23.4.15

Throwback - Fuzhou, 回来中国



March 2014

Exactly a year ago, my office sent me to attend the first BirdFair in the China Mainland, held in Fuzhou of Fujian Province.

2005 i left my heart China, after staying a miraculous year of studying the major of having fun and drink cheap booze while eating delicious food. That year was one of the best in my life and i had 6 months jobfriendsandinterestless depression right after i got home.

So yes i was very excited to smell the air of China no matter how you judge the air of china. I missed everything, every little detail from how the taste of food to the fact not every restaurant serve you drink in there. I was very excited!

I inhaled for almost 1 minute the time my foot stepped in Fuzhou. i failed to pick up my mandarin but after three days i made it to communicate. At least to shop.

We had a chance to visit Minjian Wetland Estuary,it was the highlight of the trip.

 We had to wait about 2 hours for the low tide

                           

And this is what we did. I never did any wetland birding before, it was something new.



 On the way back i saw fields of celery. Sooooo dreamy.



                           

I was very happy that i had the chance to come back. 
I have been travelling to East and South East Asia, i always feel like China is the place where everything comes from. 

I also had the time to visit the old town square 三坊七巷 (Three Lanes and Seven Alleys). I heard most of the chinese ancestors who come to South East Asia were from Fujian. So it was really nice to see Foochow culture and history. And FOOD! never forget about the food. 


            

In the same area we went in to Lin Zexu Memorial Hall.
Copying from Wikipedia, Lin Zexu was a Chinese scholar and official of the Qing dynasty. Lin's forceful opposition to the opium trade on economic, moral, and social grounds is considered to be the primary catalyst for the First Opium War of 1839–42. 

Interesting thing they told a humble history about when opium paralyzed the country.


Museums in China have alot of adorable art works where you can't doubt their skill of art. 


 Hand-embroidery,

And wood carving,




Also paper cuttings from the souvenir shop.


I also went to a franchised paper museum. For a craft-lover like me, it was really really fun to be there. Everything there was made from paper. 









There was also time for shopping, of course.

I might have shopped too much. But would you look at those tea sets?



And those pairs of shoes?




At some point i didnt have anough hands to bring my shopping bags. And needed to rest.


So we tried the legendary Fuzhou Fishball. You can't imagine how good is this thing taste. 
This was the moment when i felt like i was going back to my roots.


On the last day i made a quick visit to my other favorite thing in mainland China.
Supermarket! The products is always fresh and super cheap.

Everything is bigger in China.


With more choices.


Just when we about to leave the hotel, this cutie asked to shake hand when i said hello. 

China i'm coming back again for sure. 

21.4.15

Learn - Sunflower Life Cycle



Sunflower/ Bunga Matahari
Helianthus, from Greek hēlios (sun) and anthos (flower)

A collague went back from a field trip, and she shared some seeds.


The girls at my office, we somehow are weirdly addicted to snacking sunflower seeds. I think it's contagious. But the goal of sharing seeds was to produce our own organic snacks. Which to hear it again now, is very ambitious. 


So i brought home and sowed some. 


It was even not a week yet and it grew happily like this. 



Repotted them, but then my dad was too excited, he fertilized them. All of it, died.
They rested and i was not in peace.

Good thing, the ones that were sowed at the office grew very well. 


I watched them growing everyday.

I got very excited every morning i arrived at the office.

Everyday i greeted them and said hello

I asked how are you.

And stared at those beautiful gradations they have

"Hi..."
"And.. welcome."

Sun shines sunny shines. 


They are not only being pretty, they also attract birds and bugs who help controlling garden pests.

Isn't it great to witness all of these lives. 

Bugs are always welcome !

Grasshopers love them too. 



We have around 10 of them now. 

It gets bigger and bigger.


I also watch them changing

Life cycles

Accepting it

Because it gives new hopes.

I can't hardly wait for the next cycle to begin.

19.4.15

Cook - Cauliflower Crust



Deg-degan juga nulis pake bahasa sendiri di sini... Eh lebih deg-degan pake bahasa inggris deng.
Deg-degannya kenapa juga gak jelas.

Okeh ini dia saudara saudara.. saya persembahkan resep pertama dalam bahasa bangsa kita.. di blog ini.

Cauliflower Crust! (tetep pake bahasa inggris gitu)
Cocok lah buat resep sok-sok diet, no carb gitu.. usaha kan boleh.. kalo abis itu makan indomie campur nasi, itu beda urusan lagi,,,

Ini langkah-langkahnya setelah coba berkali-kali akhirnya berhasil juga.

Pertama-tama kita siapkan oven di suhu 200C.

Lalu hancurkan satu bonggol kembang kol, bisa pakai parutan keju atau food processor, sampai bentuknya berpasir gini. Satu ukuran normal kira-kira bisa jadi satu cup parutan kembang kol.

 Terus dipanasin microwave selama 5 menit. Atau bisa juga dikukus.. kalau dikukus 10 menit kali ya?

Kalau sudah matang dipindahin di kain bersih untuk bisa diperas nantinya. Sebelum diperas didiemin dulu yah sampe adem, kalo engga nanti tangannya bisa melepuh dong. Gapapa sih kalau tertantang.



Terus kalau udah diperas hasilnya cuma segini. Kayak perkedel begini.

Dan entah kenapa ada bagian yang lupa diabadikan. Bagian campur adonan lupa difoto. Tapi intinya cuma tambahin dengan keju, telur, dan kalau suka flaxseeds. Gak usah tambah garam karena kejunya sudah asin.

Setelah kembang kol diperas dicampur dengan 1/4 cup mozarella, 1/4 flaxseeds, 1/4 cup parmesan, serta 3/4 telur yang sudah dikocok. Diaduk lalu adonannya lalu diratakan di alas panggangan, jadinya seperti di bawah.

Atasnya dioles 1/4 sisa kocokan telur, lalu ditaburkan 1/4 cup sisa parmesan parut.

Masuk oven, suhunya 230C, panggang selama 10-15 menit, sampai setengah matang.

Pas setengah matang warnanya udah agak kuning, masih lunak untuk dipotong-potong sesuai selera. Ovennya jangan dimatiin dulu ya..

Setelah dipotong dibalik dulu agar panasnya kena rata. Habis itu panggang lagi 10 menit.

 Ini kloter pertama. Langsung dilahap. Rasanya gimana yah.. mirip perkedel tapi crispy..

Habis itu kloter kedua juga sesuai dengan yang diharapkan. 

Kalau sudah matang jangan lupa dibalik lagi..


Lebih enak dimakan hangat-hangat.. tapi bisa disimpan di toples juga kalau sudah adem, belum sehari juga udah abis sih..


Apalagi kalau pake olesan kayak aioli/ mayonnaise, cream cheese.. nasi?.. hahaha...

Recipes:

1 cup grated cauliflower
1/2 cup grated parmesan, separate bit for garnish
1/4 cup grate mozarella
1/4 cup flaxseed
1 beaten egg (3/4 for mixing, 1/4 for glaze before baking)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven 200c
2, Grate cauliflower
3. Microwave with plate for 5 minutes
4. Squeeze the liquid out
5. Mix all other ingredients
6. Pat to bakesheet to 1/2 cm thickness
7. Glaze with the rest of egg, Sprinkle the rest of parmesan.
8. Bake 230c for 10-15 mins
9. Cut / flip/ put toppings (if you're aiming for pizza) -oven stay being heated
10. Bake for another 10 mins

18.4.15

Realistic Point of View

On a full moon night, while i was waiting for my transformation to become a werewolf, i made another decision. 

I will start to write in my mother language for this blog. And my mother speaks Indonesian, whatever mother language means. haha. I started another blog last year, supposed to be a food blog, in indonesian language, just to be very comfortable. I expected i would write it more often, and update my blog more regularly. 

Apparently it didn't turn out like that. I'm so lame in updating my blog, and what's the point of having two blogs really. I'm not even sure if anyone will read this hahaha. 

The aim having a blog for me is to share experiences and getting used to write stories. Also encouraging myself to write in (bad) English. So i'm kind of merging these two blogs.

It's a bit sentimental to leave my other blog (with only 7 posts since last year hahaha), but that's the decision.

I will still write in english, and my english will still be at monkey level. But i will keep writing. 

9.4.15

I Started to Grow

I think about many things these lately. Nothing deep, just small decisions i have to make while life goes on. Small things like do i need to cut my hair, i need more time to polish my nails, what i should do with my blogs, my english doesn't get any better, how could i start regular exercise, or how can i stop eating too much. Just the common female thoughts. 

I had too much time to think about unnecessary thoughts. So i look for something to do at home.

Then i tried cooking. First was to control what i eat. If i prepare my own food, i will not waste or dump it for other things. I really like cooking. I cook from fat, vegetarian, paleo, instant, traditional, bake, diet, totally junk-food, low-carb, hi-carb, everything. I didn't care it was good or not, and most of my cookings didn't look too good either haha. 

I started to learn about ingredients for cooking. At some point i realised i kept forgetting what i have bought, and the fresh ingredients weren't that fresh anymore.  

So i started to grow things.

I really, really, like gardening.

Repotting baby basils



Watching peppers grow



Egg sproutings



Sunflowers seedlings


It feels like watching magic.


I really like gardening, it is all i can think about now.

7.4.15

Changes



April 2015

I have given up several things these lately.
These things i let go, not because of failure.
Nor because i gave up.

I let go, to gain back some dreams.
I got lost in a way, i'll try to look for another.
To lose my fear, i decided to leave my ease.

I don't know what will be next.
But i'm excited about it.
And i don't care how long it will last.

What is comfort.
Why do we ask others,
How to be settled?
Copyright © 2014 Natanoja