Serenity Prayer

G O D

grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next...

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Cap Chai (Cap Jay)- another Indonesian Food.. REALLY !!

"Cap" is Hokkian languages which means "mix"
"Chai" is also Hokkian languages which means "vegetables"

So, basically, Cap chai is kind of food that consists many vegetables. Though "Cap Chai" is chinese (Hokkian) languages, but this food is one of Indonesia ethnic food. I don't know where is the exact place this "Cap Chai" created, but my opinion is North Sumatra, Indonesia. I said that because as far as I know, most Chinese people in Medan speak Hokkian.

My Dad, who was born in Riau, Sumatra, said that this Cap Chai (Indonesian call it Cap Jay) is definitely not from Riau. He said Medan-North Sumatra maybe the place where this food came from since so many Chinese-Hokkian food was found in Medan. D.I Aceh (above North Sumatra) is impossible too since almost the citizen is moslem and not speak Chinese. I found that not many Chinese live in Jambi. So, I skip Jambi. About West Sumatra... The Capital of West Sumatra is Padang, right? Padang is famous because of Padang Cuisine which is hot and spicy. Okay, maybe we can skip West Sumatra again. Why? Because Cap Chai is sweet and not spicy! About Palembang... I only know that most of Palembang ethnic food has sour taste and little bit spicy. Skip! Lampung? Hmm... I read that its ethnic food is similar with Palembang. How about Java? It maybe possible. I've heard about Cap Chai a la Semarang (Semarang is located in Central Java), but my grandma refuse that Cap Chai is from Semarang.

I still confuse about where this Cap Chai come from.... If you guys know about it, leave your comments please :D It's always nice to know other's opinions.. :D

Note : Cap Chai is not made from vegetables only. People can add everything that they like, such as chicken, sausages, mushroom, tempura, etc. Hmm.. this food remembered me of pizza.. The truth is, pizza was made by add anything on bread, right? I think...."add-anything" concept in Pizza is similar with this Cap Chai


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Valentine Day

So, here is a little section for Valentine Day... :D

I just went back home from a Valentine Party (from my church for university students). The theme was "When John meets Marry". Yeah, the speakers were John and Marry (they're couple with cute kids). I won't tell the whole story here. It's too long ! I just write things that I think most important.

1. Find A partner who has the same religion with you. So you can support each other in God. Not just the same religion, but also faith. Faith in everything...

2. Always pray to God about your partner (or whoever you think will be your partner). And don't think He always speak to you through big megaphone! God has His own unique way for each person in this world.He is the creator of all, and He know which way is more suitable for us...

3. Don't always think about private dating (just two of you alone). By being together alone with your partner, not guarantee that you will grow your relationship in right way. Maybe you discover something new about your partner.. But maybe that "new" things can lead you to wrong direction. The best deal is : If you two can grow up your relationship without (private)dating, that's what true love called is ! (Believe me, if your boyfriend/girlfriend acts too nice to you, almost completely different from his/her usual behaviour, you'll know it by see that "You-Start-Acting-Weird" word at her/his friend's face)

4. Some people think it's enough to just read bible at home or hear God's word from television or any other electronic device, or books. Ok, you can grow. But you grow weird. It's unhealthy.. really.. Reading bible by yourself, hear or read God's word by yourself, all by yourself. Wait a minute, You're not live alone in this world. Do you remember, when 2 or 3 people gather together and pray to God, God will be among them. Also, talk to someone via teleconference or video is not same with talk to someone face-to-face, right? So try to go to God's house, whatever your religion is. Gathering and have fellowship together with people in same faith is always nicer...

+-._.;''':::. !!! HAPPY VALENTINE DAY !!! .::''';._.-+

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Indonesian (Exotic) Food

Fiuh..after post about travelling and finance in this blog.. Now, I'll introduce you some of Indonesian food

Ready??

1. Babi Panggang (grilled pork) at Bangka
It's quite interesting to know that pork is served in many different ways in Indonesia. Example, "babi guling" Bali is served like turkey. They put the blended spice inside the meat, then they grilled it. In Manado, they have "Babi Rica". They stir the spice first in oil, then add the meat and lemon. In Indonesia, they usually use "asam" instead of lemon, etc. (asam jawa-asam meants sour-its sour yet sweet-this also called as a herb. This is one of important ingredients in Indonesian Food)

"Babi panggang" (grilled pork) Bangka is also different from other province in Sumatra. When the pork is still raw, they put it in tea water for a day, so the fat of the pork can pulled out to the water. It'll better if you use herbal tea. After the meat is 85% fat-free, they cover the meat with the spice. Remember, don't cut the meat to tiny part. We need the skin too! After all the meat is covered with paste, grilled it. I don't really know the details, but when it's served.. This grilled pork has awesome taste. the upper part (skin) is so crunchy !! (Much more crunchy-10 times- than "babi guling" Bali. Middle part is the pork meat which is so yummy and soft. Then the bottom part there're mix of paste and meat, and "jeruk limau" (jeruk limau-tiny little orange-3cms diameter-with its tiny size, the sour taste has the same value with an lemon!). So it's soft, sour, and sweet. They don't add chilli or something spicy. So, for you who can't eat something spicy, don't worry :)

2. Garang Asem(Asam) from Central Java
By read the name, you'll know that "asam" is the main ingredients in this food. You need to boiled tomatoes, big green and red chillis, a slice of banana leave, "lengkuas"(Alpinia Galanga/Lenguas Galanga-is a herb in ginger family usually used in Indonesia and Thai cooking. The robust rhizome has a sharp, sweet taste and has smells like a blend of black pepper and pine needles), shallots, garlic, "salam" leaves (Salam-also called as "Indian/Indonesia-bay leaf" only known as Indonesia and Malay cooking. The "Indian" name is given because a long ago, Indonesia was called "Holland-Indian". As main components, eugenol, methylchavicol and citral have been identified. The yield of essential oil was best when the leaves have been withered and dried for a few days), and "belimbing wuluh" (Averrhoa Bilimbi-known as Bilimbi, Indonesia use this as ingredients in cooking. It tastes very sour. Bilimbi fruit contains many nutritions, such as protein, fiber, ash, iron, phosporus, calcium, etc. It can be served as healthy beverages. The leaves can be used as medicined for cough, cold, and other veneral disseases). After it boiled, add coconut milk, salt, chicken, and brown sugar. Cook it for 1,5 hours if you want sharp aroma . If you don't really want it, just wait until the chicken is well cooked. If you have steamer, instead of boil the ingredients one by one, you can steam them all together for 45-60 minutes !! (Thx to Evan for his advices :D)

Because the ingredients contains so many herb, "Garang Asem" is healthy food to serve. But maybe it will be difficult to find those herbs outside South East Asia. Some Indonesia cooking book suggest common bay leaf instead of Indonesia bay-leaf. But I don't think it has much similarity between that two spices.

3. Cap Chai (still confuse about where this come from)
"Cap" is Hokkian languages which means "mix"
"Chai" is also Hokkian languages which means "vegetables"

So, basically, Cap chai is kind of food that consists many vegetables. Though "Cap Chai" is chinese (Hokkian) languages, but this food is one of Indonesia ethnic food. I don't know where is the exact place this "Cap Chai" created, but my opinion is North Sumatra, Indonesia. I said that because as far as I know, most Chinese people in Medan speak Hokkian.

My Dad, who was born in Riau, Sumatra, said that this Cap Chai (Indonesian call it Cap Jay) is definitely not from Riau. He said Medan-North Sumatra maybe the place where this food came from since so many Chinese-Hokkian food was found in Medan. D.I Aceh (above North Sumatra) is impossible too since almost the citizen is moslem and not speak Chinese. I found that not many Chinese live in Jambi. So, I skip Jambi. About West Sumatra... The Capital of West Sumatra is Padang, right? Padang is famous because of Padang Cuisine which is hot and spicy. Okay, maybe we can skip West Sumatra again. Why? Because Cap Chai is sweet and not spicy! About Palembang... I only know that most of Palembang ethnic food has sour taste and little bit spicy. Skip! Lampung? Hmm... I read that its ethnic food is similar with Palembang. How about Java? It maybe possible. I've heard about Cap Chai a la Semarang (Semarang is located in Central Java), but my grandma refuse that Cap Chai is from Semarang.

I still confuse about where this Cap Chai come from.... If you guys know about it, leave your comments please :D It's always nice to know other's opinions.. :D

Note : Cap Chai is not made from vegetables only. People can add everything that they like, such as chicken, sausages, mushroom, tempura, etc. Hmm.. this food remembered me of pizza.. The truth is, pizza was made by add anything on bread, right? I think...."add-anything" concept in Pizza is similar with this Cap Chai

Read more!

Bangka Island

Bangka is an island province together with Belitung Island (few years ago, Bangka was part of Palembang province). Bangka just lies east of Sumatra, separated by the Bangka Strait, to the north lies the South China Sea, to the east, across the Gaspar Strait, is the island of Belitung, and to the south is the Java Sea. The size is about 12,000 kmsquare. Geographical faces of Bangka is consist of swamps, lower plains, small hills, (really) beautiful beaches, white pepper fields, and tin minings.


Not like Java Island, Bangka is not really good for farming. most of the faces is covered with tin. When I went there last month, many people have tin minings in their backyard outside of Pangkal Pinang (capital of Bangka-Belitung province)! Can you imagine the feeling of having mining in your backyard?? Long ago, it was so easy to open tin minings. You just need to pay 10millions(IDR) to government.. and VOILA ! you can mine your own tin which you can dig anytime! Now, many of those mines were left by its owner and became a swamps. (the picture on the left is one of tin mine that were left by its owner)


There's another unique things from Bangka is their swallow.. Do you know swallow bird? China uses swallow as a really expensive medicine (up to million/kilogram). You can hear swallow voice all over Pangkal Pinang. Yes, there're swallow nests everywhere inside someone's houses. Four-five levels houses are everywhere. Because of so many houses like that, Bangka government decided to create a rule about building high level house like that. It says that you have to design the house nicely if you want to build high level house like that. Hahaha... Swallow's home is nicer than people's home..!

Oh yeah, talk about the beaches. Many of the beaches are no-name. So you can imagine how beautiful they are. But human being is human being. They leave garbage everywhere they go! Right? These no-name beaches are included. But because not so many people know about these beaches, we can still call them as beautiful beaches. These Bangka's beaches is much more beautiful, nice, and clean than any beaches in Bali !






Babi panggang (grilled pork) a la Bangka








my cutie sea creatures :p









This picture is a scenery that you can get at Teluk Uber. There's also a hotel here. It's cheap and fine. About IDR120,000 for 100m2!! Not really 3 stars hotel or something. But it's fine and really wide. Not many people know about this place. This place is quite quiet. This can be a good place if you want to spend your time together with your spouse together without any disturbing. The food prices are really cheap. IDR 5000 for lemonade, IDR 15000 for fried rice, IDR 3000 for ice tea, etc. Ask the keeper to clean the bathroom and bedroom first! Warning, the price is not absolute. It will change according to economic global issues !!
If you want to stay at higher class hotel, you can go to Teluk Tenggiri(tenggiri is a name of Fish). Thay said that Teluk Tenggiri is more beautiful than Teluk Uber.. But that meants, it's also more crowded. Read more!

Indonesia's Tourism Destination

What will pop up in your mind when you read the title? Hmm... let me guess... BALI ! Right? Or I guess some of you never heard about "Indonesia" but you've ever heard about "Bali"...

I have funny experience when I chat to someone through YM. When I said that I'm from Indonesia, he didn't know it. I said, "Do you know Indonesia?"

"I don't know.... sorry", he replied.

So I asked again, "Do you know Bali?"

"Oh yeah! I know it!" he said, "So, which part of Bali is Indonesia?"

Pfff..... The correct question is --> "Which part of Indonesia is Bali?"
Yap, Indonesia contain thousand Islands which many of them is still virgin Island. Bali is an SMALL ISLAND in Indonesia. Small, believe me, Bali is small... So I'll write about another part of Indonesia that great for your holiday's destination. Have you ever heard of Bangka Island? Or Lembang? Or maybe... Ujung Pandang? The wordkeys are :

Natural

Fresh Air

Relaxing

Exotic

and some are.... Cheap

I don't have so much money to go all over Indonesia. So, I'll be really appreciate every single post from whoever who has ever been travelling to Indonesia :) !

• Bangka Island (Click here)

Travelling without trying that place's ethnic food is not exciting right? That's why I'll put information about Indonesian ethnic food here. I have many recipes, but I still find difficulties in translate the Indonesia's ingredients into English.. Please be patient :) Read more!