guests were very happy to be able to try Indonesian cuisine as they were all foreigners, even thouse some couldn't handle the spicy dishes. I was very enthusiast to explain what is what and what to eat with what to them, it made me feel like some kind of a food expert.

Would you believe if I said that those people in the middle of the photograph are my friends?

Time to have some munchies

The crew had to leave early because they were very tired from a 9-hour-flight. I thought the party was over, but then my Dad's friends started to show up head by head. The house was crowded again and it was time to put some ice cubs into shot glasses. I had a medical check up appointment on the following day, so I had to force myself not to grab a glass of my own to be filled with Glenfiddich.

A friend of mine named Memes, who is the daughter of my Dad's best bud whom I call Romo, also came to visit. We didn't join the adults drinking and munching on peanuts, instead we devoured half a watermelon by ourselves.. with a spoon! It had been my long-life dream to eat a watermelon with a spoon, and I finally did it! Scooping watermelon is a lot more fun than clinking shot glasses.

The clock finally stroke twelve. Memes and I took out a box of red Velvet cake from the fridge and decorated it with pink and red candles. We brought the cake to the center of the living room and started singing Happy Birthday, followed with the others merrily and joyfully. My Dad gave a short speech before blowing the candle, thanking everyone for their presence at that moment and praying for each on of us. Then, he blew the candle and cut the cakes into pieces. I got my share and, I have to admit, although Red Velvet cake is getting too mainstream and boring, this particular birthday cake is delicious and very enjoyable. 

"Pakde" here share the same position with "Oom", both means "Uncle"

What are cakes without a shot of Dalmore?

Are you ready to blow the candles? 

Mom and I got my Dad a birthday present and he was over excited when he found out what it was.. a box of GoPro. He went full Joker, I could see the corner of his lips touched his ears. My Dad was overwhelmed, making my Mom and I happy as well. It was a wonderful birthday party!

ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!