Q11

Setiap gue terbang ke Kuala Lumpur, sebisa mungkin gue selalu menyempatkan diri untuk mampir ke kantin pekerja. Nggak semua pilot tau adanya surga dunia ini. Letaknya persis di bawah papan tanda parkir Q11, ada dua pintu lebar yang salah satunya selalu terbuka dan pasti ada, minimal, 2 mobil terparkir rapi di depannya. Gue menyebutnya Kantin Q11.

Gue baru tau bahwa kantin ini ada setelah gue pindah ke Surabaya. Semasa gue terbang dari Jakarta, boro-boro mampir, tau aja nggak. “Aku tak jajan sek, ya,”ucap salah satu kapten gue sesampainya kami di Bandar Udara Internasional Sepang. Waktu itu adalah penerbNgan pertama gue ke Kuala Lumpur setelah pindah ke Surabaya. Gue bingung, kapten mau jajan di mana. Baru setelah beliau kembali ke pesawat membawa gembolan kresek berisi nasi kambing dua porsi gue tau mengenai tempat jajan mewah nan murah tersebut.

Salah satu jajanan yang sering gue beli, selain nasi dan lauk pauk, adalah susu merek Dutch Lady. Konon katanya susu ini dulu beredar di pasaran Indonesia, jaman Ibu gue masih rajin manjat gunung dan Bapak gue tengah dipukulin di barak Juliet, tapi sekarang udah nggak kelihatan batang hidungnya.

Dutch Lady ini pertama kali dikenalkan oleh kapten gue yang langganan borong susu dengan varian tiga rasa ini minimal setengah lusin setiap kalinya mampir ke Kantin Q11. “Kamu mau rasa coklat, atau stroberi,” tanya beliau. “Terima kasih, Capt, saya nggak usah nggak apa-apa. Lagi diet soalnya,”balas gue. Dasar memang F.O. nggak tau diri. Rezeki, kok, ditolak. “Lho, sampeyan mau, atau nggak?” Ya, mau lah! Tapi, kan, lagi diet. Bagaimana, dong? “Wong sampeyan wes kurus gitu, kok, masih mau diet. Coklat, atau stroberi?” Akhirnya gue menyerah. “Stroberi, Capt, hehehe.”

Bentukan kemasan yang sangat mirip dengan kemasan susu kotak garapan Indomilk. Susunya sangat pekat dan berat, krimnya terasa banget. Perisa stoberinya, meskipun gue tau bukan dari buah stroberi asli, tetap terasa wajar di lidah. Nggak terlalu manis dan cenderung gurih sebagaimana susu itu gurih. Dijamin kenyangnya kalau udah minum susu Dutch Lady ini, tapi harus gue akui hanya untuk setengah jam pertama setelah susunya abis saja. 

MICU: Mimi Cucu

Dulu, dibandingin anak-anak lain yang udah berhenti ngedot saat umur mereka beranjak lima tahun, gue baru berhenti ngedot saat gue mau masuk SD. Alhasil, karena frekuensi ngedot gue yang nggak kekontrol saat itu, gigi gue jadi agak maju dan berantakan sampai-sampai gue harus mengorbankan masa-masa SMA gue bulak-balik ke dokter gigi untuk kontrol behel. Tapi, semua itu nggak membuat gue menyesal kenapa gue berhenti ngedotnya terlambat, karena gue seneng ngedot. Seneng. Banget. Sampai sekarang aja gue masih suka kebayang sensasi nyedot dari botol dot yang ujungnya kenyel-kenyel itu. 

On the one hand, setelah dipikir-pikir, sepertinya imajinasi gue agak telat berkembangnya, karena gue nurut-nurut aja saat dikasih botol dot isi susu dari gue pertama mulai ngedot sampai gue berumur empat tahun. Nah, baru deh, saat gue bertambah umur baru kepikiran untuk mengisi botol dot dengan minuman rasa-rasa macem es teh manis, nutrisari, dan bahkan susu putih campur sirup campolay dingin. 

Gue masih ingat senangnya gue seperti apa saat gue bisa ngedot siang-siang, menikmati dingin dan segarnya es teh manis di teras rumah saat matahari lagi terik-teriknya, dan nggak cuma ngedot susu setiap malam sebelum tidur. Untungnya, diumur gue yang segini, gue udah berhenti ngedot. Bisa-bisa, gue ngedot Whiskey tiap akhir pekan.. 

Nah, akhir pekan kemarin, gue nggak sengaja menemukan food booth yang mengobati rasa kangen gue terhadap botol dot. Thank God for MICU!

MICU: Mimi Cucu

MICU, atau Mimi Cucu, adalah satu dari sekian banyak local food brand yang lagi buka lapak di Central Park Mall, Jakarta. Food booth ini menyajikan susu dengan berbagai macam rasa dengan penyajian yang unik, yang bisa melepas rasa kangen kita terhadap masa kecil kita dulu, yaitu di dalam botol dot.

Satu botol susu olahan MICU ini bisa kita dapetin dengan harga Rp30.000,00, yang menurut gue nggak lebih dari pemborosan belaka, karena produk ini udah pasti mahal di botol dotnya. True, setelah susunya habis, kita bisa aja bawa botol dotnya pulang dan dicuci sampai bersih untuk pemakaian selanjutnya, tapi tetap aja menurut gue produk ini mahal.

Terlepas dari penyajiannya yang unik, MICU menyediakan berbagai macam varian rasa yang menarik banget, seperti contohnya Choco Oreo, Oreo Strawberry, Marie Regal, Strawberry Nutela, dan masih banyak lagi. Dari semua varian rasa, gue memutuskan untuk mencoba rasa pisang. Bisa dibilang gue cari aman, karena gue nggak mau Rp30.000,00 gue terbuang percuma untuk sebotol susu yang rasanya nggak cocok di lidah gue.

Banana flavored milk by MICU

Gue pernah mencoba susu rasa pisang sebelumnya dan, sorry to say, Banana milk olahan MICU rasanya biasa aja. Nothing special about it. It tasted simply like banana and milk. Susu yang disajikan saat dingin-dinginnya ini memiliki tekstur yang creamy dan agak kental, tapi cukup ringan dan nggak bikin mual. Enak, tapi biasa aja. Gue yakin gue bisa ngedapetin minuman yang sama di alun-alun kota Magetan dengan harga yang jauh lebih murah.

Gue nggak merekomendasikan kalian untuk membeli produk ini simply karena produknya yang overpriced. Kalau kalian pingin melepas rindu masa kecil kalian dengan minum susu dari dot, gue saranin kalian beli dot berkualitas bagus di apotik terdekat dan isi dengan susu ultra. That way, kalian nggak perlu bulak-balik keluar duit Rp30.000,00 untuk minuman di dalam botol susu yang, sebenernya, kalian bisa bikin sendiri dan bahkan mungkin lebih enak.

Look at that bundle of joy!

Kellogg's Froot Loops

Froot Loops and fresh milk for breakfast

Bought this particular cereal back when I stayed in Doha, Qatar. My expectation is that Kellogg's Froot Loops would share a very similar kind of taste with Post's Fruity Pebbles, all sweet and amazingly fruity, but I was stand corrected. 

As I pour the cereal into a bowl, I was welcomed with a set of mini crispy donuts in purple, light green, and yellow colors. It was clearly not as colorful as Fruity Pebbles. Then, I took each donuts with each different colors and tasted it. They all tasted pretty much the same: honey like. I was disappointed by how the Froot Loops turned out to be. Other than the fact that they didn't taste fruity, they were lacking of sweetness too. Another minus point from me. 

They didn't taste as good as I expect them to be

Yourganic

Last week, I tasted the fanciest and most expensive milk in my life. Unlike your regular milk that you usually buy at the supermarket - the ones that came out from a cow's udder - this milk is made out of raw almonds. It shares the same concept as soy milk, as both drinks were made from nuts, it's just that they use almonds instead of soybeans. 

It goes by the name Yourganic. 

Ever since Yourganic became one of the hippest highly-recommended healthy product in society, a lot of people are dying to get a taste of its' famous almond-based milk. It has become popular among Indonesian Instagram celebrities, such as @pupupaula, @soniaeryka, @anazsiantar, and many more. Yourganic continuously gets great feedbacks from its' consumers because of its' vision to offer an alternative way for us to enjoy our glass of milk. 

The positive benefits that you can get from drinking a bottle of Yourganic is endless. Other than the fact that it improves women's health and mood during menstruation, it increases stamina and also contains lots of vitamin that is good for one's body. On the one hand, it balances your daily mood, plus it clear acne and blemishes from your face. Last, but not least, it can boost one's libido and increase endurance in your sexual function, not to mention the percentage of improvement in fertility that a woman can undergo exceeds expectation. 

I got the chance to try out its' best selling product, which is the Maca flavored raw almond milk. Maca itself is a kind of plant, a type of nuts to be exact, that is believed to be a medicinal herb and an aphrodisiac. I have never tasted one before, nor seen one - heck, I just found out that a kind of plant like Maca exists in this world! - so, you can imagine how excited I was.

Now, before I get to the part where I explain about its' texture and flavor, I would like to recall the opinion from most people of how healthy food tasted disgusting, while unhealthy food is often delicious - so that you can get the mental picture of how this non-dairy product tasted like.

I have to be honest, Yourganic's Maca flavored raw almond milk did tasted a bit weird and funky. The liquid has this clumpy and nutty texture. I even bumped into some nut bits twice! It has a strong almond scent, which is quite nice. As expected from a nut-based milk, it tasted like its' main nut ingredient: almond. Creamy and milky on the one side, and it also had this hint of caramel flavor in it. It was nice and quite enjoyable, yet I'm not very fond of it. Mom, on the other hand, loved the milk so much she ended up being the one who finished it. 

For those vegetarians out there, you ought to try this product. Yourganic is also good for those who are on diets and for those who are trying to lose some weight. Yes, a bottle of milk can be quite expensive (I bought mine for Rp38.000,00), but it worths the price to be healthy. Don't mind about the funky texture and flavor, I bet you will enjoy it eventually in the end.

For more information, you can check out their Instagram and blog. 

Breakfast of Champions

Being in Qatar gives me access to unlimited food supply - and by food I mean imported-food-that-i-can't-and-don't-usually-find-in-indonesia, for instance: Mini Oreo. 

My first encounter with Mini Oreo is when I was in New York. I was strolling around Times Square when I decided to go in to some mini market and buy me some snack. There, I saw this metallic blue zip-lock type kind of bag with drawings of black and white buttons on it. As I came closer, I started to recognize the snack and it was Oreo. "Mini oreos. Can life be more epic?!" So I bought it and enjoyed my Oreo. 

A year after, at this present time, I got my second Mini Oreo. I was at Carrefour the other day, doing some shopping with my Mom and Dad. Then I found this medium-sized cup with writings that said "Mini Oreo" on it. In what sane people's mind wouldn't I grab the cup and put it in the shopping cart? 

Suddenly, an idea popped out. A genius one. So, I ran to the milk section and bought myself a bottle of Strawberry Milk.

Mini Oreo and Strawberry Milk

Combine them Mini Oreo and Strawberry Milk, and you will have the breakfast of champions. Instead of using bowl, you can just pour the milk into the cup, and breakfast is served. How genius is this idea?

The dish tasted the best when the milk is cold. I'm not a big fan of the white part of Oreo, but it's an exception in this case. The black biscuit, on the other hand, was fragile and crumbly. It shattered easily as it made contact with the milk, making my breakfast all messy and milk-shake-like. I don't mind actually, but I think it would be more enjoyable if the Oreo would stay intact.

Breakfast is served!

Bear Brand Gold

Don't we all just love the fusion of flavors between cereal and milk? 

What if I tell you that, in Indonesia, such product exists in a form of a canned drink and we can actually buy them in grocery stores? 

The Gold Twins

Yes, Nestle's Bear Brand Gold twins! You might expect something absurd and out of the ordinary, but these milk actually has a hint of cereal flavor in it. Each can is filled with 140mL of milk and costs around Rp7.000,00. They come in two flavors, Malt Putih and Teh Putih, and my favorite is the first one. 

Bear Brand Gold: Malt Putih consists of fresh milk with grain essence. The grain essence makes the milk tasted like as if it had a handful of Corn Flakes swimming in it. The flavor is quite strong, as in familiar for those who had taste Corn Flakes with fresh milk before.

On the other hand, Bear Brand Gold: Teh Putih has drops of tea essence in it. Much to my surprise, it had a hint of Fruity Pebbles in it, instead of sharing the same taste with milk tea. For those who are not familiar with Fruity Pebbles, it is a colorful fruit flavored cereal that tasted sweet and fruity. Compared to its' twin sister, Bear Brand Gold: Teh Putih's cereal flavor is not that strong, but still delightful. 

So, fancy a can of cereal? 

Mandel: Heiße Schokolade

On my last day in Munich, Germany, I bought myself a pack of chocolate at the international airport. The unique packaging of the chocolate caught my attention. Inside the plastic wrap was a light-colored wooden spoon enveloped by a chunk of chocolate. There were two flavors available, which were almond and cinnamon. As a person who doesn't fancy cinnamon that much, I decided to go with the almond.  

The sight of the chocolate-coated spoon at a souvenir shop in Munich International Airport

It was drawn on the back of the packaging about how to consume the chocolate. All you need is, other than the chocolate itself, is a glass of hot milk. You only have to dip the chocolate inside the milk and stir until the chocolate melt. 

"How to Drink the Chocolate"

It was raining at that time, when I decided to make myself a glass of hot milk. I unwrapped the chocolate from its' packaging and dip it into the tongue-burning white substance. I stirred and stirred and stirred until the almond flavored chocolate melted and the white milk turned chocolate. To be honest, it was one of the best hot chocolate I have ever drank. It was creamy, hot, had a hint of almond, chocolaty, and super fattening.. but I don't care, because it was delicious!

The chocolate that I saved for a rainy day