Me and K have been on the go lately, we've been spending many of our times outside of the house so we often eat in restaurants and malls. I love eating out because I get to eat different style of food everyday, such as Japenese for today, Italian for tomorrow, etc.. But I don't like how it affects my wallet though, LOL.. But still, a girl gotta eat! ;p

Here's what we ate lately.. 

• Did you know that Sushi Tei is now having a special promo: if you dine there during the week of your birthday (not necessarily on the day of your Bday but as long as your Bday is within the week you dine there), you will get a complimentary of Free Birthday Cake (they will check your id, of course). But at Sushi Tei the birthday cake is not a sweet kind of cake, but instead it's a Sushi cake! A rice cake with salmon sashimi, prawn, egg roll, etc.. (plus a little candle for you to blow and make a wish ;p)
• We were stranded in a nearby mall one day after going there to buy something but only to found out that the thing we were planning to buy is unavailable. So we sat and feeling disappointed and decided to just go back home again. But then I saw Red Mango stall near the basement parking door and asked K if I could buy a cup of sweet happiness to cheer me up.. ;p I end up ordering the mix blueberry yoghurt with lychee and jelly toppings, yumm... and healthy too :D 

• I always arrived early (if not on time) for a meeting or event, and sometimes I arrived waaayyy too early (because I just don't want to be late ;p). And one day when I was arriving early for the Make Up Forever event at Plaza Indonesia I spent the extra time filling my belly at Oh La La Cafe. I love the one in Plaza Indonesia because the place is rather secluded so there would usually no crowd and it was such a comfortable seating area. The food and drinks are affordable too. That afternoon I ordered a Moroccan Mint Tea and a Poulet Croissant (=chicken croissant). My belly was warm and content :)
• Another day when K picked me up after an event, on the way home we stopped by at Gandaria City Mall to have dinner. After looking around we decided to eat at Roppan. We never ate at Roppan before so I thought let's give it a try. We both had different kinds of Bento Mix and ordered this yummy looking Ice Cream Bread Pudding for dessert! It looks yummy and tasted yummy as well, nyammm ;p 

• Another day we had lunch at our most favorite restaurant Kin No Taki because it's been a long time since we ate there and I was craving for some teppanyaki too. We had various teppanyaki and I also ordered one of my fave: Agedashi Tofu for appetizer while K ordered his fave: Cawan Mushi. The photo above is the Agedashi Tofu I ordered, Kin No Taki have one of the best Agedashi Tofu so if you're eating there make sure to order one ;) - I reviewed Kin No Taki here -
• On the weekend me and K went to the mall to meet up with K's parents. While we waited for them to arrive we suddenly remembered that we haven't had lunch yet! So we had a really late lunch at Beppu Menkan because I was craving for some Ramen noodles this time ;) Of all the noodles in this world, I love Ramen the most! LOL. I usually always ordered spicy ramen in any ramen restaurant, but this time I decided to try the savoury one. And surprise surprise, it was as tasty as the spicy one! After writing this I feel like I want to go to Beppu Menkan again ^o^

See also " What We Ate Lately" here...

I'm also having a giveaway on my fashion&beauty blog, it's open for worldwide address, click here to see how you could win a beautiful dress of your choice!

Tea Review: Teh Hijau Tong Tji

Iseng ah, pengen nge-review teh hehehe...

Saya ini penggemar teh dan kopi (dengan catatan: kopi nya yang pake creamer yah bukan kopi item hehe). Saya sudah biasa minum teh dari kecil, kebetulan nenek saya yang dulu tinggal bareng saya adalah peminum teh, jadi setiap hari selalu ada teh di teko di atas meja. Saya masih inget banget teko nya tuh teko jadul motif loreng2 hijau putih itu lohh yang terbuat dari bahan apa yah namanya yang kaya kaleng itu. So anyway, saya dari kecil juga udah terbiasa minum teh karena tinggal tuang teh dari teko dan kasih gula, jadi deh teh manis kesukaan saya ;)

Sampai besar pun di rumah ortu juga selalu sedia teh karena mama saya pun selalu harus minum teh setiap hore. Kalau saya sih nggak ada waktu tertentu kapan harus minum teh. Nggak seperti kopi yang harus saya minum setiap pagi sebagai syarat bangun tidur, saya minum teh bisa kapan aja. Paling enak sih memang sore-sore gitu, atau pas cuaca lagi gerimis atau abis ujan atau pas lagi sejuk, pas banget tuh kalau sambil minum teh diselingi kudapan kecil. Kalau malam hari perut saya lagi gak enak, kembung, dan tanda-tanda masuk angin saya juga biasanya langsung bikin teh manis, ampuh lho untuk mencegah masuk angin dan menjaga suhu badan agar tetap hangat. Kalau lagi sakit pun salah satu teman saya di kala sakit pasti bergelas-gelas teh manis hangat, supaya badan cepat segar kembali.

Teh itu memang banyak manfaatnya sih, yang pasti teh itu sangat bagus untuk menjaga kesehatan kalau diminum secara rutin. Teh itu sendiri ada berbagai jenis, diantaranya: black tea, white tea, dan green tea. 

Black tea alias teh hitam itu contohnya seperti teh celup sariwangi atau teh cap sosro, biasanya kalau diseduh air nya akan cepat menjadi gelap atau menjadi berwarna kehitaman, mungkin itu sebabnya kenapa disebut black tea ;p Kalau green tea alias teh hijau, kalau diseduh air nya tidak berwarna segelap black tea, tapi lebih terang. Rasa teh hijau juga biasanya lebih pahit daripada teh hitam.
Contoh teh hijau favorit saya adalah yang di bawah ini nih:

Teh Hijau Tong Tji

Teh hijau merk Tong Tji ini adalah salah satu merk teh hijau andalan saya, selain karena harganya terjangkau dan mudah didapat di supermarket, rasanya juga enak, dan khasiatnya cukup manjur untuk kesehatan / stamina badan serta memperbaiki pencernaan >>> Soalnya saya kalau lagi nggak enak perut trus minum ini biasanya kondisi perut langsung normal lagi sih ;p

Ini lohh bentuk penampakan kotak kemasan teh celup Tong Tji, pasti sering lihat di rak supermarket deh ;p :

Inikah Mr. Tong Tji ??

Cara penyajian yang disarankan adalah seperti gambar di atas (klik gambar untuk perbesar). Berikut adalah penampakan teh nya setelah diseduh, siap untuk disajikan. Perhatikan warna nya yang tidak segelap teh hitam apabila diseduh. Oya, untuk teh hijau sebaiknya jangan diseduh terlalu lama karena makin lama akan makin pahit:

Satu cangkir teh hijau Tong Tji siap dihidangkan!

Kalau kamu suka teh atau kopi? Lebih suka teh hitam atau teh hijau? Teh celup favorit kamu apa?

What we ate lately

Just a quick post (because I'm hungry and need to eat right now ;p)...
I just ate a tiny bowl of instant noodle for lunch and now I am so hungry I need to look for food ^o^

So anyway here is a photo diary of the food we ate lately...

I made some corn creme soup for breakfast the other day and ate it with a chunk of French bread. Accompanied by a cup of hot Green Tea with added sugar, I really enjoyed that morning's breakfast by myself ;p

One late night, hubby K bought me this Blackpepper Hot Dog from Seven-Eleven. He put on a bit too much mustard on my hot dog (I'm not really big for mustard), but it was still a good 'ol hotdog sandwich ;) Oh and he got me the Blue Slurpee too (yummmmm......my favorite!).

A couple of days ago mom made this delicious breakfast dish! It's just a simple potato dish but it tasted so good it leaves me wanting more and more ;p

 

And this is what K ordered from one of our family sunday trip. This is Dolsot Bibimbap from a Korean stall at a food court. I always love the presentation of a bibimbap, but in terms of Korean food... No Kimchi for me Please! ;p

So what did you guys eat lately? ;)

 

A Perfect Glutton Day

In a perfect world, my perfect day full of gluttony would be like this:

 Waking up in the morning and have this breakfast:

Must-have morning coffee

followed with:

Home made pizza bread with tomato and cheese

and some fresh orange juice:

And then when it's noon time we'll have a lunch of:

Tomato Basil Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwich

with cold fresh drink to satisfy the mid noon quench:

Iced Tangerine Green Tea

And then in the afternoon we'll lounge around while sipping on hot tea:

Chamomile Tea

and some light finger food:

Mozzarella Sticks in Egg roll Wrappers

And then late at night we'll have a nice dinner consisted of:

Asparagus Gratin

served with:

Chicken Picatta + a bowl of warm rice

And a glass of cold mineral water for the drink would be just fine.

Don't forget to save some space in your stomach for dessert:

Frozen White Hot Chocolate

And slices of Mint Oreo Brownies:

Super Yummo!

Are you hungry yet??
^o^

Easy Recipes To Try

One of my favorite website to look for food / cooking ideas is The Pioneer Woman. Bree Drummond, the owner of the website a.k.a The Pioneer Woman has a very interesting website. I love the way she writes and jokes, and I love her website layout too, very woman-friendly ^o^ And the number one reason why I love to browse her website for cooking ideas is because she has a page of recipes where she included detailed step-by-step photos of the cooking process in every recipes!!

She made it really easy to follow her recipes. She wrote the recipe detail very clearly and the step-by-step pictures are really useful for beginner cook like me. And for that, Bree.. We love you! ^o^

Her website also covers Photography which is her other hobby beside cooking. She offers photography techniques that you can read on her Photography page. She also writes about her family and her domestic life in the ranch. Her website is so full of stories, you'll love it And you'll love her too!

I compiled three easy peasy simple recipes that I want to try for my cooking project:

Recipes:
   Fresh Corn Casserole
Fatty's Grandma Cheez Egg

Iced Coffee

If you have other food/cooking blogs that you love and you'd like to share, please tell us in the comment box. I would love to visit them too :D

Have a great week, everyone!

Foooodd...

It's time for some food porn!
I just recovered from a bad flu so right now my appetite is quite big, I feel like I want to eat all the good food there is to gain back my weight that I lost during my flu moment. Sometimes I even think about food in my head during the day hahaha..
One of my newest found on the internet is Ree Drummond's website, The Pioneer Woman. I LOVE her website. She's funny and her website is very interactive, and she got this step-by-step recipe complete with pictures that makes it easy for us newbie cook to try and give it a test. She also has lots of other things to talk about beside food, you'll love her sense of humor ;)

Out of imagination I put up a one day menu for myself, a healthy and yummy food menu for me which I got from browsing The Pioneer Woman and it's cooking community blog, the Tasty Kitchen. Oh and plus a recipe from Martha Stewart too. 

Enjoy..!

BREAKFAST:

Chicken Salad with celery, green onions, grapes, dill, mayo and yoghurt.

LUNCH:

a combination of :

 

Summer Salad with bread, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, red onion and some herbs.

+

Devilishly spicy Buffalo Chicken Drumsticks

DINNER: 

a combination of: 

 Roasted Tomato Soup served with Crostini

+

Savory Asparagus Tomato Quiche

Hungry yet? ;p

Jakarta's Street Food edition: Bakso Malang

Aah...eating street hawker food in the midst of an afternoon is our favorite past time! There are a lot of hawker food here in Jakarta. One of the benefit of living in landed house in Jakarta is to have various hawker foods selling their stuffs by motorbike, bicycle or by pushed-cart passing by our houses. The sellers will pass the houses and make some noise to sell their food. Every type of hawker food seller have their own distinctive sound.

One of my family's favorite street hawker food is Bakso Malang. In my area the seller uses a modified motorbike to brought the food:

Bakso Malang is simply just a mix of meatballs, fried wontons, tofu, etc served a la soup with water and beef stock. You could also add some noodles in it. You could make your own mix and choose which one you want to include in your bowl.

It is such a refreshing as well as satisfying food. Served hot and spicy with added chilli sambal, yumm..!!

Writing this post makes me hungry.. ^o^

All About Belgian Chocolate with Laurent Bernard

Who doesn't love chocolates? IMHO there's something wrong with a person who doesn't like chocolates - lol. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I received an invitation to a blogger workshop with a guest star: a renowned chocolatier from Singapore, Laurent Bernard.
Although I was on temporary chocolate ban (my therapist suggest me to avoid chocolate for a while) but I couldn't resist the invitation when mbak Lintang from Prisma PR contacted me and asked if I could come to the event. Hell yeah I would! -lol

The event was held at Emilie restaurant, it's a fine dining restaurant located in Senopati street, Jakarta. The event started at noon by lunch (too bad I was very late due to the lunch traffic) so I didn't get a chance to taste the famous fine dining menu from Emilie. Oh well, maybe next time..

After the lunch we all moved upstairs to the second floor where there's a room complete with big kitchen just like the ones you saw on TV. There I met Desy, fellow blogger from Living Daisy - I got free InStyle and Fortune magazines from her - thanks so much Des! I also met another fellow blogger Nuniek from Nuniek.com downstairs, I also saw some familiar faces there, bloggers I've met before at previous blogger meet-up events.

Anyway, here comes Laurent Bernard with his black chef outfit, stunning! He's actually French but he's residing in Singapore right now and opened a shop there. And he's so young..

The subject of the workshop is "All About Belgian Chocolate". Mmm...yumm...I love belgian chocolate...I love chocolate...any chocolate.. ^o^
And yes I get to taste all the yumminess that were served right there on the spot. Laurent and his pretty Indonesian assistant (i can't remember her name) made some fresh chocolates (Praline and Ganache) and some hot chocolates with creams and garnish...oh I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

When it comes to chocolates, there are the everyday candy bars we consume every day, the exotic Belgian chocolates found in coffee houses and specialty stores. Belgian chocolate is considered to be the gourmet standard by which all other chocolate confections are measured. Even the Swiss, known for their own high quality chocolate, imported the basic recipe from French and Belgian chocolatiers.

What makes Belgian chocolate unique is the quality of the ingredients. Belgian chocolate may be expensive, but those who have sampled it say that there is no comparison between a standard chocolate bar and a Belgian praline. In other words, they're from a different class so can not be compared to each other. It's like comparing Prada and Gap ;)

Laurent and his pretty assistant

Despite the myth that chocolates could make you fat and will trigger acne, they actually have lots of benefits for your body. Did you know that chocolate contains a wide range of vitamins (vitamins A1, B1, B2, C, D, and E) and essential minerals?
Cocoa also contains both anti-oxidants and flavonoids which fight free radicals that form cancer, and anticoagulants which are one of the most natural properties of aspirin and prevent blood clots.
Cocoa also has some essential oils that are good for strengthening the bones, hair, nails, and also feeds the skin in a manner that delays the signs of aging.

See? chocolates are actually good for you. It makes you feel good, it elevates your mood, reduces anxiety and probably the world's most pleasant anti-depressant :) No wonder all the ladies loves it ^o^

We also learned the difference between Praline and Ganache. Praline is cocoa with caramelized nuts/fruits filling, while Ganache is cocoa with cream/milk. I've tried them both at the workshop and I love them both! Ganache is sweeter than Praline though, it must be because of the milk that was added to it.

Anyway, at the workshop we get to see Laurent works his magic. We saw Laurent and his assistant made this..

into this..

and then to this:

That's the Pralines.
He also made us a fresh batch of Ganache, it looked the same as this one but the difference is in the filling.

And then he made us these stunning hot chocolates.
First, he melt some chocolates and then added some milk. He then pour the mixture to the jug:

And while he's cooking the choco mix above, his assistant made these:

Those are chilled glasses filled with frozen vanilla ice cream.
And then Laurent pour the warm mixture into the glasses:

And then he added cold whipped cream on top and sprinkled some almonds as garnish too:

And all those prep comes down to this heaven-on-earth yumminess:

The warmth of the chocolate milk mixed in with the cold of the vanilla ice cream and icy whipped cream is like HEAVEN to my mouth. Oh thy delicious cocoa...how i'd give up anything to drink you again...

One tip that I got from Laurent is to sip only warm mineral water between tasting chocolates, that's the best way to enjoy it.

Laurent Bernard has more than 20 years experience in pastry & chocolate. After graduating from culinary school in France, Laurent did work in some of the most prestigious 5 stars hotels in London, Middle East and Caribbean. It's in 2003 that Laurent lands in Singapore where he opened "Laurent's cafe & Chocolate Bar".

The stores are located in:

The Pier at Robertson Quay 80
Mohammad Sultan Road #01-11
Singapore

And another branch in:

5B Portsdown Road #01-02
Singapore


You can also order his chocolates from the online store:
http://www.thechocolatefactoryonline.com

Oh, I almost forgot, the goody bag! This is probably the cutest paper bag ever, I love the robin's egg color with a hint of brown. What a lovely packaging!

And here's what's inside.. a bag of Orangette (another Laurent's yummy creations) and a chocolate bar engraved with flower, almost too pretty to eat!


The Orangettes (the pic was taken after we ate half of it ;p):


And the choco bar which is my favorite (!) :

Oh boy...oh boy...oh boy... The goody bag didn't last long, me and hubby were munching it down right out of the package ^o^ We did saved some for our family to try but our portion only lasts less than a half day ;p

Me and the chef:


Me and fellow blogger Desy:

Group photo:

A big thanks to Prisma PR (mbak Lintang, mbak Puti & mbak Fira) for the invitation!