Nasi Goreng Alpha Bravo

Sore ini akhirnya gue kesampean menyantap nasi goreng setelah ngidam parah dari entah kapan. Padahal tadinya nggak mau beli, dengan alasan mau mengatur pola makan demi cita-cita memiliki badan yang 11/12 sama Mila Kunis, tetapi apa daya ketika cacing-cacing di perut memberontak.

Nasi goreng yang gue beli adalah nasi goreng gerobakan yang biasanya dijual di area belakang barak, tepatnya barak Alpha dan Bravo. Biasanya si Bapak mulai jualan dari jam 4. Sampai kapannya sih terserah Bapaknya, jadi nggak ada jam tetap setiap harinya.

"Pak, nasi gorengnya satu ya, dibikin gurih, pedasnya sedang, pakai telur," yang kemudian dibalas dengan anggukan dari sang bapak. Nggak lama kemudian, mungkin sekitar sepuluh menit, nasi goreng gue pun jadi. Segera kami kembali ke barak dan menyantap nasi goreng itu bertiga.

Sumpah, nasi gorengnya memenuhi standar nasi goreng idaman gue! Nasinya nggak lengket, dimasaknya gurih dan agak kering. Bumbunya meresap banget dan pedasnya pas untuk seorang gue yang nggak kuat makan makanan pedas. Ada potongan-potongan ayam yang nyelip diantara tumpukan nasi gurih dan sesendok acar, yang dilengkapi dengan potongan tomat dan mentimun, dan seplastik kerupuk. Nggak butuh waktu lama bagi kami untuk menghabiskan nasi goreng ini sampai butir terakhir. 

Intinya, gue bahagia! Sayang saja porsi nasinya kurang banyak untuk tiga orang taruni rakus seperti kami.

Nasi Goreng Alpha Bravo

Belakang barak Alpha Bravo

Sekolah Tinggi Penerbangan Indonesia

- biasanya mulai jualan sekitar jam 4 -

66 Goes to Bali: Warung Makan Nikmat

On the first day of our stay in Bali, the gang and I went to Warung Makan Nikmat, a restaurant specialized in Javanese dishes with a wee bit of Balinese sparks here and there. I know what you guys think, "Why eat at a Javanese restaurant when you're in Bali", right? Well, why the hell not? 

Warung Makan Nikmat is just 10-minutes-drive away from the airport. Located at Jl. Bakung Sari, the restaurant is hard to miss, as it had this gigantic green-colored banner sticked on the roof. Same like any other Indonesian restaurant, Warung Makan Nikmat looks very modest and simple - it actually looked a bit like a warteg, yet bigger and slightly modernized.  

Warung Makan Nikmat

The restaurant had a wide varieties of dishes and they are displayed in a large food display made from glass. They were very colorful because they are cooked using the finest spices and herbs that the chef can find in Bali. I lost count on how many kinds of dishes available for us to dig in - all sorts of meat with various method of cooking, countless veggies to indulge for those who fancy some greens, and even traditional Balinese treats like sate lilit. It was a shame the restaurant didn't serve any suckling pig because the owner is a moslem. But still, the food was a sight for sore eyes.

The system here at Warung Makan Nikmat is to point at the food that you want to eat, then the food lady will then put the dish onto your plate. You can have whatever and as many dishes as you want. Each dish has its' own price and it varies depends on the type of the dish. After you're done decorating your plate with food, the food lady will count the total price of the meal and she will hand you a card with the nominal price printed on it. Pretty cool, don't you think? 

Gavin being confuse in choosing what to have for lunch

Gavin and Bli Dito who ate here often whenever they visit Bali recommended me the Ox Tail's Soup. "Swear to God, it's the best Ox Tail's Soup there is," said Gavin. But, since I was not in the mood to suck on tail bones, I skipped the offer and choose me another dish to have for lunch. 

Gavin, on the other hand, was dying to have the so-called delicious broth, so he ordered a bowl. Accompanied with a plate of rice, sweet and sour squid, and serundeng (sauteed grated coconut), the chubby fellow enjoyed his Ox Tail's Soup. He offered me a bite and, boy, was that soup tasted delicious. I simply love the warm savory broth of the Ox Tail's Soup, it truly was delicious! On the one hand, the ox tail was cooked to perfection. The meat was very tender and it fell off the bone right away, I didn't have to struggle to cut a small piece of it.

Gavin's set of meal

I had me a plate of warm white rice with omelet and sate lilit. Sate lilit here is a traditional Balinese cuisine, which is minced meat on a stick. They commonly use pork, fish, or chicken meat here in Bali to make the sate lilit, and my favorite is the fish satay.

The sate lilit here at Warung Makan Nikmat is brown-ish red in color because of the chilly pepper that they use, hence it tasted spicier compared to any other satay I have ever tasted. I love how the satay was grilled nicely, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It went well with the warm rice and the omelet.

A plate of warm white rice with fried egg and sate lilit for me

What Pace Febrian had for lunch

Bli Dito's luxurious dish

How much does your lunch cost?

A selfie wouldn't hurt
From left to right: Pace Febrian, Bli Dito, Gavin, and yours truly

After we finished with lunch, we made a short trip to Pasar Seni Kuta, a marketplace where you can buy souvenirs with shockingly expensive price if you can't bargain. You can find lots of good to bring home with you here at Pasar Seni Kuta. Bangles, necklace, canvas bags, t-shirts, tanktops, you name it! But, you have to be able to bargain if you don't want to spend a ridiculously big amount of money for a piece of T-shirt. It's a good thing we were with Bli Dito, otherwise Pace Febrian will get charged Rp90.000,00 for a pair of sandals. 

The marketplace is just a few steps away from the beach. Since we were waiting to pick up another friend of ours, who were on a flight to Pulau Dewata, we took the liberty to take lots of selfies with Pace Febrian's brand new GoPro Hero 4. 

The sight of Pasar Seni Kuta

Gavin and Bli Dito

What is vacation without a beach?

Welcome to Bali!

#sorrynotsorry

Warung Makan Nikmat

Jalan Bakung Sari

Gang Biduri No. 6

Kuta, Bali

Pasar Seni Kuta

Jalan Kartika Plaza
Kuta, Bali

Bintang Carica in Syrup

At Sekolah Tinggi Penerbangan Indonesia, there is this thing called adik asuh (or adoptive junior literary translated), a tradition in the institution where you can adopt a cadet who enrolls after you to be your "younger brother", or "younger sister". Your adoptive junior doesn't have to be in the same major as you are. You can have as many adoptive junior as you want as long as you take care of them, and they take care of you - and by "take care", I mean literary taking care of them, as if you are bonded by blood. 

My adoptive junior named Baruna and his hometown is in Salatiga. He brought me a souvenir from his hometown, which is a local fruit named Carica. "This carica fruit is very popular in my hometown," he said, "the fruit is similar with papaya, but smaller and the local people usually candied them before they sell it to the tourists." Curious about the famous star-shaped fruit, I made him promise to bring back a jar. He nodded in agreement. 

The oh-so-famous Carica

As promised

"Bintang Carica in Syrup" caught my attention the moment the jar was in my hands. Apparently, the shape of a carica is similar to a starfruit, yet chubbier and slightly look more like a quanco. The fruit is sliced and stored in a jar with a combination of water and sugar, hence the super sweet syrup. "Best eaten cold," was written on the jar. Being a good girl, which I am thank you very much, I put the jar into the freezer for an hour before I indulge. 

The sight of the syrupy galore

The texture of carica is far from a papaya as it was chewier and softer. I have to say, the syrup was too sweet for my liking. If only they used less sugar, I think the candied fruit will be one of my favorite treats. But, I believe the syrup can be used to make flavored ice tea, instead of just being thrown away into the trash bin - imagine the flavored tea with carica bits at the bottom of the glass, yum! 

I really like the taste of the fruit, very sweet and chewy. You can just eat it right away, or you can use them to make cold fruity beverages and fruit cake I believe. They are very much enjoyable, and I'll give it an 8 out of 10. 

Want some?

P.S. Baruna, if you're reading this, thank you so much for the souvenir! I hope you like the milk tarts I brought you from Bali. 

Reminiscing Kantin Kespen

There is this cafeteria inside my institution territory that we, cadets, always visit everyday. It doesn't have a name, so we named it after its' division area: Kespen. Kespen stands for Keselamatan Penerbangan, or Aviation Safety Division, which is one of four main majors in Sekolah Tinggi Penerbangan Indonesia (STPI). Kantin Kespen, or Kespen Cafeteria, is located in the old Kespen area -adjacent to where my division is, the Pilot Division. We, pilot cadets, are easily hungry, and the only budget-friendly dining place is Kantin Kespen. So, don't be surprised if we keep coming back to this particular cafeteria within two to three hours span in just a day. 

The atmosphere at Kantin Kespen

At Kantin Kespen, you can find pretty much everything to fill your empty stomach with. Sure, you might not find anything fancy here, but every food and drinks that are sold here are both budget-friendly and stomach-filling. What more can a cadet with Rp10.000,00 in his pocket possibly ask, right? 

The first thing that you will find here is a buffet of dishes that you can have for your meal. You can have your warm fluffy rice with any dishes that you like - either it be vegetables or beef, seafood or eggs, fried chicken or grilled eggplants, you name it. My kind of meal would me a plate of Rp2000,00 worth of white rice, accompanied with a scoop of marinated mussels, a spoonful of stir-fried baby squid, fried tempe marinated in sweet soy sauce, and a piece of tempe fritter - and it goes pretty damn well with a glass of cold and thirst-quenching american-orange-flavored Nutrisari.

Your selection of dishes to go with your rice

Sometimes, the cafeteria serves fried rice instead of plain white rice

When my favorite dishes were sold out, I usually go with other dishes to sought for solace

If you don't feel like having a meal, you can browse through the snack section to ease your craving. On the table, you will find lots of snacks, such as candies, biscuits, and crisps, and a couple tray of fritters. Most snacks are worth a thousand rupiah, but there are some which are half price less. Whenever I come to Kantin Kespen with a full stomach, yet have the urge to nibble on something, I usually go with the fritter. My favorite would be the banana fritter and sweet-potato fritter, but sometimes I like to have me a plate of sambal and sweet soy sauce covered tempe fritter. Pure awesomeness.

A table full of snack

One of the worker at Kantin Kespen who take over the frying section 

In the midst of making deep-fried tempe

A plate of fried tempe glazed with sweet soy sauce and sambal

When you're not in the mood to eat anything and just looking for something to quench your thirst, you can always go to the so-called "bar" and order yourself a drink. It's not like those bars that you usually find at pubs and night clubs, but it is how it is, and it's got a bartender who make us drinks as well. The drinks that they served here are at Kantin Kespen are mostly instant and in sachets, such as instant cappuccino, condensed milk, fruit-flavored drinks (which is known as Kool-Ais in America), and oat milk drinks named Energen. If you prefer to have canned drinks and bottled drinks, you can always head to the fridge and chose the drink you like. But, you can always grab yourself a glass of water if you're not in the mood for something with flavor though, not to mention it's free of charge.

What kind of drink will you have today?

In the middle of mixing a drink

The rush hour in the cafeteria is usually in the morning, between 7 to 9 AM, followed by an hour after mid day, and during tea-time. Usually, during tea-time, there will be food vendors parking their carts to sell their food products. The regulars are rujak vendor, es podeng vendor, and bakso vendor - and when those three vendors come, I will definitely spend some more rupiah to ease the crave.

The sight of Kantin Kespen during rush hour

Breakfast has never been this good at STPI

Dear readers,

being a cadet has taken its' toll on me. 

I haven't been able to take control of my blog in the past 6 months due to the hectic schedule of the academy I'm now enrolling at. The only spare time that I have is only during the weekends, and it doesn't even last for 24 hours - I go home at 6 in the evening on Saturday, then I have to go back to the barracks at 4 in the afternoon on Sunday. Even if I have the opportunity to bring my laptop to the academy, along with a modem with super duper fast internet connection, I still won't be able to update Milky Way Cafe because activities start at 5 in the morning and end an hour before midnight. So much chaos.

For those who wonders, I've been recruited to STPI (Sekolah Tinggi Penerbangan Indonesia), some people prefer to call it ICAI (Indonesian Civil Aviation Institute), a semi-military academy where the students here are called "cadet" - "taruna" or "taruni" in Indonesian, depends on your gender. 

Sekolah Tinggi Penerbangan Indonesia

Being a cadet, you can't do anything on free will for you are required to follow every single rules existed. You have to wear uniform all the time. All taruna have to be bald, while the taruni have to cut their hair Anna-Hathaway-short. You wake up to the sound of trumpets being played, pretty much like Forrest Gump and Cadet Kelly combined. Every morning and night, they do a rollcall to check if all cadets are in position - and if one of them is nowhere to be found, a consequence is to be applied on all of us. School starts from 7 to 5, and after that is dinner, followed by an obligatory study time, and ended with a rest period at 9. It's a pretty strict and organized life I'm living, so that is why I can't leisurely write about Ladurée's Macaroons, or Mendl's Courtesan au Chocolat, as I pleased. 

The uniform that we wear

I'm not sure how long this will last, but I hope I will be able to write again, soon. Will you wait for me? 

Regards,

Kinan Luhur W.