Tuesday, October 23, 2012

What is Magic Without a Wand?

It has been three months since my first encounter with a shot of Espresso and a pitcher full of steamed milk. I constantly failed at making the basic shapes in Latte Art - the Heart, the Rosetta, and the Tulip - but I kept trying and trying just because I want to succeed at drawing with steamed milk. I only succeed at making a Heart twice.. out of God-knows-how-many Cafe Latte and Cappuccino I made. 

So, I said to myself, "Why stop at Heart and Rosetta? Why should I keep focussing in making shapes that I suck at when, maybe.. just maybe, I can make other drawings?". I was very determined and motivated. As soon as we got an order of a cup of Cafe Late or Cappuccino, I immediately took over the Espresso Machine. 

It felt like as if I was in Snape's Potion Class. Making a shot of Espresso properly, using a timer to time when to stop the flowing of the black liquid and to measure the bitterness and the acidic taste in it. Steaming the milk, concentrating on how many kissing sound I should make and when I should stop the machine by feeling the increasing of the temperature of the pitcher with my left hand. I pour the Espresso into a cup, as well as the steamed milk, getting ready to make drawings on my hot beverages. But, what is magic without a wand? In this case, the thermometer is my wand.

Sir Floss the Bitter

Baron Muffin

Momo of Fudge Nation

I ended up making my very own basic shape of Latte Art - Sir Floss the Bitter, Baron Muffin, and Momo of Fudge Nation. I was very happy with my creations! It turned out that drawing with a thermometer is more fun and more enjoyable, not to mention the only thing that you require is your imagination. So, don't be afraid to try new things! Now, go make yourself a cup of Cappuccino and draw Batman. 

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Gudang Rottie's Sloppy Joe Burger

I paid a visit to Gudang Rottie today, with an intention of trying out one of its' new dish. Sloppy Joe Burger is the name of the newcomer, a stack of sloppy meat and buns which originated from America. It's great that Gudang Rottie decided to put this particular burger in their menu because, in my personal opinion, Sloppy Joe Burgers are great and delicious. And of course, since its' name begins with "sloppy", I expect the burger will be messy and unappealing, but it turned out that Gudang Rottie made a less-sloppy version of this foreign burger. 

I was very excited to try the new dish. I was going to order myself Roti John Negeri Seberang, another new dish of Gudang Rottie, but it was not ready for sale because the chefs were still experimenting with the recipe. My Sloppy Joe Burger came with some french fries and a glass of iced tea, and the whole meal costed me Rp 46.000,00. How am I supposed to complain if I was served with a plate of burger, with authentic Australian beef as its' fillings and fat french fries, with a glass of thirst-quenching iced tea, for less than $5?

What I had for my early dinner

Got a glass of iced tea for free!

It has become a habit of mine to eat fast-food restaurant's burger and regular restaurant's burger in a different way, for example I would just mindlessly devour Burger King's Beefacon Burger in a snap of a finger, while I have to eat Comic Cafe's Dark Knight Cheese Burger bun by bun, meat by meat, and veggie by veggie. The same thing goes for Gudang Rottie's Sloppy Joe Burger. 

The physical appearance of Gudang Rottie's Sloppy Joe Burger was not sloppy nor muddy, it was rather neat and organized. I put the upper bun aside, because I was filled with anticipation in finding out what fillings the chef used in this American burger, and I was overwhelmed. I was welcomed by a stack of meat, the minced meat bathe in tomato sauce and the meat patty topped with melted cheese, and pickled cucumber. There was also a puddle of salmon-colored sauce at the bottom of the meat patty, but I forgot to ask the chef what kind of sauce that was. I think it was thousand island sauce. 

I started by cutting the fillings, along with the bottom bun, and started munching. It was awesome! The burger tasted better than how I expected it would be. The meat patty was well-cooked and juicy, and the melted cheese made the whole patty tasted lip-smacking. The minced meat, on the other hand, had a hint of sweet in it as it was bathe in tomato sauce before hand. I usually put the pickled veggie aside when I eat a regular restaurant's burger, but the one that Gudang Rottie had was very enjoyable I ended up devouring all of it. And, as expected from Gudang Rottie, they made their own burger buns. I love it very much because it was chewy and soft, and puffy, and not dry nor hollow at all. I ended up finishing the upper bun first. I was very satisfied and happy with the burger. 

Two-thumbs up for the newcomer of Gudang Rottie! During my next visit, I would probably order the same menu, but I'm going to add some bacons in it. I have my reasons. 

Highly recommended if you visit Gudang Rottie. You won't regret every single bite of it, not to mention it will not cost you more than $5. Can dinner be more awesome than this?

This is heaven!

Introducing, the newcomer of Gudang Rottie, the Sloppy Joe Burger


Gudang Rottie
Rukan Villa Jatibening Tol
Kav. 4A, Bekasi 17412

Phone: (021) 9737 2883

Opening Hours: 
Monday - Sunday: 6Am - 10PM

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Another Box of Pop Tarts

So, today, I bought my second box of Pop Tarts. Since I have tried the Cookies and Cream Pop Tarts before, I decided to try the S'mores Pop Tarts. The box was decorated with chocolate-glazed tart, with chocolate and white filling, which I assume as the chocolate blocks and the marshmallow spread. I couldn't wait to go home and lay my hand on my first piece of S'mores.

A box of S'mores Pop Tarts

It turned out, I like the Cookies and Cream Pop Tarts better. Don't get me wrong, this one tasted sweet, sugary, and delightful as well, but it's not much to my liking. The chocolate glaze went along perfectly with the tart and the fillings, but I'm not fond of the plain tasteless tart. The white filling was actually marshmallow spread, I could tell by the rocky and bubbly texture. All in all, it was a fine Pop Tart, but I think I prefer to have some genuine S'mores during camping.

The physical appearance of the so-called camp food

Chocolate and marshmallow for fillings

Hey look, it's Tintin!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Shook Hand With a Legend

It was Friday, October 5th, 2012. My inner fangirl self squealed in joy when I saw the news that Sisca Soewitomo is going to held a hand-on-hand cooking show at Jakarta Culinary Festival, located in Grand Indonesia. I had a brief flashback about how 12-year-old-me would just wake up at 6 o'clock on a Saturday morning just to watch Aroma, a cooking show hosted by Sisca Soewitomo that was aired on Indosiar. Unlike other kids who watch Saturday morning cartoons, I was busy taking notes of what Madam Sisca cooked. Buah di Dalam Kaca, Salmon Masak Buah Naga, Karbonara Kebun Bunga, and other recipes were written with a rather ugly handwriting in my Handy Dandy Notebook of Recipes. Now, why on earth would I waste a chance on meeting my childhood idol, when she was only 26 Km away from where I live?


It was a dream come true. I met my childhood idol, in the flesh, and I was contaminated with joy and excitement. "I'm a big fan of yours ever since I was in Elementary School. I watch your show, Aroma, every Saturdays," I stuttered. She smiled and thanked me, and welcomed me to take a picture with her. It felt like as if I got a backstage-pass of Super Junior's concert. 

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Deutschland Über Alles: Au Revoir, Munich!

Ony a few hours left before I left the motherland of beer. After I washed myself and packed my things, I went downstairs, to the hostel's cafeteria, and had my last bagel-wich. This time, I ate a round bagel with sesame seeds decoratin the outer skin. Filling it with, of course, different kinds of cheese and sliced meat, then I started munching. As I savor the crusty bagel and the juicy meat, I was wretched by the fact that it would by my last bagel for the time being.

My last bagel-wich

The sound of my luggage being dragged echoed around the hostel's lobby. As soon as we checked out, we said goodbye to the hostel that has a very funky popcorn machine and prepared ourselves to ride a train to the airport. I made a quick stop at a pastry shop located at the train station and bought myself a big chocolate chips cookie. But of course, we can't forget about the high-tech vending machine, so I paid my last visit and bought two packs of Haribo gummy candy.

The petite pastry corner

My disc-sized chocolate chips cookies

Smurfs Haribo, woohoo!

Who could resist these sour worms?

Remember Louis, my Dad's friend who looked like Iron Man? Before we grab a trolly and check in at Qatar Airways flight counter, my parents and I visited his office that was located near the airport, only a train-ride away. Iron Man, apparently, worked at Lufthansa as a flight planner. He gave us a tour around the headquarters, and even stopped by at the cafeteria to drink some juice and eat ice cream, his treats. He even gave me a bar of chocolate! It was a very cool place, I felt like I'm in WHOOP Headquarters.

A bottle of mineral water and a glass of apple juice, Louis' treats

Three flavored ice cream sandwich

That ice cream was so good

A bar of Duplo Chocolate

Unfortunately, Louis was very busy that day, so we had to say goodbye and let the man of steel do his duty. We still had four hours to spend before our flight to Doha, Qatar, so we backpacked around the airport. The airport, you see, is really big. Even the terminals are separated into two buildings. I visited a lot of souvenir shops because I haven't bought any for my friends and myself. There, I found lots of unusual stuff worth to spend money on, for example the Chocolate Spoon. This chocolate, ladies and gentleman, is attached at the end of a wooden spoon and it is designed that way so that we can make an instant hot chocolate out of it. Cool, huh? We just have to pour some fresh hot milk into a cup and stir it with the chocolate spoon. Later on, the chocolate will melt and voila! your hot cocoa is ready to be indulged. I couldn't help but to buy me one of those genius spoons.

It came in two different flavors, almond and cinnamon

Then, I found another product made by a genius, which is Magnum ice cream. Now, this ice cream over here does not exist in Indonesia, and it was my first time to see such flavor. "Magnum Infinity" was written on the packaging. As a person who love to try new things, I bought myself a pack and undress it. I was welcomed by a solid chocolate-covered ice cream. I took a bite and I understood why its' name is "infinity". Infinite chocolate, baby!

To infinity and beyond!

And by "infinity", they meant "chocolate infinity"

I'm sad by the fact that there is no Magnum Infinity here in Indonesia,

"See if you can find any pork for lunch," said Dad. I went full-bloodhound and immediately spotted a restaurant that has lots of pork, including wurst and pork knuckle. Mom and Dad ordered a plate of Pork Knuckle, served with a ball of potato dumpling, and a bowl of salad topped with bacon pieces. Of course they ordered beer as well. We shared the pork knuckle, and it didn't take an hour for us to finish the whole thing. It was beyond delicious! The gravy was deliciously savory, the meat was nicely cooked, crispy pork skin everywhere, what more could you expect?

The refreshing and juicy sour salad

That pork knuckle is way bigger than my fist

Big-boned pork, with its' thick meat, we devour it all

Only a couple of hours left before the staff lady told us to board the aircraft, I spent the remaining time I and the remaining euros I had left buying more food and eating them. It's a bout time you go, "Damn, this kid is an eating machine!". I had a pretzel, some more sausages, and a loaf of sour-dough bread. I even bought myself another stick of ice cream that tasted like fruit syrup and fireworks. No, seriously! The top of the ice cream was filled with pop rocks candy, and it literary popped and exploded like fireworks in your mouth, minus the fire that is. That was a really funky ice cream!

Bought myself a pretzel because of reasons

A bag of sausages and sour-dough loaf

"X-POP with Fizzy Effect" sounds awesome, huh?

It tasted like fireworks

"Passengers are welcome to board the aircraft," said a lady on a speaker. The next thing I know, I was on my seat sitting like a good and polite passenger, munching on crackers that was given to me by one of the stewardess.

I love the pillow-shaped cracker the most

It was a six hour flight from Munich to Doha. I spent the entire hours watching Tv series from the in-flight movies. Two Broke Girls, New Girl, Glee, The Universe, Raising Hope, I watched them all. When I got bored, I turned on my iPhone and played Epic Meal Time's game, in which we are commanded to feed the sauce bauss with only meat and liquor, and the game will be over if we feed him with veggies. My kind of game. 

A couple hours before the plane landed, the stewardess came with a food tray and handed us our dinner. The choice was between chicken and fish. I was in the mood for some nicely fried fish, so I didn't chose the poultry. It's a good thing Mom ordered the chicken, that way I could taste how nice the other meal was.

Mom's chicken that tasted delicious

"Here's your fish," said the lovely Caucasian steward. My meal tray was filled with numerous kinds of food I got flustered a little bit. There were my plate of fish with some mashed potatoes and spinach, a bowl of lentil, a small bagel, crackers with some butter and cheese, Toblerone chocolate, a piece of chocolate cake, a glass of mineral water, and a glass of apple juice. They all looked tasty, so I made sure I tasted each and every one of them. 

My tray of dinner

The lentil was very fresh and nutty. It was bathe in some kind of sour broth, along with some slices of bell peppers and purple cabbage. It was my first time eating lentil, and it wasn't that bad. I like it, actually. I think it would be great if we can eat it with some rice and nicely grilled fish.

A bowl of lentil

The fish was also delicious. Perfectly cooked, the meat was white, and it was soft. The spinach was creamy, and it's a good thing it didn't dominated the whole plate because I was not in the mood to be a vegetarian.

My plate of fish bathe in gravy

The three-layers chocolate cake was a bit hard for me to enjoy as it has strawberry jam on each layers. But the whipped cream, on the other hand, was delightful. If only I can ask for more whipped cream and less strawberry jam on the chocolate cake, I would give that dessert a two thumbs up.

Chocolate cake with whipped cream

Last but not least, the crackers. I ate the crackers with some cheese, making it look fancy and tea-time-snack-like. In my opinion, crackers and cheese spread as math made in heaven. They blend with each other well, not to mention each foodstuff complete the other, which make the whole thing very delicious and enjoyable.

Biscuits and fancy cheese for dessert

"Flight crew please be seated for landing," said a steward over the speaker. Soon, I was walking down the airplane and putting my backpack through the scanner. 

My experience in Munich was awesome and epic! I ate lots and lots of delicious food, especially pork. I met a lot of people, most of them were drunk and wasted. I spent a lot of money on food and I didn't regret a thing, I repeat, I didn't regret a thing. I gained three kilos after my four-days-stay at Munich and I'm okay with it. Let's just hope that, next year, I can get another chance to visit Munich and stuff myself with some wurst and pomme frites.