#1077 - Long Weekend Story

ENGLISH

Yeah, finally this long weekend is coming to an end! Yes, you read it right, I am quite happy that this long weekend is going to end. Why? Well, I don’t know, I feel like this long weekend of mine has kinda been quite dull, hmmm. But anyway, here is a short recap about my life during this last long weekend…

Apartment Cleaning

I took the entire day of my Saturday cleaning my apartment. And it was much more intense than what I normally do when I clean my room, as I basically did everything in one day. That was including cleaning and scrubbing my bathroom, cleaning and scrubbing my kitchen, and of course sweeping and mopping my small apartment. On top of those things, I also did my laundry at the same time. So, yeah, at the end of the day, I was dead, hahaha

Hot

To make things (probably) even worse, this weekend has kinda been: HOT! Well, I guess it is summer already now, hahaha . Well, it has not reached 30°C though, maybe it was only around 22 or something; but I could definitely feel the difference. I biked to IKEA today in my spring “costume” (t-shirt plus a jacket, and my jacket was black). And in IKEA, I felt like I was going to faint (due to the heat trapped in my jacket), hahaha . In the end, I bought a 50 cent ice cream in IKEA….

Experiment in the Kitchen

As you know, I am currently following the newest season of Masterchef Australia (season 4 (2012)). Following this TV show has some effects on me. First of all, sometimes I feel quite bored with my cooking; but at the same time, I am too tired and lazy to think of or try a new recipe.  This show provides me with some new ideas, and more importantly, it motivates me to try something new, hahaha . Second of all, of course it teaches me some extra knowledge about food; which may come in handy…

And of course, because I had all the time I needed this long weekend, I did try something new in my kitchen during this time. Well, some were not really “new” actually as I already made them like some time ago in the past. Anyway, so, for my own meals, I cooked something that were quite ‘different’ from what I normally cooked. These menus were (at least a little bit) more complicated and this was the reason why I didn’t cook them on a more frequent basis.

So, this long weekend, I managed to experiment SIX menus in my kitchen (pictures below), quite productive, no?? hahaha . Well, some of them really just came out from the top of my mind while I was cooking so I am not sure if there are proper more general names for these dishes, hahaha . Btw, all of them (including the opor), I made from pretty much scratch (well, except for the tagliatelle as I used Jamie Oliver’s pasta sauce, hahaha ).

Btw, a little polling here. Which of the six dishes below that looks the most tempting to you?? (p.s: the polling is below these pictures of the dishes)

Meat & Veggies in Oyster and Worcestershire Sauce

Meat & Veggies in Sweet & Sour Sauce

Sauted Meat and Beans + Fried Potato

Steak with Sauted Beans and Fried Potato

Tagliatelle plus bacon

Opor ayam I made from scratch

BAHASA INDONESIA

Ya, akhirnya long weekend ini berakhir juga! Ya, pada benar kok membacanya, aku bahagia deh long weekend ini berakhir. Kenapa? Hmm, nggak tahu ya, untukku, rasanya long weekend kali ini tuh agak membosankan gitu, hmmm. Ah, walaupun begitu, inilah sedikit cerita tentang long weekend-ku kali ini…

Bersih-Bersih Apartemen

Sepanjang siang hari di hari Sabtu, aku membersihkan apartemenku. Dan acara bersih-bersih ini lebih intens daripada biasanya loh, karena pada dasarnya aku melakukan semuanya dalam satu hari. Ini termasuk membersihkan dan menyikat kamar mandi, membersihkan dan menyikat dapur, dan tentu menyapu dan mengepel lantai apartemen kecilku ini. Dan ditambah lagi, di waktu yang sama, aku juga mencuci pakaianku dong. Jadi ya gitu deh, di akhir hari, gempor sendiri dah, hahaha .

Panas

Untuk membuat hal (mungkin) menjadi lebih buruk, akhir pekan kali ini tuh PANAS dong! Hmm, kayaknya musim panas sudah datang deh sekarang, hahaha . Suhunya belum mencapai 30°C sih, paling masih 22an aja, tapi berasa euy bedanya. Hari ini aku bersepeda ke IKEA memakai “kostum” musim semiku (kaus dan jaket, dan warna jaketku itu hitam). Dan di IKEA, rasanya kayak mau pingsan dong (karena panas yang terperangkap di dalam jaketku itu), hahaha . Akhirnya, aku malah membeli es krim seharga 50 sen deh di IKEA…

Eksperimen di Dapur

Seperti yang pada sudah tahu, sekarang aku sedang mengikuti musim terbaru dari Masterchef Australia (musim 4 (2012)). Mengikuti acara ini ada efeknya juga loh. Pertama-tama, kadang gitu aku kan merasa bosan dengan masakanku ya; sementara pada saat yang sama, aku juga capek banget dan malas gitu untuk memikirkan atau mencoba resep baru. Nah, acara ini memberiku beberapa ide, dan yang lebih penting, memotivasi diriku untuk sedikit bereksperimen lagi, hahaha . Yang kedua, jelas lah ya acara ini mengajarkan beberapa pengetahuan akan masakan gitu; yang mungkin bakal berguna juga…

Dan tentu saja dong, karena ada waktu sepanjang long weekend kali ini, aku mencoba beberapa eksperimen baru di dapur. Hmm, beberapa sebenarnya nggak “baru” sih soalnya aku pernah kok memasaknya dulu. Anyway, jadi, untuk acara makanku sendiri, aku memasak sesuatu yang agak ‘berbeda’ dari biasanya. Menu-menu ini (setidaknya) lebih ribet gitu deh dan inilah alasan mengapa aku nggak memasaknya lebih sering.

Nah, di long weekend kali ini, aku berhasil bereksperimen dengan ENAM menu (gambar di atas), lumayan produktif juga kan?? hahaha . Hmm, beberapa menu aku bikinnya ngasal aja sih tergantung dari ide apa yang muncul di pikiran sewaktu masak dan jadilah aku nggak tahu apakah ada nama yang cocok untuk menu-menu ini atau tidak, hahaha . Btw, kesemuanya (termasuk opornya), aku buat sendiri dari nol loh (hmm, kecuali tagliatelle-nya sih karena aku menggunakan saus pastanya Jamie Oliver, hahaha ).

Btw, iseng bikin polling ah. Dari enam masakan di atas, masakan manakah yang tampak paling menggoda selera?? (p.s: polling-nya ada di atas ya, di bawahnya gambar-gambar masakan)