Sankanbi class 1 -3

22 april 2010, kamis

Tanggal 19 april kemarin, ada acara sankanbi di skul Mei yang baru. Sankanbi itu acara dimana orangtua boleh datang ke kelas, ngikutin pelajaran, ngeliat anak belajar. Acaranya mulai jam 8.30 mpe 9.30, trus ada rapat PTA, rapat pemilihan Parent Teacher assistent, tugasnya macem2 dari urusan bantu2 bazaar, bantu di bagian perpustakaan, bantu foto acara skul, n lain2 dah, gw ga ngerti, coz blom pernah ngikutan ginian, so gw minta supaya tahun ini ga ikutan pemilhan dulu, berhubung Aya juga masih blom sekolah, repot kalo harus ke skul bawa dia juga..so tahun ini free deh.

Selanjutnya bisa liat disini.

The Real Reason We Went to St. Martin

I don't know who coined the phrase "everything's better with butter" (Land "O Lakes, maybe?) but I agree!  Especially when the butter in question is Normandy butter. 

We ate a lot of it last week in St. Martin.  Every.  Single.  Day.  Breakfast consisted of that blood orange juice I told you about, along with strong coffee and a warm baguette slathered with butter.  Disproportionately, I might add, meaning more butter than baguette.  It was worth every pound we gained, too (notice I did not say "ounce").

The grocery stores and restaurants on the French side of St. Martin rely heavily on the daily Air France flight which arrives from Paris laden with fois gras, butter and wine.  No wonder Grand Case is the gastronomic capital of the Caribbean!  No wonder this is our favorite vacation spot!

Speaking of airplanes, one of the favorite pastimes on the island is heading to the Sunset Beach Bar to watch them land every day.  That's because huge planes (yes, even 747's) come in low, right over the beach, stirring up vortexes of sand and blowing unsuspecting tourists into the water.  Same thing happens when they take off.  Watching this has become something of a national sport, particularly if you're hanging out with a drink at the bar next to the runway!

Here's what I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w8YHZlv0Ao&NR=1

As usual, I've gotten WAY off track here.  Where was I going with this?  Oh yeah .. butter!  Make it yourself!  It's easy and oh, so good.  Heck, if you've ever attempted to make whipped cream and walked away from the mixer, then you've made it before.  Buttermilk, too.

HOMEMADE BUTTER AND BUTTERMILK

(This recipe and method comes from Daniel Patterson, chef/owner of Coi in San Francisco.  It was published in the New York Times Magazine on 7-1-07).

6 cups organic heavy cream (preferably not ultra-pasteurized)
Sea salt to taste (optional)

Pour the cream into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk.  Tightly cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and start mixer on medium-high speed.  The cream will go through the whipped state, thicken further then change color from off-white to pale yellow; this will take at least 5-8 minutes.  When it starts to look pebbly, it's almost done.  After another minute the butter will separate, causing the liquid to splash against the plastic wrap.  At the point, stop the mixer.

Set a strainer over a bowl.  Pour the contents of the mixer into the strainer and let the buttermilk drain through.  Strain the buttermilk again, this time through a fine-mesh sieve set over a small bowl and set aside.

Keeping the butter in the strainer set over the first bowl, knead it to consolidate the remaining liquid and fat and expel the rest of the buttermilk.  Knead until the texture is dense and creamy, about 5 minutes.  Strain the excess liquid into the buttermilk.  Refrigerate the buttermilk.

If desired, mix salt into the butter.  Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate. 

Yield:  this makes approximately 2 cups of butter and 2 cups of buttermilk

Two things:

Be very careful when placing the plastic wrap over the bowl of the electric mixer.  Make sure it's secure enough that it won't get wound up on the device that turns the whisk - trust me on this.  It happened to me once when I was making sponge cake for tiramisu at Star Provisions and it took me over an hour to remove the tightly wound plastic from the stem of the mixer.  Not fun!

And don't throw away that buttermilk!  It's sweet and delicious.  Stay tuned for the next post.....

Observer Food Monthly Awards

Thankfully the Observer’s Food Monthly magazine received a stay of execution after the recent cull that saw the demise of its sister titles: Woman, Music, and Sport Monthly.

As a result food nerds, geeks and obsessives can still revel in the glory of unashamed nosh based writing from the likes of Jay Rayner, Rachel Cooke and Nigel Slater (amongst others).



Every year the OFM runs an awards special where readers can vote for the people and places that have rocked their food world over the previous 12 months.

Categories include ‘Best restaurant’ (my vote went to St John an admission that will surprise few) ‘Best independent local retailer (these guys, just outside of Cambridge who posted all the lovely Masterchef messages) and ‘Best cheap eats’ (oodles of noodles? Yes please)

Pootle over to the Observer website to cast your votes. There are prizes too if you need further incentive.

There’s also a ‘Best UK Based Food Blog’ category. Just saying, is all…

Day 10: London, but perhaps not forever

After our celebration last night (and hearing at least one airplane overhead), we are still left with some uncertainty: Will our particular flight take off? The news is not clear. But we are more hopeful than we have been in days. So much so that we canceled our flight to San Francisco for this coming Friday and made a new one for the following Thursday, returning to London from Syria on the 28th. Thanks to Jenny at Great Escapes in Berkeley for all her efforts on our behalf.

I’m still a little under the weather with my stuffy nose. One of our friends who is also stranded said that in fact we were all ‘under the weather.’ So true.

Day 9: Still in London

The best news was from the day before when Katherine returned to the hotel, having had a one-hour conversation with our air carrier to Damascus (BMI) and having scheduled a flight for this Thursday. Now all we need is for it to take off.

Another gorgeous day in London. I was still feeling stuffy and congested so decided that I wanted to stick closer to home (the hotel has now become home) and found that the Saatchi Gallery had moved maybe ¾ mile from here. So I walked over and found, to my great pleasure that Phillips de Pury & Company was organizing a huge auction of contemporary art called BRIC, featuring work from Brazil, Russia, India, and China. I wasn’t blown away by the overall quality but I was blown away by the number of artists included and their commitment to making art in these emerging countries. There were some pieces, mostly photographs, which I found gorgeous. One from Russia entitled Our Daily Bread from Hit-or-Miss Art (How to Create Works of Art Just in the Kitchen) was so fun I couldn’t believe it.

We returned to Gaucho, the restaurant where I ate by myself the first evening in London. We shared a great meal of Peruvian Shrimp Causita, a marinated sirloin steak called Churrasco, the same green peppercorn sauce I had the other night, sautéed mushrooms and my favorite Humita, the corn husks filled with a delicious sweet corn mixture. This time I took photos with my Nikon (rather than my IPhone) so that I would be able to show you the meal. It was a great meal.

We returned home and just casually flicked on the TV. To our great surprise, the headlines were that British air space was open and that flights were both landing and taking off. It isn’t clear why the ban was lifted. Did the flights from Shanghai and Vancouver which took off while the ban was still in effect essentially force Britain to rescind the ban? We cheered whatever the reason and hope against hope that we can fly on Thursday to Damascus.

Cinema bizarre!

Last friday we went into the Base Party at Terrassa. Kim, Esther's boyfriend, was the showman of the night and we danced a lot and had a great time.

(read more)

Drinking Bayleys at the hotel...

Yes, a bottle with a lovely red ribbon!

Kim, the crusader!

And now, the compliant! On his knees with Laia and Esther!

Esther

Me!

At the party, in a cinema set. 

With Yayra!

This was my first time in a cinema set... have you ever been on a movie, or TV, or something like that?

Dress - H&M

Tights - Topshop

Sandals - Break & Walk

Headband - Offbrand

Bakmi godog mamaoci

bahan:
mie telor yg khusus untuk mie ayam, aku sukanya yang merk 10001
telor + bakso atau sesuai selera aja
sawi putih
daun bawang dirajang
bawang putih digeprek haluus


cara:
rebus mie kemudian tiriskan.
tumis daun bawang + bawang putih pakai butter (konon ada yang bilang butter lemaknya lebih sedikit daripada mentega, so I use it ;p), masukkan sawi putih, masukkan kaldu trus tunggu sampai mendidih. kasih garam+merica+gula. kalau sudah pas rasanya, masukkan mie, kemudian telor, aduk...


hidangkan hangat2 ditaburin brambang goreng. mantaaab !


oia lupa, baksonya udah mateng yaa jd tinggal dicemplungin untuk tambahan lauknya :D


*utk elok, terjawab yaaa itu mie instan ato bukan ;) sebisa mungkin jangan keseringan makan yang instan2 yaaa... not good for your body & mind & soul :p