#1103 – 2012 London Summer Trip (Part III)

ENGLISH

Previously on 2012 London Summer Trip: Zilko went to London to do sightseeing and to watch the Wimbledon Championships. Of the four days he had spent there, he visited Wimbledon twice and did sightseeing on the other two days. Now, he was ready to roll on Day 5…

***

Day 5 (Friday, 29 June 2012)

Of course I couldn’t get up that early today after a long day at Wimbledon the day before. I got up at around 7 AM and had my complimentary breakfast at the hostel. At this time, I was quite curious about what my position would be in the Queue of Wimbledon if I decided to leave at around 7.45 AM from my hostel. Beside, I kinda wanted to see some players who played on the “odd” days of Wimbledon (in a grandslam tournament, a singles player normally plays once every two days in the first week of the tournament. So, either they play on “odd” days or “even” days), like Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer or Kim Clijsters, who was playing her last Wimbledon tournament…

I arrived at the Queue at around 9.15 AM, and guess what my position was in the Queue?? This:

Arriving in the Queue at 9 AM (ish), I was already the 7422nd person in the Queue!!

Yes, I was already the freaking 7422nd person in the Queue!!  Well, I stayed in the Queue for like 15 minutes before it started to get really windy and drizzle a little bit. Then, I realized that I forgot my umbrella!! It was such a bad combination that I thought it was not worth it anymore. Also, I thought the chance of me to just get a groundpass was already quite slim and I might have to stay in the line until like 2 or 3 PM or so before finally getting an access to the grounds. And so, I decided to leave and just explored London today, hahaha .

Back in London, it was still so windy. Thus I decided to look for a cafe to have a cup of latte. At the cafe, I took my free map and guidebook of London and started planning on my destination for today. After a little bit of reading, I decided to go to Greenwich area. Does this name sound familiar? Yes, Greenwich is the place where the standard of the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) lies, or in other words: the standard of the world time. Anyway, after finishing my coffee, I realized it was 11.30 AM or so and I was feeling already a little bit hungry. I remembered from Day 3 in which Jamie Oliver’s restaurant would open at noon. So, I decided to kill the 30 minutes time by walking around randomly (my location at that time was not that far from Covent Garden anyway).

At around 12.15 PM, I arrived at the restaurant and of course it was not that busy yet (good, so I could get a seat right away! ). After looking at the menu, I decided to order a meat antipasti and a Posh Chips. The antipasti was good, but the chips was insanely delicious!! It was definitely one of the best chips (if not the best) I had ever had in my life!! But of course a portion of antipasti and a posh chips (which was only a ‘side dish’) did not satisfy my hunger; so I decided to order one more menu: a crispy squid. And again, it was a really delicious dish!! Overall, I was really satisfied having meal here. Of course the price was a little bit more expensive than other ‘normal’ restaurants, but to me, it was worth the food.

After lunch, I decided to go to Greenwich Area. But first, my stop was the famous O2 Arena. The arena will be used as the venue of gymnastics as well as the finals of basketball competition during the 2012 Summer Olympics this month; but I am more familiar with this arena because it is the venue for the ATP World Tour Finals (the year end championships for the men’s tour in tennis) from 2009 to 2013, hehehe Anyway, it was an impressive building. I got into the building, well, not into the arena in the middle of it though but only to the shopping area surrounding that arena (so there was basically a “mall” circling the main arena inside the structure, which was kinda cool).

By the way, on the way to the O2 Arena, I saw a cable car that apparently had been opened since just the day before near the Arena (hell yeah I was very lucky!! huahaha ). It was called Emirates Air Line (for sponsorship reason I guess, hahaha ). And of course I decided to pay a visit. Uniquely, this cable car was, sort of, “integrated” to London’s public transportation network. It was built as an alternative way of crossing the River Thames with two stations at both sides of the river: Greenwich Peninsula and Royal Victoria Docks. Anyway, because it was part of the London’s public transportation network, I could use my Oyster Card to “board” the gondola, and because of this I got a 25.58% discount, huahaha . Btw, if you buy the normal tickets without the Oyster Card, you will get a “boarding pass”; also, one can apply to be a “frequent flyer”.

Anyway, so, I boarded the gondola. I started my return journey from the Greenwich Peninsula Station. The gondola was not really a big gondola as probably it could accommodate only six people at once. However, the towers were really really tall!! The highest elevation was 93 meter! And as I said earlier, it was windy today. Up there, the wind was much stronger that the gondola swayed because of the wind, at 93 meter above the ground (and river)! However, the view was amazing!! I got to see the skyline of London from a unique view and angle. On the other side, I could see the runway of London City Airport (LCY), a small airport serving London, and the Thames Barrier.

After arriving back at Greenwich Peninsula Station, I walked back to the O2 Arena to catch a bus to the main Greenwich Area. Long story short, I got off at near the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. The first place on my list to visit was, of course, the Royal Observatory. To get there, I had to climb up the hill in the Greenwich Park. There was a construction work going on at the time in the park (probably as a preparation for the upcoming Summer Olympics) but visitors still had access to the Royal Observatory. And of course I decided to enter the Royal Observatory. There was a museum about the history of time-measuring, which was really nice; but to me, the highlight was the Greenwich Meridian. Greenwich Meridian is the imaginary line which divides the Earth to east and west longitude (like the equivalent of the equator in longitude). And of course I decided to take a picture of myself standing on the line so that I was standing in both the east and west longitude at the same time, huahaha (this spot was so famous (no wonder) that we had to queue to take a picture there ).

The Royal Observatory was a really nice place to visit, really! It was so nice that I decided to buy a souvenir there. And after looking around at the souvenir shop, I was thinking what would be a better souvenir from the Royal Observatory than an hour glass?? hehehe There were several types of hour glass, and at first I was interested in buying the cheapest one (which was made from wood). But in the end, I decided to buy one of the more expensive ones, which base was made from marble, because this one was much nicer, more classic, more elegant, and looked far more expensive, huahaha . Its picture is below.

Anyway, after buying the souvenir, I left the Royal Observatory and decided to pay a visit to the Greenwich Market. Well, I knew this market because sometimes it was the setting during some tasks of The Apprentice: UK, hahaha. The market was nice, but it was much smaller that I thought it was. From the market, I just walked around Greenwich and took a quick look at the Cutty Sark before I decided to go back to my hostel.

I had my dinner at the hostel, which was chicken curry with coriander sauce. Then, I decided to go to bed a bit early because I planned to go to Wimbledon even earlier than before the next day… . Why? Getting up at 4 AM wasn’t early enough?? Well, my consideration at the time was that the next day would be Saturday so I thought it was logical to think that more people would come to the tournament. Therefore, to get a spot in the Queue as good as my previous two visits there, I should arrive at the Queue earlier. So, I set my alarm to 3.30 AM…

To Be Continued…

Next on 2012 London Trip:
- Last day in Wimbledon
- Sunday Trip to Stonehenge

Busy Friday in London with a typical gloomy weather…

An Egyptian Obelisk in London which was erected in Heliopolis

The menukaart at Jamie’s Italian

Jamie’s Italian at Covent Garden

Meat antipasti and Posh Chips. The Posh Chips was insanely delicious!!

Crispy squid, another tasty dish…

The London O2 Arena

The shopping area inside the O2 Arena

A new cable car in London

Greenwich Peninsula Station

Gondolas at 90(ish) meter above the ground (and river)

The Thames Barrier

The stunning view from the Emirates Air Line

Royal Victoria Docks Station

Gondola #33, the one that brought me all the way in my return journey…

Standing on the west and east longitude at the same time…

An ancient sundial

This was not just another dolphin statue, it was also a sundial! Really cool!! (and accurate!! I checked it myself!!)

The hourglass I bought from Royal Observatory as a souvenir.

Greenwich Market

Cutty Sark ship in Greenwich

BAHASA INDONESIA

Sebelumnya dalam 2012 London Summer Trip: Zilko pergi ke London untuk jalan-jalan sambil menonton Kejuaraan Wimbledon. Dalam empat hari yang telah ia habiskan disana, ia telah mengunjungi Wimbledon dua kali dan berkeliling London di dua hari lainnya. Kini, ia siap menyongsong Hari 5…

***

Hari 5 (Jumat, 29 Juni 2012)

Tentu saja aku tidak bisa bangun pagi hari ini setelah seharian penuh di Wimbledon sebelumnya. Aku bangun jam 7 pagi dan kemudian makan sarapan gratisan di hostel. Di waktu ini, aku merasa cukup penasaran mengenai kira-kira berapakah posisiku di the Queue andaikata aku berangkat jam 7.45 pagi dari hostel. Di samping itu, aku juga agak ingin melihat beberapa pemain yang bermain di hari “ganjil” Wimbledon (di sebuah turnamen grandslam, biasanya seorang pemain tunggal bermain setiap dua hari sekali di minggu pertama. Jadi, mereka main ya di hari “ganjil” saja, atau “genap” saja), seperti misalnya Novak Djokovic atau Roger Federer atau Kim Clijsters, yang memainkan Kejuaraan Wimbledon terakhirnya…

Aku tiba di the Queue sekitar jam 9.15 pagi, dan berapakah posisiku di the Queue?? Ini:

Tiba di the Queue jam 9-an pagi, dan aku sudah merupakan orang ke 7422 di the Queue!!

Ya, aku sudah merupakan orang ke 7422 di the Queue!!  Yah, aku berada di the Queue itu selama sekitar 15 menit sebelum cuaca menjadi semakin berangin kencang dan sedikit gerimis. Kemudian, aku menyadari bahwa aku lupa membawa payungku!! Yah, ini adalah sebuah kombinasi yang amat buruk dan membuatku berpikir bahwa ini tidaklah worth it lagi. Juga, aku merasa bahwa toh kemungkinanku untuk sekedar mendapatkan groundpass saja pun sudah cukup kecil dan aku mungkin harus menunggu di the Queue sampai jam 2 atau 3 sore sebelum akhirnya bisa masuk. Karena itu, jadilah aku memutuskan untuk meninggalkan the Queue dan memilih untuk jalan-jalan di London aja untuk hari ini, hahaha .

Kembali di London, cuaca masih sangatlah berangin. Oleh karenanya, aku memutuskan untuk mencari cafe untuk minum secangkir latte hangat. Di cafe itu, aku mengambil guidebook dan peta London gratisanku untuk merencanakan tujuanku hari ini. Setelah membaca-baca, aku memutuskan untuk pergi ke area Greenwich. Apakah nama ini terdengar tidak asing? Ya, Greenwich adalah tempat dimana standar Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) berada, atau dengan kata lain: standar dari sistem perwaktuan di planet Bumi ini. Anyway, setelah menyelesaikan kopiku, aku menyadari bahwa waktu menunjukkan sekitar jam 11.30 pagi dan aku merasa agak lapar. Aku ingat dari Hari 3 bahwa restorannya Jamie Oliver baru buka jam 12 siang. Jadilah aku memutuskan untuk membunuh waktu 30 menit itu dengan berjalan-jalan secara acak (toh lokasiku waktu itu kebetulan juga tidak jauh dari Covent Garden).

Sekitar jam 12.15 siang, aku tiba di restorannya dan tentu saja waktu itu masih belum ramai (bagus deh, jadi aku bisa langsung dapat kursi! ). Setelah melihat-lihat menunya, aku memutuskan untuk memesan antipasti daging dan seporsi Posh Chips. Antipastinya enak loh, tapi chips (kentang goreng)-nya itu enaknya nggak ketulungan dong!! Benar-benar salah satu kentang goreng terenak (kalau bukan yang terenak) yang pernah kumakan seumur hidup deh!! Namun, tentu saja seporsi antipasti dan Posh Chips (yang dikategorikan sebagai side dish) tidaklah membuatku kenyang; dan jadilah aku memesan satu menu lagi: cumi crispy. Dan lagi, menu ini uenak sekali loh!! Secara keseluruhan, aku sangat puas deh makan disini. Tentu saja harganya agak sedikit lebih mahal dibandingin restoran-restoran biasa lainnya, tapi untukku, harganya memang sepadan dengan kualitas makanannya.

Setelah makan siang, aku pergi ke area Greenwich. Tapi sebelum itu, aku mampir dulu di O2 Arena yang terkenal itu. Arena ini akan digunakan sebagai tempat penyelenggaraan event senam dan juga final kompetisi bola basket di Olimpiade Musim Panas 2012 bulan ini; tapi aku sih lebih kenal arena ini karena arena ini digunakan sebagai tempat penyelenggaraannya ATP World Tour Finals (turnamen akhir tahun untuk tur putra di tenis) dari tahun 2009 hingga 2013, hehehe Anyway, bangunan ini keren juga loh. Aku sempat masuk ke dalamnya walaupun nggak masuk sampai ke arenanya yang berada di tengahnya; tetapi hanya sampai ke area perbelanjaan yang mengelilingi arena utama itu (jadi, pada dasarnya ada “mall” yang mengelilingi arenanya di dalam gedungnya gitu, keren juga kan).

Ngomong-ngomong, dalam perjalanan ke O2 Arena itu, aku melihat ada sebuah kereta gantung yang ternyata baru dibuka satu hari sebelumnya di dekat situ (Yoi, aku memang beruntung sekali!!  huahaha ). Namanya adalah Emirates Air Line (sepertinya sih nama ini untuk alasan sponsor yah, hahaha ). Tentu saja aku mampir ke situ juga. Uniknya, kereta gantung ini seperti “terintegrasi” dengan sistem transportasi umumnya London. Kereta gantung ini dibangun sebagai mode transportasi alternatif untuk menyeberangi Sungai Thames dengan dua stasiun yang berada di kedua sisi sungai: Greenwich Peninsula dan Royal Victoria Docks. Anyway, karena ini adalah bagian dari jaringan transportasi umumnya London, aku bisa menggunakan Oyster Card-ku untuk menaiki gondolanya, dan karena ini aku juga mendapatkan diskon 25,58% loh, huahaha . Btw, kalau kita membeli tiketnya biasa aja tanpa Oyster Card, kita akan mendapatkan “boarding pass”; juga, kita bisa mendaftarkan diri untuk menjadi “frequent flyer”-nya loh.

Anyway, lalu, aku menaiki gondolanya. Aku memulai perjalanan bolak-balikku dari Stasiun Greenwich Peninsula. Gondolanya tidaklah berukuran terlalu besar, mungkin hanya muat enam orang saja. Namun, menaranya itu sungguh tinggi sekali!! Elevasi tertingginya mencapai 93 meter loh! Dan seperti yang kubilang sebelumnya, hari ini cuacanya cukup berangin. Di atas, anginnya jauh lebih kencang sehingga gondolanya mengayun karena tertiup angin gitu deh, sekitar 93 meter di atas permukaan tanah (dan sungai)! Eh, tapi pemandangannya memang keren banget loh!! Aku bisa melihat skyline-nya London dari sudut pandang yang benar-benar lain dan unik. Di sisi lainnya, aku bisa melihat landasan pacunya Bandara London City (LCY), sebuah bandara kecil di London, dan juga Thames Barrier.

Setelah tiba kembali di Stasiun Greenwich Peninsula, aku berjalan kembali ke O2 Arena untuk naik bus menuju area utamanya Greenwich. Singkat cerita, aku turun di dekatnya Museum Maritim Nasional di Greenwich. Tempat pertama yang aku kunjungi adalah, tentu saja, Royal Observatory. Untuk mencapai tempat ini, aku harus berjalan menaiki bukit kecil di Greenwich Park. Ketika itu sedang ada pekerjaan konstruksi di tamannya (sepertinya sih untuk persiapan Olimpiade nanti) tetapi pengunjung masih bisa kok mengakses Royal Observatory-nya. Dan tentu saja aku masuk ke Royal Observatory-nya dong. Di dalamnya, ada museum yang menceritakan sejarah pengukuran waktu, yang mana keren juga; tetapi yang paling keren menurutku adalah Greenwich Meridian. Greenwich Meridian adalah garis imajiner yang membagi Bumi ini menjadi bujur barat dan bujur timur (seperti ekuivalennya garis khatulistiwa yang membagi Bumi dalam lintang utara dan lintang selatan gitu deh). Dan tentu saja aku berfoto disitu dengan aku berdiri di garisnya sehingga pada saat bersamaan aku berada sekaligus di bujur timur dan bujur barat, huahaha (lokasi ini populer banget loh (nggak heran deh ya) sehingga kita harus ngantri gitu deh kalau mau berfoto disitu ).

Royal Observatory memanglah sebuah tempat yang oke untuk dikunjungi, beneran! Saking okenya, aku sampai memutuskan untuk membeli souvenir disana. Dan setelah melihat-lihat barang di toko souvenir-nya, aku berpikir adakah souvenir yang mencerminkan Royal Observatory secara lebih keren daripada jam pasir?? hehehe . Ada beberapa jam pasir yang dijual disana, dan awalnya aku berpikir untuk membeli yang termurah saja (terbuat dari kayu). Tetapi pada akhirnya aku justru membeli salah satu yang lebih mahal, yang mana alasnya itu terbuat dari marmer, karena yang kubeli ini penampakannya lebih bagus, lebih klasik, lebih elegan, dan nampak jauh lebih mahal, huahaha . Ada deh fotonya di atas

Anyway, setelah membeli souvenir-nya, aku meninggalkan Royal Observatory dan memutuskan untuk mampir di Pasar Greenwich sebentar. Aku tahu pasar ini karena kadang pasar ini digunakan sebagai lokasi beberapa tugasnya The Apprentice: UK gitu deh, hahaha. Pasarnya oke juga, tapi ternyata jauh lebih kecil daripada bayanganku. Dari pasarnya, aku hanya berkeliling Greenwich aja sih dan mampir sebentar untuk melihat Cutty Sark sebelum akhirnya memutuskan untuk pulang ke hostel.

Aku makan malam di hostel dengan menu kari ayam dengan saus ketumbar. Lalu, aku memutuskan untuk tidur agak awal karena aku berencana pergi ke Wimbledon agak lebih pagi keesokan harinya… . Apa? Bangun jam 4 subuh pun masih kurang pagi?? Yah, pertimbanganku waktu itu: besok adalah hari Sabtu sehingga aku rasa adalah sebuah tebakan logis bahwa akan ada lebih banyak orang yang menunjungi turnamennya. Oleh karenanya, untuk mendapatkan nomor urut di the Queue sebaik dua kunjunganku sebelumnya, aku harus tiba disana lebih awal kan. Jadilah aku memutar alarm-ku untuk berdering jam 3.30 subuh…

Bersambung…

Selanjutnya dalam 2012 London Trip:
- Hari terakhir di Wimbledon
- Perjalanan hari Minggu ke Stonehenge

#1037 – Indonesian Food in Holland

ENGLISH

Some time ago while I was grocery shopping in the supermarket and walking down an Asian spices and seasoning alley, I saw this:

Ajam panik?? (panic chicken?? )

I raised my eyebrow because I had never heard of Indonesian food with name “ayam panik” (“ayam panik” is literally translated as “panic chicken” in English; and in Dutch spelling, “ajam” is read as “ayam”, which means chicken in Indonesian). Btw, I was sure it was an Indonesian menu because the name was in Indonesian, even though written with Dutch spelling. (p.s : for those who are curious, the Dutch word for “chicken” is “kip”).

So, chicken is not the only menu which is known in its Indonesian name here. A lot of Indonesian food in the Netherlands is still known and marketed with its original Indonesian name, without being translated to Dutch (but with Dutch spelling). For example: here, there are “babi pangang” (“roasted pork”, and in Indonesian it is “babi panggang”. Yeah, one of the ‘g’s in ‘panggang’ is dropped somehow ), ”rendang” (though it is understandable that it is impossible to translate this one), and the most famous one: “nasi goreng”! Yup, fried rice is known as “nasi goreng” here, its Indonesian name; and it is not even translated to “gebakken rijst“.

Babi pangang (roasted pork) met bami (with noodles)

This reminds me about a story. A friend of mine who lives in Australia told me that once he was having lunch in a canteen there. At that time, the canteen sold two kinds of rice. The rice on the left tray was labeled as “fried rice” and the rice on the right tray as “nasi goreng”. My friend asked the lunch lady what was the difference between the two. The lunch lady answered, “The one on the left tray is Malaysian fried rice, and the one on the right is Indonesian“, huahaha .

Anyway, because Indonesian food is pretty much everywhere, I think Dutch people are quite familiar with it, or Asian food in a more general sense. When I was taking the first level of my Dutch course last year, the lecturer told us that she liked “ajam pangang” (roasted chicken). And warm meal sold in the canteen in my campus is usually in Asian nuance. Well, mostly it is like fried rice or fried noodle.

But how about the flavor? Well, of course, the flavor is already adjusted to Dutch flavor, which means it is quite spiceless or tasteless (in Indonesian standard)! Once, the canteen sold a special menu consisting of rice + beef + soysauce seasoning + shrimp crackers! Because I was hungry, I bought this menu. And when I tasted it, well, it was quite flavorless! Fortunately, I think people are already aware of this and they provide free salt and pepper. Hence, I poured some extra salt and pepper so that at least now it was not that tasteless, hahaha .

About spiciness, well, do not expect to find spicy food here. In Indonesia, I was known as someone who was pretty much anti-spicy. Yes, I hate spicy food. My standard for spiciness is very very low. However, even so, apparently this low standard is already quite high in European standard. In the Sport Centre’s cafe where I had schnitzel after ice-skating some time ago, beside salt and pepper, they also provided ketchup, mayonnaise, and chili sauce whose bottle was labeled “very spicy“. Curious, I tried it a liiiittle bit. But then, it turned out that the so-called “very spicy” chili sauce was not that spicy, huahaha .

Well, back to the “ayam panik” (panic chicken) story above. After several minutes of astonishment in front of the rack, I suddenly remembered that there was an Indonesian menu called “ayam paniki” (paniki chicken). Well, I had never tried it though, but I was sure I had heard about it before. Suspicious, I took that “ayam panik” box, and it turned out that it was indeed an “ayam paniki” seasoning! And there was no misspelling or so. At that time, coincidentally, the last “i” of the word “paniki” was covered by the little grating of the rack and so “paniki” appeared as “panik”, huahahaha

Some Indonesian dishes in the supermarket (you can see "ayam kecap", "babi kecap","rendang", "sate ayam", "kari ayam")

BAHASA INDONESIA

Beberapa waktu yang lalu ketika sedang berbelanja di supermarket dan berjalan di salah satu lorong yang raknya berisi bumbu-bumbu makanan dari Asia, aku melihat ini:

Ayam panik??

Heran lah aku karena aku belum pernah dengar ada masakan Indonesia yang namanya “ayam panik” gitu ya. Btw, aku yakin ini adalah bumbu masakan Indonesia karena namanya aja dibela-belain ditulis pakai bahasa Indonesia (walau ejaannya disesuaikan sama ejaan Belanda sih; yang mana sebenarnya sama aja kayak ejaan lama gitu di Indonesia): “ajam” yang maksudnya adalah “ayam” gitu deh (p.s : buat yang pengen tahu: bahasa Belandanya ayam itu adalah “kip”).

Jadi ceritanya, nggak cuma si ayam ini aja lho yang dikenal dengan nama dalam bahasa Indonesia disini. Banyak sekali masakan Indonesia di Belanda yang namanya masih menggunakan nama bahasa Indonesianya tanpa diterjemahkan ke bahasa Belanda (cuma disesuaikan ejaannya saja). Contohnya: disini ada menu “babi pangang” (aku tidak salah ketik loh, jadi ‘g’ di kata ‘panggang’ memang dihilangin satu gitu ), “rendang” (okelah, ini mau menerjemahkan ke bahasa Belandanya juga gimana), dan yang paling terkenal: “nasi goreng”! Ya, disini “nasi goreng” ya dikenal dengan nama “nasi goreng” loh; dan tidak diterjemahkan menjadi “gebakken rijst“.

Babi pangang met bami (babi panggang dengan bakmi)

Jadi ingat, temanku yang di Australia bercerita waktu itu pernah ia makan di sebuah kantin disana. Katanya, waktu itu kantinnya menjual dua jenis nasi. Yang di bak sebelah kiri ditulisi “fried rice” dan yang di bak sebelah kanan ditulisi “nasi goreng”. Temanku kemudian bertanya apa bedanya. Dan penjaga kantinnya menjawab, “Yang di bak kiri itu Malaysian fried rice dan yang di sebelah kanan itu Indonesian”, huahaha .

Anyway, karena sering ditemui dimana-mana, orang Belanda sendiri sepertinya jadi cukup familier dengan masakan Indonesia dan Asia pada umumnya. Sewaktu aku mengikuti kelas bahasa Belanda level satu tahun lalu, dosennya bercerita bahwa ia suka “ajam pangang” (ayam panggang maksudnya). Dan di kantin di kampusku, menu hangat setiap makan siang seringnya adalah menu-menu bernuansa Asia. Seringnya sih nasi goreng atau mi goreng.

Bagaimana dengan rasanya? Aduh, kalau ini jangan ditanya deh. Tentu saja cara masaknya juga sudah disesuaikan dengan lidah Belanda ya, yang mana artinya bumbunya itu sedikit sekali alias hambar (bagi standar Indonesia)! Pernah suatu waktu menu spesial di kantin kampus adalah nasi + daging sapi + saus kecap + krupuk udang! Berhubung lapar, aku membeli menu ini. Dan ketika aku mulai melahapnya, aduh, rasanya hambar banget dong! Seakan-akan masakan ini nggak dikasih bumbu sama sekali! Untungnya, sepertinya mereka sudah siap sedia dengan kejadian semacam ini karena mereka menyediakan garam dan merica dengan gratis. Ya udah masakan itu kemudian aku taburi garam dan merica, jadi setidaknya lebih “berasa”, hahaha

Masalah pedas, jangan ditanya lagi ya, jangan berharap menemukan masakan yang pedas disini. Aku sendiri dikenal di Indonesia sebagai orang yang anti pedas. Ya, aku tidak suka masakan pedas. Standarku akan tingkat kepedasan makanan itu rendah sekali. Namun, walau pun begitu, standar kepedasanku itu sudah cukup tinggi loh untuk ukuran Eropa. Di cafe-nya Sport Centre dimana aku makan schnitzel setelah bermain ice-skating beberapa waktu yang lalu itu, selain garam dan merica, mereka juga menyediakan saus tomat, saus mayonnaise, dan saus sambal yang tulisannya “very spicy“. Iseng aku mencoba sedikiiiiit sambal itu. Dan ternyata, sambal yang mereka bilang “very spicy” itu nggak pedas loh, huahaha .

Kembali ke kasus si “ayam panik” di atas. Setelah beberapa menit keheranan di depan rak itu, aku ingat bahwa aku pernah dengar sebuah menu Indonesia yang namanya “ayam paniki”. Aku belum pernah mencobanya sih, tapi aku pernah dengar. Curiga, aku kemudian mengambil kotak “ayam panik” tersebut dan ternyata memang kotak itu berisikan bumbu ayam paniki! Dan bukannya salah tulis, tapi waktu itu kebetulan huruf “i” terakhirnya tertutup jeruji raknya itu sehingga kata “paniki” jadi terbaca “panik”, huahahaha

#1018 – Award

ENGLISH

So, apparently I got an award from Ellalae. Thank you so much! I am so flattered!

Anyway, so the recipient of this award should answer five questions for receiving it. So, here we go:

***

Favorite Teacher?

If I have to rate myself, I think I would say that I had always been a good student when I was in school, hahaha . That is why it is quite hard for me to pinpoint one teacher as my favorite, as I (mostly) liked them all. They all had their own styles and strengths, along with their ‘weaknesses’. And I think I was quite good in adapting with each of their style; and so I could enjoy all lessons that they taught us (me and my schoolmates), hmmm.

But anyway, from all teachers, the one (kind) that I had most trouble “enjoying” his/her class was mostly gym teachers. I don’t know, I never quite excelled in gym class, maybe that was why, hahaha . In the other hand, I got along quite well with maths teachers, while many of my friends hated them, hahaha . You know, many students hated maths (and so automatically the teachers) in secondary school; but I was not one of them. Ah, maybe that is why I am studying and pursuing mathematics now. There had been signs for that since years ago, hahaha

Favorite Food?

Ah, there are a lot of food that I love; and the range of food that I like is so wide! From Eastern Asian delicacy (well, except for sushi and kimchi. I don’t know why but I just cannot enjoy sushi, hmmm) to Italian Food; from (some) Indonesian speciality to French cuisine. But maybe it is also worth to mention the type of food that I don’t like: I cannot eat spicy food!! Every time I eat something too spicy (for my standard), I will sweat (a lot) and I cannot enjoy my meal anymore. Coming from Indonesia, this might be a strange thing, but it is true! But still, having spent 21 years of my life in Indonesia, perhaps the environment had trained me with the level of spiciness though, hahaha . My tolerance level for spiciness might be categorized as very low in Indonesia, but apparently for European standard, it is already quite high, huahahaha .

Unforgettable Memory?

I have a lot of unforgettable memory; but one of the most unforgettable so far is probably when I got the news that I got this master scholarship in the Netherlands in early March 2010. It was such a dream comes true for me as this was what I had been wanting since I was a kid: to get an opportunity to study and live abroad. To make things sweeter, this news came just two days after my bachelor graduation from Unpar!

I think it was a life-changing experience, and it might have been one turning point of my life

First Love?

Ah, pass, hahaha

Best Friend?

Most of my best friends are my closest friends from childhood I think, hahaha And now we are living in different part of the world, hmmm. Quite funny how life brings people to different places I guess.

***

Yup, now I am done with this award slash homework. And apparently, the rule says to reward three bloggers I know with this award. Okay, I decide not to stop it from spreading now, hahaha , and so the lucky people are *drumroll playing* :

1. Dian
2. Ndutyke
3. Niee

So, congratulations for the award!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Jadi, ternyata aku mendapatkan award dari Ellalae. Terima kasih ya! Jadi tersanjung nih!

Anyway, jadi ceritanya penerima award ini harus menjawab lima pertanyaan gitu. Jadi, mari kita mulai saja:

***

Guru Favorit?

Kalau aku harus menilai diriku sendiri, aku rasa waktu sekolah dulu aku adalah siswa yang baik loh, hahaha . Makanya rasanya cukup sulit gitu ya untuk menunjuk satu guru sebagai favoritku, karena aku menyukai (hampir) semuanya sih. Kan mereka masing-masing memiliki gayanya dan kekuatannya sendiri, dan juga kelemahannya tentunya ya. Dan kayaknya aku cukup baik dalam beradaptasi dengan gayanya mereka masing-masing deh; jadilah aku bisa menikmati pelajaran yang mereka berikan kepada kami, hmmm.

Tapi, dari semua guru, satu macam guru yang paling sulit bagiku untuk “menikmati” kelasnya adalah guru olahraga. Nggak tahu kenapa sih, tapi mungkin karena aku jarang unggul aja gitu di pelajaran olahraga, hahaha . Di sisi lain, aku cukup akrab dengan guru-guru matematikaku, padahal banyak temanku yang membenci mereka, hahaha . Tahu lah, banyak siswa yang membenci matematika (jadi sekalian sama gurunya gitu) kan di SMP-SMA; dan aku bukanlah salah satu di antara mereka. Ah, mungkin inilah mengapa kok aku sekarang malah belajar dan mendalami matematika gitu ya. Ternyata sudah ada pertandanya dari dulu, hahaha

Makanan Favorit?

Ah, ada banyak sekali macam makanan yang aku suka; dan range-nya luas juga loh! Dari masakan ala Asia Timur (ya, kecuali sushi dan kimchi ya. Entah kenapa aku nggak bisa deh menikmati yang namanya sushi, hmmm) sampai masakan Italia; dari (beberapa jenis) masakan Indonesia sampai hidangan Prancis. Ah, tapi mungkin perlu juga disebut bahwa aku nggak bisa makan yang namanya masakan pedas!!  Tiap kali makan masakan yang terlalu pedas (untuk standarku ya), aku akan berkeringat banyak dan jadi nggak bisa menikmati makanannya deh. Ya, sebagai orang dari negara yang bernama Indonesia, ini mungkin hal yang aneh, tapi beneran loh! Tapi memang sih ya, karena tinggal di Indoensia selama 21 tahun, bagaimana pun juga lingkungannya sepertinya telah melatih lidahku terhadap level kepedasan, hahaha . Level toleransiku terhadap pedas mungkin termasuk rendah sekali di Indonesia, tapi ternyata untuk standar Eropa, sudah lumayan tinggi loh, huahahaha .

Pengalaman Tak Terlupakan?

Ada banyak banget pengalaman tak terlupakan; tapi mungkin satu yang paling tak terlupakan sejauh ini adalah ketika aku menerima berita bahwa aku mendapatkan beasiswa S2 di Belanda ini di awal Maret 2010.  Benar-benar seperti mimpi yang dikabulkan deh karena ini kan adalah sesuatu yang sudah aku impikan semenjak kecil: mendapatkan kesempatan untuk belajar dan hidup di luar negeri. Manisnya lagi, berita ini datang dua hari saja setelah aku diwisuda sarjana di Unpar!

Aku rasa ini adalah pengalaman yang merubah hidup, dan mungkin telah menjadi satu titik balik dalam hidupku

First Love?

Ah, lewat ah, hahaha

Best Friend?

Kebanyakan teman terbaikku adalah teman dekatku dari masa kecil deh kayaknya, hahaha Dan kini kami semua hidup di belahan dunia yang berbeda, hmmm. Lucu juga ya bagaimana kehidupan membawa masing-masing orang ke tempat yang berlainan.

***

Ya, akhirnya selesai juga nih award sekaligus PR ini. Dan ternyata, aturannya adalah aku juga harus menganugerahkan award ini ke tiga blogger. Oke, aku lagi nggak mau menyetopnya untuk tersebar nih, hahaha , jadilah aku sebar ke beberapa orang yang beruntung ya *bunyi genderang ditabuh* :

1. Dian
2. Ndutyke
3. Niee

Nah, selamat menikmati award-nya ya!

#978 – Paris Summer Trip (Epilogue)

ENGLISH

Okay, to close my story about my latest trip to Paris (before it is too out of date ), I write this epilogue about some experiences that I had there So, here we go!

(1) So Many Australians

One of the few things that I noticed during my stay in Paris was that I met SO MANY Australians! Hmm, is this so important that I have to write it down now? Well, to me, this kind of thing is kinda “unusual”. I mean, in most of my previous trips in Europe, I rarely met any Australians. However, somehow, in this latest trip, where I traveled with my friend who now LIVES in Australia, I met a lot of Australians! Weird, no?? haha. Btw, most of my roommates in the hostel were Australian. Btw, there were also a lot of Americans. But I mean, I meet Americans like everywhere, so it was no surprise, haha.

Ah, maybe September is Australians’ favorite month to travel, haha Btw, I knew they were Australian because either they told me (or they spoke and I involuntarily eavesdropped ) that they were from Australia or from their accent. Well, talking about the accent, some small incidents happened because I (apparently) found Australian accent kinda weird. For example:

My Australian Roomate (AR): “Is this your ‘KAY’?“ *this was how I heard what he said and I was thinking: “What the hell is “KAY”??” *
Me : “I’m sorry?“
AR : “Is this your ‘KAY’?” *pointing my roomkey*
Me : “Oh, yes, that is mine“.

huahahahaha Apparently what he meant was the key I put on my bed! haha Well, accent can be very interesting sometimes indeed . And sometimes I kinda like British accent (and also Australian to some degree) though…

(2) So HOT in Paris

So, it was very HOT in Paris! I mean, honestly, I did not expect it. During that week, it was already quite cold in the Netherlands (as usual btw ). And because it was September and Paris was not that far from the Netherlands, I assumed the weather should be similar. But I was WRONG, way way WRONG!! It was hot!

(3) French Cuisine

Anyway, forget about the weather and let us discuss this very interesting topic . Those who already read my chronological trilogy Paris Trip entries might notice that I did not really write anything about the food that I had in Paris. Well, I did this on purpose as I want to write about this specifically! Why? Well, because they were AWESOME!!!!

* Macarons

Ever since I read this entry by Arman and watched them in Masterchef Australia, I had been craving for macarons!! huahahaha Even during my summer trips to Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, I were also looking for them in bakeries or pastries hoping they would sell this confection! Well, I found one bakery in Basel which sold them but the bakery was already closed at that time (damn!). And in Vienna, actually I also found them in, guess where, : McD!! Yup, McD! Muahahaha Apparently in McCafe they had macarons and they promoted them as McCarons, hahaha I bought one (it was kinda expensive btw, 90 cents for one piece) and the taste was okay. By this time, I already knew I was going to Paris this September and I promised myself I would eat macarons when I was there (in Paris)!

FYI, macarons is a French confection and so it was reasonable for me to expect to find macarons in Paris, the capital city of French, right? haha

So, when I really was in Paris, my friend (who was also curious to try the original French macarons (as they have a lot of macarons in Australia apparently)) and I did macarons-hunting! huahaha We found this bakery in the city which sold macarons. And so we dropped by. We tried the “big” macarons, which cost us 5.6 euro each! The price was kinda shocking at first but we didn’t care, huahaha . I knew I should not play it safe (by picking “general” flavors like chocolate or vanilla) and ordered a coconut-flavored macaron. My friend even “played with fire” even more by picking a flavor that sounded very strange (I don’t remember, but it was something like the seed of a flower/fruit or something, haha ). When the macarons were served, my reaction was: “Well, surely this is larger than mini-macarons, but I would NOT say this is BIG“. You can see the picture below. And so we ate it. It was good though, but we thought 5.6 euro was very expensive for that! haha. I mean, we prefered to buy a few mini macarons with 5.6 euro than buying one “big” macaron.

In another occasion, when we had meal at that restaurant in Versailles palace, we decided to buy a box of mini macarons as our dessert (well, actually it was because we were still hungry, hahaha ). It cost us 18 euro for 10 mini macarons. Well, still, kinda expensive, but we did not really care. It was macarons in Paris anyway, haha And this time, the macarons were GREAT!! It was delicate and delicious! My favorite one was the mocca-flavored macaron as the mocca flavor was very on the spot! But I did not really like the chocolate one as it tasted pretty much like brownies, haha But still, overall, I LOVE macarons!!! I definitely want to eat more of them!

* French Cuisine

You know, France is also very famous with its cuisine. And the image that revolves around French cuisine is its elegance and glamour. And having eaten French cuisine for four nights, I can confirm that. French Cuisine was SO GOOD!!!

Well, I also think Italian cuisine is also very delicious (damn, I like all the pasta, pizza, etc that I had last year in Italy!!), but French cuisine is very different. The French focused more on quality than quantity. I think they focused a lot on techniques that when you eat the dish, we can taste that it IS expensive! Once, I had this duck thing (I forget the name, haha ), and the texture of the duck meat was so perfect!! The texture was very delicate and tender, the cuts were also perfect that every piece of meat tasted very subtle in my mouth. The taste was also good btw (it kinda reminded me of “Bebek Goreng Haji Slamet” in Indonesia though), but the texture of the meat was definitely the winner (thousand times better than the texture of “BGHS” duck meat)!! I wonder how could they make the texture to be like that!!

And that is why, there is an art of eating French cuisine. We should not eat so fast because if we do, we will still feel hungry afterwards (at least it applies to me, hahaha ). But it was kinda difficult for me though, because I am a fast eater naturally. I mean, I just cannot help it. Normally, I eat fast, haha .

There is one famous French cuisine that I had not tried though. It was escargot. And this one, I should try next time I visit France, hehe. Btw, don’t know what escargot is? Then google it!

* crêpe

Short sentence for this one. My trip to Paris made me realize that crêpe was pretty much just pancake!! hahaha

Escalope de Veau I had in France

Big coconut macaron, not that big honestly

Apparently this was from Indonesia and now exhibited in Louvre, Paris

The seller of crêpe cooking my plain crêpe

This was the duck that I am talking about! The meat was perfectly cooked!!

Mini macarons we had in Versailles. I loved particularly the mocca one!!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Oke, untuk menutup rangkaian cerita tentang perjalananku baru-baru ini ke Paris (sebelum terlalu basi gitu ), aku menulis epilog ini mengenai beberapa pengalaman yang aku alami disana. Jadi, mari kita mulai saja!

(1) Banyak banget orang Australia

Satu hal yang aku amati ketika aku berada di Paris adalah: ada BANYAK banget orang Australia loh! Hmm, emang penting gitu ya sampe-sampe harus aku tulis sekarang? Hahaha, ya, untuk aku, ini adalah sesuatu yang agak “nggak biasa” deh. Maksudku, di kebanyakan perjalananku di Eropa sebelumnya, aku jarang banget ketemu sama orang Australia. Namun, entah bagaimana ceritanya, di perjalanan kali ini, dimana aku jalan sama seorang teman yang sekarang TINGGAL di Australia, koq bisa gitu ya aku terus ketemu banyak orang Australia! Aneh juga kan?? haha. Btw, dan lagi, kebanyakan roommates-ku di hostel itu orang Australia loh. Btw, banyak juga sih orang Amerika. Tapi udah sering ah ketemu orang Amerika jadi nggak heran deh, haha.

Ah, mungkin bulan September memang bulan favoritnya orang Australia untuk jalan-jalan kali ya, haha Btw, aku tahu mereka dari Australia ya karena mereka ngomong (atau aku nggak sengaja nguping ) bahwa mereka dari Australia, ya atau dari aksennya gitu deh. Eh, ngomongin aksen, ada beberapa insiden kecil yang terjadi nih karena aku (ternyata) nggak terlalu familier dengan aksen Australia. Contohnya:

Roommate-ku yang dari Australia (RA): “Is this your ‘KAY’?“ *yup, aku dengernya dia ngomong kayak gini, dan aku mikir: “Apaan tuh “KAY”??” *
Saya : “I’m sorry?“
RA : “Is this your ‘KAY’?“ *sambil nunjuk kunciku*
Saya : “Oh, yes, that is mine“.

huahahahaha Ternyata maksudnya dia itu kunci (key) yang aku taruh di ranjangku! haha Yah, aksen memang kadang bisa menjadi menarik koq . Eh, dan kadang ya, aku suka loh ngedengerin orang ngomong dengan aksen Inggris (dan in a way Australia juga sih)…

(2) Di Paris PANAS

Jadi, ketika aku berada di Paris, cuacanya PANAS banget! Maksudku, jujur, nggak aku sangka-sangka nih. Soalnya, minggu ini di Belanda kan udah lumayan dingin ya (kayak biasanya sih btw, ). Dan karena udah bulan September dan Paris kan nggak jauh-jauh amat dari Belanda, aku asumsikan cuacanya mirip gitu deh. Tapi ternyata saya SALAH, SALAH banget malah!! Panas ternyata!!

(3) Masakan Prancis

Anyway, udah ah males ngomongin cuaca (lagi) dan mari kita membicarakan hal yang sangat menarik ini . Yang sudah pada baca trilogi kronologis perjalananku ke Paris mungkin menyadari bahwa aku nggak terlalu menulis dengan detail mengenai makanan yang aku makan di Paris. Yah, aku memang sengaja sih soalnya aku memang udah berniat menulis tentang ini secara khusus! Kenapa? Yah, soalnya masakan-masakannya ENAK BANGET!!!!

* Macarons

Semenjak aku membaca postingnya Arman yang ini dan melihatnya di Masterchef Australia, aku sudah pengen banget makan macarons!! huahahaha Bahkan ya, dalam perjalanan musim panasku ke Jerman, Swiss, dan Austria, aku juga sambil nyari-nyari di toko roti gitu lho berharap ada yang jual kue manis ini! Yah, aku nemu sih satu bakery di Basel yang menjualnya tapi waktu itu bakery-nya udah tutup (sial!). Dan di Vienna, sebenarnya aku menemukannya. Dimana hayoo?? Jawabannya adalah di: McD!! Yup, McD! Muahahaha Ternyata di McCafe-nya itu mereka menjual macarons dan dipromosikan dengan nama McCarons, hahaha *maksa dotcom* Aku beli satu (yang harganya menurutku lumayan mahal ya, sebijinya 90 sen gitu) dan rasanya biasa saja. Nah, pada waktu ini aku sudah merencanakan perjalanan ke Paris bulan September berikutnya dan aku berjanji pada diriku untuk makan macarons ketika berada di Paris!

FYI, macarons itu kue manis dari Prancis gitu. Makanya masuk akal dong aku berharap nemu macarons di Paris, secara Paris kan ibukotanya Prancis gitu loh, ya nggak? haha

Jadi, ketika aku berada di Paris, temanku (yang ternyata juga penasaran banget nyoba macarons Prancis di tempat asalnya (ternyata di Australia banyak yang jual macarons tuh!)) dan aku berburu macarons deh! huahaha Kami nemu satu bakery di tengah kota yang menjual macarons. Makanya kami mampir. Kami mencoba macarons “besar”, yang harganya sebijinya 5,6 euro gitu deh! Harganya lumayan bikin syok juga ya tapi nggak papa lah ya sekali-sekali, huahaha . Aku tahu aku nggak boleh bermain aman disini (maksudnya memesan yang rasa standar kayak coklat ato vanila gitu) dan akhirnya memesan macarons yang rasa kelapa. Temanku malah lebih nekad lagi dengan memesan macarons yang rasanya kedengeran aneh gitu deh (nggak ingat rasa apa, tapi kayak rasa biji dari bunga atau buah apa gitu, haha ). Ketika macarons-nya tiba, reaksiku adalah: “Ya memang lebih besar dari macarons mini sih, tapi ukuran segini ya NGGAK BESAR lah“. Bisa dilihat deh fotonya di atas. Dan kami pun memakannya. Rasanya lumayan sih, tapi kami tetap merasa 5,6 euro ya masih mahal banget lah untuk itu! haha. Maksudku, mendingan kami beli beberapa macarons mini dengan uang 5,6 euro daripada beli satu macaron “besar” ini.

Nah, di kesempatan lain, ketika kami makan di restoran di dalam Istana Versailles itu, kami memutuskan untuk membeli satu boks macarons mini sebagai pencuci mulut (sebenernya gara-gara masih laper aja sih, hahaha ). Harganya 18 euro buat seboks isi 10 macarons. Masih lumayan mahal sih ya, tapi biarlah. Kan ini macarons di Paris gitu loh, haha Dan waktu ini, macarons-nya ENAK BANGET!! Rasanya tuh lembut dan enak deh! Favoritku adalah yang rasa mocca soalnya rasa mocca-nya bener-bener pas dan nendang banget! Tapi aku nggak suka yang rasa coklat sih soalnya rasanya cuma kayak brownies biasa gitu deh, haha Tapi, tetep ya, secara keseluruhan, macarons itu ENAK banget!! Jelas aku pengen makan lagi deh!

* Masakan Prancis

Tahu dong, Prancis kan terkenal sama masakannya gitu ya. Dan image yang menyelimuti masakan Prancis itu adalah keeleganannya dan keglamorannya. Dan karena aku sudah makan masakan Prancis selama empat hari disana, aku bisa mengonfirmasinya. Masakan Prancis itu SESUATU BANGET!!! *halah*

Yah, aku juga suka banget loh sama masakan Italia (damn, aku suka semua pasta, pizza, dll yang aku makan tahun lalu di Italia nih!!), tapi masakan Prancis kan beda gitu ya. Bedanya adalah, masakan Prancis itu fokus lebih pada kualitas daripada kuantitas. Aku rasa mereka sangat fokus banget sama yang namanya teknik memasak deh. Sampai-sampai, ketika kita makan masakan itu, kita bisa merasakan bahwa makanan itu MAHAL! Di sekali waktu, aku ceritanya makan bebek gitu deh (lupa namanya apa, haha ). Nah, tekstur daging bebeknya itu sempurna banget loh!! Teksturnya itu bisa lembut dan tender banget, potongan dagingnya juga bisa pas banget jadi masing-masing urat dagingnya bisa bener-bener terasa halus di mulut. Rasanya juga enak sih (dan sedikit mengingatkanku akan “Bebek Goreng Haji Slamet” di Indonesia), tapi tekstur dagingnya itu beneran JUARA banget deh (ribuan kali lebih enak daripada tekstur daging bebeknya “BGHS” deh menurutku)!! Heran deh, koq bisa ya memasaknya seperti itu!!

Dan itulah mengapa, ada seni tersendiri dalam makan masakan Prancis. Makannya itu nggak boleh cepet-cepet, soalnya kalo enggak kita bakalan masih lapar setelahnya (setidaknya ini berlaku untukku sih, hahaha ). Tapi ini susah juga sih untuk aku praktekkan, soalnya kan aku pada dasarnya itu orang yang makannya cepat gitu deh. Gimana ya, ya sudah begitu sih. Aku kalau makan (biasanya) cepat, haha .

Ada satu masakan Prancis yang belum aku coba sih. Masakan itu adalah escargot. Dan yang satu ini, memang harus aku coba di kesempatan berikutnya ketika aku berkunjung kesana, hehe. Kalo nggak tahu escargot itu apa, tanya Google aja deh!

* crêpe

Sedikit aja ceritaku tentang ini. Perjalananku ke Paris membuatku sadar bahwa crêpe tuh sebenarnya hanya pancake aja ya!! hahaha

#932 – Stuck in My Apartment

ENGLISH

The weather forecast for today has been awful: hard rain the whole day! Actually I had a grocery-shopping schedule today, but seeing this forecast, I decided to take a precautionary action by doing it yesterday. Now I am super glad that I did it yesterday! Well, but still, it seems that I will be stuck in my apartment the whole day.

Cooking

Anyway, lately, I have been catching up on Masterchef Australia 2011. I think it is quite a great and interesting show. Also it gives me a lot of new inspiration and ideas for me to cook, as sometimes I feel that I am stuck and bored with my cookings yet I have no idea what else to cook. Beside, I also like the intro as it used Katy Perry’s Hot ‘N Cold, haha. Btw, now I am still at the 20s-th episode, so please don’t spill any spoilers for me, okay?

One of the inspiration I got was from one of the contestants’ dish in the top 50. It gave me the idea to cook this:

Sauted Minced Beef and Beans

Well, I still have no idea what name I should give it though. But basically it is just sauted minced beef and beans, plus tempe and tomato to make it looks nicer! Any idea what name I should give it? haha…

Seriously?

Btw, earlier today my friend posted this link in Facebook, and then he also found this Wikipedia article. Basically, they were about group of people called Pastafarians. What is Pastafarian? Well, Pastafarians claim the world was created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but, because the monster was inebriated at the time, it was a flawed design (copied from the first article above). Well, I have nothing else to say but it did entertain me for a while in this gloomy rainy day, .

note: for readers (I am pretending to be a famous blogger now, ) who cannot see this as a “just-for-fun” thing, I have to tell you that this Pastafarianism is a parody religion. This writing was made without the intention to mock nor discredit any parties.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Ramalan cuaca hari ini jelek banget nih: hujan deras seharian! Sebenarnya jadwal belanjaku ke supermarket itu adalah hari ini, tapi melihat ramalan cuaca ini, aku memutuskan untuk mengambil langkah jaga-jaga, jadi belanjanya kemarin aja. Dan sekarang aku lega deh sudah belanja kemarin! Yah, tapi masih aja ya, sepertinya aku akan terkurung di apartemenku nih seharian.

Memasak

Ngomong-ngomong, akhir-akhir ini, aku sedang ngebut nonton Masterchef Australia 2011 nih. Aku rasa ini adalah acara yang keren dan menarik juga yah. Juga, acara ini memberiku inspirasi-inspirasi dan ide-ide baru untuk masak, soalnya kan kadang aku merasa kaya mentok dan agak bosan gitu sama masakanku tapi di sisi lain nggak ada ide juga mau masak apa yang lain. Di samping itu, intro-nya bagus juga, menggunakan lagu Hot ‘N Cold-nya Katy Perry, haha. Btw, sekarang aku lagi berada di episode 20an nih, jadi tolong jangan ngasih tahu bocorannya ya, oke?

Satu inspirasi aku dapat dari masakannya salah satu kontestan di babak 50 besar. Masakan itu memberiku ide untuk memasak ini:

Tumis Daging Cincang dan Buncis

Hmm, nggak tahu nih enaknya masakan ini dikasi nama apa ya. Tapi dasarnya sih itu cuma tumis daging cincang dan buncis, plus tempe dan tomat supaya penampakannya jadi menarik! Ada ide sebaiknya masakan ini kuberi nama apa? haha…

Eh, yang bener?

Btw, pagi tadi seorang temenku membagikan link ini di Facebook, dan ia juga menemukan artikel Wikipedia ini. Intinya sih, artikel-artikel itu adalah tentang satu grup orang yang disebut Pastafarian. Apakah itu Pastafarian? Ya, para Pastafarian mengklaim bahwa dunia ini diciptakan oleh Monster Spaghetti Terbang, tapi, karena waktu itu monsternya lagi mabuk, makanya disainnya jadi tidak sempurna (dikopi dan diterjemahkan dari tautan pertama di atas). Yah, nggak ada yang bisa kutulis disini hanya saja tautan ini menghiburku tadi di suatu hari yang hujan terus dan suram ini, .

catatan: bagi para pembaca (bergaya kaya seleb blog nih, ) yang nggak bisa melihat hal ini sebagai “lucu-lucuan” saja, aku mungkin sebaiknya menuliskan bahwa Pastafarianisme ini hanyalah sebuah parodi agama. Tulisan ini dibuat tanpa ada maksud mengejek atau mendiskreditkan pihak tertentu. 

#927 – Weekend Story

ENGLISH

Aside from tennis (Wimbledon), I also had some other occasions last weekend, and they were all fun!

Agus’ Farewell

One Indonesian friend of mine is moving to Germany this month for his second year study. So he decided to throw a small farewell celebration in his apartment last Friday. His wife cooked some Indonesian dishes that were extremely spicy (for me, whose tolerance level for spicy food is kinda low for Indonesian standard (but apparently already pretty high for European standard). But for spicy-lovers, I bet it would not have been a problem, haha ). I sweated a lot, like really a lot, because of that. I think the last time I sweated that lot because of spicy food was way back back then when I was still in Indonesia. One incident I still remember was this super spicy Be Sere Limo I had when I was on vacation to Bali last year with my friends.

Anyway, it was a fun evening. Thanks Agus and his wife, Maurina See you next time!

Saturday Getaway

Giethoorn

Friday afternoon, a friend asked me whether or not I wanted to go out that Saturday to Giethoorn with some other friends. There was this promo train ticket from H*ma where we only paid 14.50 euro for a day trip with any train in the Netherlands. So, the far distance between Delft and Giethoorn (about 2 hour and 30 mins with train one way to a nearby town, Steenwijk, plus another 20 mins bus ride to Giethoorn if we choose to take a bus) was not really costy. Somehow, I answered “sure“, .

As expected, getting to Giethoorn took a really loong time. After like 2 and a half hour train ride, we finally arrived at Steenwijk, whose station did not have an obvious public toilet (the toilet was apparently inside a cafe). To get to Giethoorn, we decided to: bike! We rent bikes for 7.50 euro each and for seven bikes, we had to deposit 250 euro!! The approx. 9 km distance between Steenwijk and Giethoorn was not felt that far, at least for me. After like some 30 more minutes or so, we arrived at Giethoorn.

My first impression was: “What the hell is this? The houses do look nice but I see practically nothing special” as we just biked through the main road. We went from the sign saying “Welcome to Giethoorn” to another sign saying “you are not in Giethoorn anymore” in the other side of the town village in like 15 minutes or so and there was nothing there. We then biked back to the village and stopped by at a cafe to have some drinks. We asked the waitress about the town, and she told us that we missed the “actual” village, as actually we should not just follow the main road but had to make a turn in one road to get to the “real” village. Well, now it does sound like a “secret village” or so , but it was their fault for not putting a clear signage about how to get there, right? Getting this good news, we were eager to find that turn, which was so easily found.

Then, we arrived at the actual village, which was super nice! There was NO big road as the only road was a super narrow one, used by bikers and people, with so many bridges. You will have your biking skill tested for sure if you are there as we have to somehow keep biking without hitting any people and falling to the canal in a super narrow yet so crowded path. The houses and buildings looked super nice (and cute) and there were so many people. In the end, we decided to rent a boat to sail through the canal. We took the short route one as we had time limits for our bikes. And we then realized that the boat moved slowly, as it moved slower than the average speed of old people walking on the canalside, . At one point I tried to steer the boat, and it was kinda fun!

Four PM, we decided we had had enough time in Giethoorn and biked back to Steenwijk. After returning our bikes, we walked to the station and discussed about what to do next. I had heard a nice Chinese food restaurant in Amsterdam and I had really wanted to try it. And because now we had this day train ticket, we could go to Amsterdam without spending extra money, right? And it happened that one friend knew where the restaurant was. So I suggested this idea. And all friends agreed with that (to my delight) and so there we went next: Amsterdam.

Chinese food in Amsterdam

We arrived at the restaurant, and it was super full! (a good sign that it was indeed a good restaurant). We had to wait for an available table. But since there were seven of us, the waitress said it would have been practically impossible to find an available table for all of us because all bigger tables had been reserved. So, she suggested that we had meal in two different tables. Feeling super hungry and not knowing whereelse to go (unless we wanted to eat in some fast food restaurants, which we did not), we decided to accept the offer.

I looked at the menu, and I was so excited seeing that many menus were super familiar with menus I would have found if I were in Indonesia, like fuyunghai, kolokee, capcay, etc. I felt like I wanted to order them all, muahahaha, but I know I could not do it, . So, after considerationg and asking myself deeply (lol) about what I really wanted to eat, I picked pangsit goreng (fried wonton) and kolokee. Yeah, finally I ate pangsit goreng here in Europe!

And how was it? It was great and delicious! Well, I am not saying that it was the best and most delicious meal I have ever had, since I think there are many restaurants in Indonesia that serve more delicious meal. However, as for European standard, this restaurant cooked a really good chinese food! And for me, it was a real one, you know, there was not so much European “influence” in the meal itself (sometimes some restaurants here put some European “influence” in the meal they cook to match them more with European tounge, which for people coming from Asia, the meal would taste spiceless). The price was kinda expensive though, but it was still okay. I mean, I know there were some other places whose price were lower, but they were fast food restaurants and the European influence in the meal was kinda strong.

And I was so satisfied!

A house in Giethoorn

The village of Giethoorn with its main canal

Another House in Giethoorn

Giethoorn’s Main Canal

Another house in Giethoorn

Busy Saturday in Giethoorn

Finally eating pangsit goreng in Europe!!

Kolokee!

Amsterdam’s Canal

BAHASA INDONESIA

Selain tenis (Wimbledon), aku juga ada beberapa kegiatan lain yang kulakukan selama wiken kemarin ini, dan semuanya asyik2 loh!

Perpisahannya Agus

Seorang temanku dari Indonesia akan pindah ke Jerman bulan ini untuk studi tahun keduanya. Makanya ia memutuskan untuk mengadakan semacam perayaan kecil gitu di apartemennya hari Jumat lalu. Istrinya memasak beberapa masakan Indonesia yang pedes banget (untuk standarku yah, yang level toleransi terhadap masakan pedasnya rendah sekali untuk standar Indonesia (tapi ternyata untuk standar Eropa aku sudah tergolong suka pedas loh). Tapi untuk yang suka pedas, harusnya nggak masalah sih, haha ). Gara2 pedasnya itu aku sampai berkeringat banyak, banyak banget deh. Aku rasa terakhir kali aku berkeringat karena makan masakan pedas ya dulu waktu masih di Indonesia. Satu insiden yang aku masih ingat adalah insiden Be Sere Limo super pedas yang aku makan ketika aku lagi liburan ke Bali tahun lalu sama teman-temanku.

Ya eniwei, malam itu menyenangkan sekali. Terima kasih yah Agus dan istrinya, Maurina Sampai jumpa lain waktu!

Liburan di hari Sabtu

Giethoorn

Jumat siang, temanku nanya aku mau nggak ikutan jalan-jalan di hari Sabtunya ke Giethoorn bareng anak-anak lain. Kan ceritanya lagi ada tiket kereta promo nih dari H*ma dimana kita hanya perlu membayar 14,50 euro untuk naik kereta apa pun selama seharian di Belanda. Jadi, jarak yang jauh antara Delft dan Giethoorn (sekitar dua setengah jam deh perjalanan dengan kereta ke kota terdekatnya, Steenwijk, plus perjalanan dengan bus sekitar dua puluh menit ke Giethoorn kalau kita mau naik bus) jadi nggak terlalu mahal. Entah kenapa koq aku menjawab “ikut“, .

Seperti yang disangka, perjalanan menuju Giethoorn itu memakan waktu lama banget yah. Setelah sekitar dua setengah jam di kereta, kami akhirnya tiba di Steenwijk, yang mana stasiunnya nggak punya toilet umum yang jelas (toiletnya ternyata ada di dalam kafe, ya kan meneketehe kalau ada disitu). Untuk ke Giethoorn-nya, kami memutuskan untuk: sepedaan! Jadi kami menyewa sepeda dengan harga 7,50 euro per orang untuk disewa seharian dan untuk tujuh sepeda, kami harus deposit uang 250 euro loh!! Jarak sekitar 9 km antara Steenwijk dan Giethoorn ternyata nggak terasa jauh-jauh amat juga, setidaknya untukku sih. Setelah sekitar sepedaan selama sekitar 30 menit, kami tiba deh di Giethoorn.

Kesan pertamaku adalah: “Apa-apaan sih ini? Rumah-rumahnya memang sih bagus dan lucu-lucu, tapi nggak ada yang spesial deh” ketika kami sepedaan melewati jalan utamanya. Kami sepedaan mulai dari tanda “Selamat datang di Giethoorn” sampai tanda “Giethoorn coret” loh di sisi lain kotanya desanya dalam waktu 15an menit, dan nggak ada apa-apanya gitu. Ya udah kami kemudian balik ke desanya lagi dan berhenti di sebuah kafe buat istirahat sedikit. Kami bertanya ke pelayannya dan ia memberi-tahu bahwa ternyata kami “melewatkan” desa yang sebenarnya, soalnya ternyata seharusnya kami nggak ngikutin jalan utamanya, tapi harusnya belok di sebuah pertigaan gitu untuk masuk ke desa yang “sebenarnya”. Halah, apaan sih malah kayak desa tersembunyi aja yah, haha Habis sapa suruh juga bikin desa koq nggak ada papan petunjuknya. Mendapat kabar baik ini, kami bersemangat mencari belokan itu, dan ternyata mudah ditemukan.

Kemudian kami tiba di desa yang sebenarnya, yang memang bagus! NGGAK ada jalan besar loh, dan jalan utamanya itu sempit buanget, yang dipake sama orang yang naik sepeda dan pejalan kaki, dengan banyak sekali jembatan. Kalau sepedaan disana beneran deh kemampuan bersepeda kita akan sangat diuji soalnya kita kan harus tetap sepedaan tanpa nabrak orang atau kecemplung kanalnya di jalan yang super sempit tapi ramenya bukan main. Rumah-rumah dan bangunan-bangunannya terlihat bagus-bagus (dan lucu-lucu) dan kemarin itu lagi ada buanyak banget orang. Akhirnya, kami memutuskan untuk menyewa sebuah perahu untuk keliling kanal-kanalnya itu. Kami mengambil rute yang pendek aja soalnya kan ada batas waktu untuk peminjaman sepedanya tuh. Dan kami kemudian sadar kalau perahunya bergeraknya pelan banget yah, lebih pelan dari oma-oma yang jalan kaki di sisi kanal loh, . Di satu waktu aku mencoba mengendalikan perahunya, dan ternyata asyik juga ya!

Jam 4 sore, kami merasa sudah cukup deh di Giethoorn dan lalu sepedaan kembali ke Steenwijk. Setelah mengembalikan sepeda, kami berjalan kembali ke stasiun dan berdiskusi mau ngapain setelahnya. Sudah lama aku mendengar ada restoran Chinese food di Amsterdam yang katanya enak banget dan aku pengen mencobanya. Dan karena kemarin kami memiliki tiket kereta promo seharian itu, jadi ke Amsterdam juga nggak akan membuat kita mengeluarkan ekstra uang dong dari segi transportasi. Dan kebetulan satu temanku juga tahu lokasi restoran itu. Jadi aku mengusulkan ide ini. Dan ternyata semuanya pada setuju (untunglah) dan itulah tujuan kami setelahnya: Amsterdam.

Chinese food di Amsterdam

Kami tiba di restorannya, dan restorannya penuh banget loh! (pertanda baik kalo ini adalah restorang yang oke). Kami sampe harus ngantri buat dapat meja. Namun, karena kami bertujuh, pelayannya ngomong susah banget bagi kami untuk mendapatkan meja kosong yang cukup buat semua karena semua meja yang besar sudah dipesan. Jadi, ia menyarankan untuk kami makan di meja yang terpisah saja. Karena uda lapar banget dan nggak tahu mesti kemana (kecuali kami mau makan di restoran cepat saji, yang kemarin ini kami lagi nggak mau), ya udah kami menerima sarannya.

Aku melihat menunya, dan langsung bersemangat ketika melihat nama menu yang familier dan akan kutemukan kalau aku berada di Indonesia, misalnya fuyunghai, kolokee, capcay, dll. Aku merasa pengen memesan semua, muahahaha, tapi lalu sadar itu nggak mungkin, Jadi ya udah setelah menimbang-nimbang dan bertanya ke lubuk hati yang paling dalam tentang apa yang ingin aku makan (halah), aku akhirnya memesan pangsit goreng dan kolokee. Ya, akhirnya aku makan juga pangsit goreng di Eropa ini!

Dan bagaimana rasanya? Enak loh! Yah, aku nggak bilang ini adalah makanan terbaik dan terenak yang pernah aku makan ya, soalnya aku rasa masih banyak koq rumah makan di Indonesia yang masakannya lebih enak. Hanya saja, untuk standar Eropa, rumah makan ini benar-benar memasak chinese food yang oke loh! Dan untukku, memang terasa beneran chinese food, nggak banyak “pengaruh” Eropanya di masakannya (kan kadang banyak rumah makan disini yang memberikan “pengaruh” Eropa ke masakan yang mereka masak supaya lebih cocok sama lidah Eropa gitu, yang bagi orang yang datang dari Asia, masakannya jadi terasa hambar dan kurang bumbu). Harganya lumayan mahal sih menurutku, tapi masih oke lah. Maksudku, aku tahu beberapa tempat lain yang harga masakannya lebih murah, tapi kan mereka itu rumah makan cepat saji, dan pengaruh Eropanya terasa lumayan kuat.

Dan aku merasa puas!

#916 – Company Visit, Rain, and Mie Ayam Jamur

ENGLISH

This week has been quite interesting. It started with a good news where Serena Williams is finally back! She has just been awarded a wildcard to participate at this year’s edition of the AEGON International in the UK next week, as a preparation for Wimbledon where she is the defending champion. Serena Williams hasn’t played any match since winning her 13th grandslam title in Wimbledon last year. And now that she is back, finally women’s tennis is going to be interesting again…

Yesterday, my classmates and I went on a company visit to visit two banks in the Netherlands, one in Amsterdam in the morning and one in Utrecht in the afternoon. It was quite a fun and interesting day as it is always nice to go out from the university and see a different “life” out there, which some people might call it the “real” life (but I strongly disagree with this (but it firstly depends on the definition of “real” though) ). Also, maybe, just maybe, this will be the life I am living on after graduating? Who knows? Then, after the second visit in Utrecht, we went to a bar and had some drinks (I typed “some” but I just drank one though, haha ) and the best thing was that it was for free! Anyway, there was a funny sign in the bar that read : “Save Water, Drink Our Beer Instead“! wahahaha… After some drinks we then went back to Delft.

Today, it was raining here in the Netherlands. When it started pouring, I was still in a class in TBM building and the class was almost over. And I was thinking: “Dammit rain! Why now???” (note: this was because I had to walk for like 5 minutes to go back home from TBM building). But ten minutes later, the intensity went down (yeah, it rarely rains cats and dogs for hours here, not like in Indonesia) and I could walk back home safely But then I was thinking: “Hmm, that’s it? Ah, this rain is not challenging”

Anyway, today, I made another experiment in my kitchen. I tried to cook “mie ayam jamur” (champignon chicken noodle). Even though the taste of the outcome was not what I expected, I am still satisfied with it! It was good! But it lacked one thing though: “pangsit goreng” (fried pangsit/wonton)! Anyone knows where can I get it?

The City of Utrecht as seen from the 21st floor.

"Save Water, Drink Our Beer Instead"

My experiment: "Mie Ayam Jamur"

BAHASA INDONESIA

Minggu ini menarik juga nih. Semua bermula dengan berita baik dimana Serena Williams akhirnya kembali! Ia baru saja diberi wildcard untuk berpartisipasi di edisi tahun ini dari turnamen AEGON International di Inggris minggu depan, sebagai persiapan untuk Wimbledon dimana ia adalah sang juara bertahan. Serena Williams belum memainkan satu pertandingan pun semenjak menjuarai gelar grandslam ke-13-nya di Wimbledon tahun lalu. Dan dengan sekarang ia kembali, persaingan tenis putri menjadi menarik lagi nih…

Kemarin, aku dan beberapa teman sekelas mengikuti acara kunjungan perusahaan ke dua perusahaan perbankan di Belanda, satu di Amsterdam di pagi hari dan satu di Utrecht siangnya. Acaranya asyik juga dan sangat menarik, karena kan memang asyik sekali-kali keluar dari kehidupan di kampus dan melihat “kehidupan” yang berbeda di luar sana, yang mana sebagian orang menyebutnya kehidupan “nyata” (yang mana aku kurang setuju sama pendapat ini (tapi tergantung definisi “nyata”-nya juga sih) ). Juga, mungkin, mungkin saja kan, kehidupan seperti itulah yang akan aku jalani setelah lulus? Ya, siapa tahu kan? Lalu, setelah kunjungan kedua di Utrecht, kami pergi ke bar dan minum beberapa minuman disana (aku mengetik “beberapa”, walau sebenarnya aku cuma minum satu saja sih, haha ) dan hal terbaiknya adalah minumnya gratis loh! Ngomong-ngomong di barnya juga ada papan yang ditulisi tulisan lucu yang bunyinya: “Save Water, Drink Our Beer Instead” (Sayangi Air, Minum Bir Kami Saja)! wahahaha… Setelah beberapa minuman, kami pulang ke Delft.

Hari ini hujan loh di Belanda. Ketika hujannya mulai deras, aku sedang mengikuti satu kelas di gedung TBM dan kelasnya hampir selesai. Dan aku berpikir: “Hujan sialan! Kenapa sekarang???“ (catatan: ini karena aku harus jalan kaki sekitar 5 menit untuk balik ke rumah dari gedung TBM). Tapi sepuluh menit kemudian, intensitas hujannya menurun (yap, disini jarang deh hujan deras yang berlangsung lama kaya di Indonesia gitu) dan aku bisa berjalan pulang ke rumah dengan aman Tapi kemudian aku berpikir: “Gini doank? Nggak seru ah hujannya”

Ngomong-ngomong, hari ini, aku bereksperimen lagi di dapur. Aku iseng mencoba memasak “mie ayam jamur”. Walaupun rasa hasilnya tidak seperti yang aku jangka, tapi aku masih puas koq! Rasanya oke juga! Cuma kekurangan satu hal sih: pangsit goreng! Ada yang tahu belinya dimana?