I was sitting at the duty office with my fellow duty cadets last night when he popped out from behind the wall and gave a waving gesture with his hand telling me to come to him. "Who, me," I asked inaudible, pointing my finger to my face. He nodded in agreemet.
"What's up," I asked him. Whilst smiling, he handed me a pocket size carton of Nescafe, French Vanilla flavor. Overwhelmed by the fact that I received something unexpected, I made sure that the latte was actually for me. Still smiling, he said, "It's for your night shift duty tonight," then he turned and headed to his barrack.
"Wait," I shouted.
He stopped and turned back to me. "Did you just go all the way up here just to give me this coffee," I asked, which was then replied with a "Yup!" and "Best of luck with your night shift." And just that, he waved goodbye and went back to his barrack, leaving me with a carton of latte on my hand and a big smile on my face. :)
So, my Mom just got back from Bali and she didn't come home empty handed, woohoo! Other than the pork jerky and Sate Lilit Bali that she brought, she also bought a box of Pie Susu Bali and Pia Legong. Both of these babies are two of the most popular food and souvenir one can ever find in Bali, and they are also my favorite.
Pie Susu Bali "Asli Enaaak" is the first brand of pie susu in Bali. It has been active producing batches of the most delicious milk tart since 1989. True, this particular brand of pie susu is a bit expensive compared to the pie susu that I usually buy from my friend, yet price determines the quality of the product. While some pie susu have tasteless crust and funky tasting filling, this pie susu has a stiff and thin savory crust and in the middle of it is a gooey and deliciously sweet mixture of milk and egg that blends nicely with the crust. Pure awesomeness.
Pie Susu Bali "Asli Enaaak"
I can never get enough of these babies
Want some?
On the one hand, Pia Legong is also a treat for tourists in Bali. You can only get yourself a box of Pia Legong at Ruko Megah No. 15, at Jalan Raya By Pass Ngurah Rai, because it is the only official place where they sell the product. Same like Pie Susu Bali "Asli Enaaak", Pia Legong is more expensive compared to other pia that you can find roaming around the streets of Bali, because the factory only made a limited set of batch each day, so you have to compete with other buyers to get your box of pia.
Pia Legong is famous for its delicious filling and flaky crust. There are three varieties of Pia Legong, which are Chocolate Pia, Cheese Pia, and Mung Bean Pia. My favorite would be the Chocolate Pia, even though the other two tasted as good. I just can't get enough of it!
Last Saturday, Mom and I went out to Pondok Indah Mall to enjoy a lovely dinner at UNION. Mom has been to UNION before with Dad, but this time was my first time ever to dine at the oh-so-hype bistro. We had to wait in line for us to be seated even though we made a reservation for two people beforehand because the restaurant was crowded. And when we finally got our table, our stay at the bistro was timed. Approximately two hours.
We only had a couple of hours to dine
For starter, Mom had a plate of Romaine Salad. Accompanied with Parmesan Chicken, and Truffle Soft Boiled Egg, the salad had a mountain of crisp greens topped with potato chips and pork bacon. The waiter asked us beforehand about what kind of bacon that we would like to have on our salad. "We have beef bacon, pork bacon, and turkey bacon," he said. It only took a second for us to make our choice.
I decided to go out of my comfort zone by choosing neither salad or soup for starter. I went for the Escargot. Yes, Escargot! The Parisian style land snails on a plate, fancily cooked with butter and bread crumbs - which explains why the dish reminds me so much of Pizza Hut's garlic bread - and not like the local land snails named Tutut that I had a few years ago.
It was my first encounter with Escargot, so that explains why I was completely clueless regarding the proper way to indulge on these delicious looking land snails. I had no idea how to eat it. Like, seriously no idea. There were a couple of relish fork on my Escargot plate and, still, I had no clue what to do with them. My head was filled with options, more like questions, and it gradually became more like a battle between me and myself.
"Should I use both of them to scrape the meat out of the shell? Or am I supposed to use just one of them to dig out the meat, while my left hand is busy holding the shell? But, isn't that just stupid and barbaric if I were to do something like that? How on earth am I supposed to eat Escargot? Am I adopted? Wait, what?"
I noticed a thong gripping the edge of my plate. For a second there, I thought that maybe the thong is one of the utensils used to eat the Escargot. I hold the thong and tried to lift it up, resulting in me lifting the whole plate. "That's not supposed to happen," I thought. So, I put the plate down and decided to leave the thong be.
In the end, I decided to use both of the forks to dig out the meat from the shell. Which was a dumb idea to do, because later on, I found out that the proper way to eat Escargot is to use the thong to hold the Escargot, then use the fork to scrape the meat out. I feel so stupid.
Escargot, Garlic Butter - 95K
Now, the cooked snails were not slimy like how I expected it would be. It had the same texture like cooked oyster, a bit chewy and tender. On the entrance of each snails was a teaspoon of what it seemed to me like marinara sauce, which gave the meat extra flavor other than just garlic and buttered bread crumbs. All in all, Escargot tasted pretty delicious and not as icky as I imagine.
They look adorable and delicious at the same time
Dinner rolls to accompany your dishes with
Instead of not ordering anything to drink like I usually do, I decided to have me a glass of Melon & Mint Smoothie. The smoothie consisted of watermelon, melon, honey, and mint, which was very refreshing and healthy. What I love the most about the smoothie is that the bartender didn't throw out my most favorite part of smoothies and juices: the pulps.
Melon & Mint Smoothie - 55K
And then we moved on to the Main Course. Mom had a plate of spaghetti smothered in truffle sauce, topped with pork crackers and bacon lardons, and garnished with parsleys. I had a bite of Mom's dish and it was delicious. The sauce simply stuck on the spaghetti, resulting in a rather thickly creamy dish, instead of the slight liquidy sauce that we usually encounter on spaghetti. The flavor was very bold, yet in one place, while the pork crackers and bacon lardons did a great job in adding an extra savoriness to complete the spaghetti.
Pork Crackling, Bacon Lardons, Spaghetti, Alba Truffle Cream - 80K
Salmon was what I had for dinner at UNION. It was a Crispy Skin Salmon with Mashed Potato, Orange, and Ginger Soy. I was expecting a large and thick cut of Salmon, but instead, I was given a rather small slice. It could even fit on my palm.
On the side were three spoonful of mashed potato garnished with a piece of celery on top, three pieces of orange, garnished with ginger soy sauce. I love the sauce as it was full of flavor. Even though the ginger slightly dominated the flavor, I could still taste the sweet and savory soy sauce.
My salmon was well-done. It went splendidly well with the ginger soy sauce, despite the fact that I'm not a big fan of ginger. Both mashed potato and orange made a great intermezzo, in case you get that fed-up feeling of chewing the salmon.
Last but not least, for dessert, we shared a slice of UNION's most famous cake ever: the Red Velvet cake. Four layers of red velvet cake, with thick cream cheese in between and topped with sugary peanuts, would make your knees weak. The cake itself was not that sweet; while the cream cheese was very heavy and thick, and at the same time cheesy and sweet.
The highlight of the cake was the peanut on top as it completes the whole existence of the cake. Even though the cake tasted delicious, I would rather indulge on just the peanuts and cream cheese, because both blended perfectly with each other creating this explosion of flavor in my mouth.
I am currently in my car, at Rumah Sakit HewanRagunan, waiting for my Mom picking up my post-surgery German Shepherd. It is an hour and a half passed noon, and I haven't eat anything since morning. It's a good thing Mom packed us a set of meal for lunch before we head to the animal hospital, or it would be me staying over at the vet due to massive hunger.
Mom just got back from a trip to Bali last night and she brought lots of edible souvenirs. Two of such are pork jerky from Titiles and Sate Lilit Bali, which I had for lunch just now.
Sate Lilit Bali is a local delicacy in Pulau Dewata consisted of well-seasoned grinned meat being grilled on sticks. The meat that they used to make the satay varies - beef, pork, chicken, fish, you name it! - but my favorite will be the ones made with fish meat.
The meat is very tender and not the slightest bit fishy in a bad way. I love the hint of peppery goodness in every bite because it enhance the flavor of the satay more. Too bad the meat was too few compared to the rather long and thick wooden sticks.
On the one hand, the pork jerky from Titiles was just awesome! Now, Titiles is a famous souvenir shop in bali where you can get delicious top quality sausages and jerky. The products being sold at Titiles are a bit pricey, but I don't see why you can't spoil yourself once in a while.
Titiles' pork jerky tasted sweet and spicy like how a jerky supposed to taste like. A bit chewy and hard to bite though, but I just can't get enough of it.
And that is what I had for lunch, folks!
I'm still waiting for my Mom to show up with our dog, Timo. Then, after this, we will head our way to Pluit to get Timo some walking wheels to help him walk. Due to the medication he's taking, my dog has been having dificulties in walking, and that is why we are making a trip to the other side of Jakarta to get him a fancy gizmo to support him.
Catch you later, Readers!
P.S. I am using Blogger application for iPhone to make this blog post, and the photos used in this post were edited using VSCOcam. Mobile blogging has become pretty handy, don't you think?
Liquid Nitrogen dessert would probably be the highlight of fusion dessert in the late 2014. News of brand new ice cream parlors that use liquid nitrogen to make their ice creams popped up every now and then last year it felt like as if it's trying to dominate the world. Them ice cream man are basically using liquid nitrogen to freeze the cream they use to make the ice cream, resulting a more long-lasting ice cream compared to regular soft cream that you can buy at McDonalds.
One of the ice cream parlor that made their ice cream using liquid nitrogen is FREEZE, located at the food court in Pondok Indah Mall 2, and other malls as well. Same like any other dessert house, this particular joint serves you various choices of frozen ice cream flavors with countless selection of toppings. But, other than ice cream, they have a signature product that captivated the curiosity of the citizen: Dragon Cookies.
Get your Dragon Cookies here!
The Dynamic Duo on duty
"What are dragon cookies," you asked. Why, they are simply cookies dipped in liquid nitrogen. By drowning the cookies into liquid nitrogen, the cookies will eventually hit its' freezing point and, well, freeze. When we eat it, as the cookies made contact with our warm mouth, it will produce white smoke that will come out from our nose and mouth, hence making us look like a fire-breathing dragon. Thus, the dragon cookies.
Liquid nitrogen produces white smokes when they make contact with objects with higher temperature
In the midst of making Dragon Cookies
The place is super crowded back in 2014, when it was very popular. I had to wait in line for almost 20 minutes just to place my order, then add in another 15 minutes waiting for it to be prepared. But, as time goes by, fewer people pay visits to FREEZE.
There are two choices of cookies that can be used to make your dragon cookies, Arnots' Good Times cookies, or Oreos. I usually chose the Oreos because they are bigger and thicker compared to Arnots. Each dragon cookies costs Rp4.000,00 - in which, if I add Rp11.000,00 more, I can get myself a dozen of it at the supermarket. Very pricey for a piece of cookie, don't you think? But, I don't mind spending a few Rupiah just to get some smoke-blowing action. It's fun, you know!
A guide on how to become a dragon
Your time is limited when you indulge in Dragon Cookies. The longer it makes contact with the surrounding atmosphere, the quicker it will lose its' below-zero-degree temperature and, soon, it will turn back into normal Oreos. In other words, you won't be able to blow white smoke when you eat the Oreo you might as well bid your dream of becoming a dragon good bye.
Let me remind you that the cookies are frozen, so, you might want to expect severe pain or stinging sensation when you bite into it - especially if you have sensitive teeth. On the one hand, your tongue can also get irritated from the cold, with burning sensation and minor ulcer afterwards.
Curious, aren't you? Go on. Try it.
Can you see the snow-like flakes on the surface of the Oreo?
