Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Promo Dare to Dream Paris !

Kenapa orang harus bergabung sekarang dengan Oriflame dan d’BC Network?

Karenaaa… mendaftar hanya Rp.29,900
Belanja Rp.175rb…dapatkan potongan Rp. 10,000 sehingga biaya pendaftaran bulan ini hanya Rp 19,900 !

Untuk setiap member baru… ikuti promo-promo Welcome Program:
Hadiah WP 1 : GG Mascara senilai Rp 149.000,-
Hadiah WP2 : GG Bronzing Pearl senilai Rp 198.000,-
Hadiah WP3 : Paris Hand Bag senilai Rp 529.000,-

jadi ayooo buruan join us ! :)

Rahasia Sholat

Inilah dia rahasia as-sholat, sebagai peringatan bagi yang sudah tahu atau panduan bagi yang baru tahu……


1.Niat Sembahyang Sebenarnya memeliharakan taubat kita dari dunia dan akhirat.
2.Berdiri Betul Fadilatnya, ketika mati dapat meluaskan tempat kita di dalam kubur.
3.Takbir-ratul Ihram Fadilatnya, sebagai pelita yang menerangi kita di dalam kubur.
4.Fatihah Sebagai pakaian yang indah-indah di dalam kubur.
5.Ruqu’ Sebagai tikar kita di dalam kubur.
6.I’tidal Akan memberi minuman air dari telaga al-kautsar ketika di dalam kubur.
7.Sujud Memagar kita ketika menyeberangi titian SIRATUL-MUSTAQIM.
8.Duduk antara 2 Sujud Akan menaung panji-panji nabi kita di dalam kubur.
9.Duduk antara 2 Sujud (akhir) Menjadi kendaraan ketika kita di padang Mahsyar.
10.Tahhiyat Akhir Sebagai penjawab bagi soalan yang dikemukakan oleh Munkar & Nakir di dalam kubur.
11.Selawat Nabi Sebagai pendinding api neraka di dalam kubur.
12.Salam Memelihara kita di dalam kubur.
13.Tertib Akan pertemuan kita dengan Allah S.W.T.

Day 14: Exploring Damascus on Our Own

Because of the excellent tour yesterday and a pretty good map of the city, we felt comfortable setting out on our own. Our first stop was the scarf shop, The Silk Road, in the handicraft market we had visited briefly yesterday. We were charmed by the young fellow selling such beautiful fabrics and demonstrating his weaving skills on an old Jacquard loom for which he had more than 150 key-card patterns. We looked through his gorgeous selection of scarves and decided that we were going to incorporate more style and pizzazz into our pretty conventional attires by wrapping beautifully soft and vibrantly colored pieces of cloth around our necks. We ended up buying some beauties. And then we set off toward the Old City.

On our way we found that walking across busy streets can be quite a challenge. While there are traffic lights and even some pedestrian crossing lights and way more traffic cops swinging batons than you would see in most countries, the traffic is chaotic. We developed a strategy: we position ourselves behind or next to two or more people crossing the busy street and stay behind them, without looking at the oncoming traffic, until we reach the other side. It seems to work. We are still alive to tell the tale.

The Christian Quarter was our destination. We had both found it so calm and quieting yesterday and wanted to have a little taste of it again. What we hadn’t realized that being Sunday many of the shops were shuttered. But it really didn’t matter. We found the Hotel Talisman where Sam Barnes and our dear friend Rivka stayed on their trip last fall. We wish we could have stayed in the Jewish or Christian quarters of the old city but Katherine’s work here didn’t allow us that choice. We had lunch, wandered around at a leisurely pace, poking our heads into deserted ateliers, and ultimately headed back to our hotel, feeling quite proud of ourselves for negotiating the crowds, the traffic, and a new city.

We ate dinner at a fish restaurant called Al Yam, close to the hotel. It was splendid. Four of us started out with the usual hummus, eggplant dip, fattoush, pickles, and the rest. But then the show began. Silvia chose our fish: a beautiful large red snapper.
It was whisked to the kitchen, cooked encrusted in salt, and returned to the table for our inspection. We applauded.
I followed the crew into the kitchen and watched as the chef broke the crust with the side of his knife, gradually revealing the beautiful fish underneath.
The fish, without its salt robe, was presented to our table and again whisked away to be deboned.
The taste of the fish was so subtle and fresh, with just a touch of tahini with lemon and herbs and a lovely rice pilaf. The staff was justifiably proud and we were delighted.

dunia makin maju, manusia makin mundur


selamat pagi. hurm, semalam kan, ada benda tak berapa nak seronok jadi. kesian nabil. semalam sy cuti sehari, jd habis nabil kerja *2nd day practical*, die park motor di rumah sy, dan drive kembara sy. so die letak laptop, helmet, dkt bonet belakang kereta, ditutup dengan sweater die. dlm pukul 6 setengah, kami ke carrefour wangsa maju. parking dkt depan entrance. terang benderang. sy ada tnye nak bwk laptop tak, die ckp biar. padahal selalunya, sy mmg tak pernah tinggal...

kami pergi dlm kurang dari 30minit. sekali, sy nmpk sweater dia ada dkt luar. oh dang! sy dah agak, mesti laptop dia hilang. sekali mmg, laptop dia dah TAK ADA. sumpah sy kesian nak mati dkt nabil sbb laptop tu tak sampai setahun lagi tak silap. plus, ada banyak kerja and software dia dalam tu. dan nasib agak baik, cermin kereta tak pecah. pencuri bodoh tu just kopak belakang *tak perasan pun, nabil yg bgtaw* then, pergi makan, tu mmg plan asalnya, tp, nabil mmg x makan langsung lah. hurmmm...

rasa bersalah pun ada, sbb tak bertegas suruh dia bwk laptop. selalunya tak pernah sy tinggal, tp... benda nak jd kot. tapi, itulah. apa dah terdesak sgt agaknya org yg mencuri ni kan? especially org KL ni la. bukan apa, like hello? org kurang upaya pun buat mcm2 teruskan hidup. org susah esp dkt pedalaman nun... bekerja dari tebas lalang, kitar semula kertas, demi cari sesuap nasi yg HALAL. apa si pencuri bodoh tu cacat ke? tak mampu ke nak bekerja? sangap sgt ke nak syabu, dadah haram tu? bodoh. sangat bodoh. bila terkena batang hidung sendiri kelak, tahu nak mengamuk!

tahun ni baru bulan mei, baru 5 bulan dlm 2010. tp dah banyak kes pecah kereta, kena rompak yg terjadi dgn kawan-kawan rapat termasuk mama sendiri. banyak sgt. apa ni? apa semua benda bangang ni? seronok sangat mencuri tak fikir dah susah senang org lain! contohlah nak ambil beg dlm kereta, ingat dlm beg tu banyak duit ke apa, habis cermin kereta org dipecahkan. tak ke dah nak kena tanggung kos kereta lagi? hey. jawablah dkt akhirat nnt! berapa org dah menyumpah kamu. berapa dah doa org teranaya. sedar sikit darah haram mengalir dlm badan kau tu tak akan hilang sampai 10 keturunan pun.

sejak sy buat berita sekarang ni, sejak baru kurang sebulan praktikal di BERNAMA pun, tolonglah, hari-hari ada kes bunuh, kes rogol, kes rompak dlm Malaysia ni! ye, HARI-HARI di Malaysia yg dikatakan aman damai ni. mungkin aman damai dr segi peperangan dgn negara lain, tiada bencana alam, tapi, mungkin dgn nikmat Allah turunkan ni buat manusia makin kejam lupa diri kan. esok lusa mati ditelan bumi mungkin baru insaf? bodohlah! bodoh sangat, memalukan, especially sebagai salah sebuah negara Islam!


ni apa kes ni? bunuh gf sendiri.


ni, ni! ni bayi ni, bukan hasil hubungan cinta suci kau ke?
suci lah sgt cinta. ni manusia yg tak bersalah langsung tahu tak?
jawablah dkt akhirat, baby ni tunggu kau di pintu neraka.



dah bila anak hidup, kau bunuh pula!

macam-macam kes lagi. kes cucu rompak nenek, kes bf kakak rogol si adik semata-mata tak dapat noda si kakak, budak 14 tahun dirogol rakan sekelas, pemandu teksi ragut beg wanita dlm hospital, bapa rogol anak, pil kuda, eh! apa ni apa ni? tolonglah. tolong sangat-sangat. mmg ini bukan masalah peribadi sy, tp sungguh sy malu dgn sikap macam ni lebih-lebih lagi majoritinya MELAYU! dan sy meluat dan sy sendiri fobia sungguh! ke mana saja sy tak pernah rasa selamat. tak pernah.

hari ni kerja petang, entah berapa banyak kes rogol, bunuh, dadah, rompak lagi sy akan jumpa dalam berita kelak? =(((





Beard Awards 2010 — not a jedi to be seen

May 4

The James Beard Foundation Chef and Restaurant Awards ceremony and the awards press room were practically unrelated this year.

There are really two press rooms — one for sanctioned, formal photography of each of the winners, where people like Kent Miller take pictures like this of people like Timothy Hollingsworth (pictured here in a photo taken by Kent Miller), who was named Rising Star Chef of the Year at the awards last night.

Click here for a complete list of winners.

Then there’s the press room for the rest of us, where we drink Champagne and cocktails (there was even a gin sponsor this year), and eat cheese and drink espresso. This year there was caviar, too, all domestic and sustainable, yet tasty.

And there were little flat screen TVs where, if you wanted to, you could watch the beard awards.

You couldn’t hear them, though. The speakers weren’t working right, so to hear anything above the din of the socializing journalists you had to walk to the very front of the press room — a foyer, really — where you couldn’t see the TVs but you could hear pretty well.

If you didn’t pay attention, you missed the winners, and God help you if you wanted to hear any of their speeches, or the tribute to Michael and Ariane Batterberry, who were given lifetime achievement awards.

I did pop my head into the photographer’s press room long enough to notice that whenever an award winner was named, they played music from Star Wars.

I tried to figure that out. The theme for the awards was “The Legacy Continues,” which sounded bizarre, but it was supposed to be about mentoring and fostering talent and so on, which is nice.

Today I asked my sci-fi and pop-culture guru Blain Howard if "The Legacy Continues" could be associated with Star Wars in any way.

“30th Anniv of Empire is this year...so MAYBE? that?” he suggested.

I commended him for his efforts, and remain confused by the Star Wars music and by the fact that nobody who might possibly write about the awards could simultaneously see and hear them.

But it was still fun. I hung out with old friends, met some fans from the blogosphere, drank multiple cocktails and ate caviar, periodically peering up to see who had won what awards.

Last night I thought I’d predicted eight out of the 19 categories that I care about (I don’t guess the design and graphics awards), but I had missed the fact that Jason Wilson of Crush in Seattle won. I’d predicted that, too, meaning I got nine right. That’s practically half (47 percent), which isn’t bad if I do say so myself.

I didn’t eat much after the awards. I don’t like to stand in line for food, I was full on caviar canapés and the slice of pizza (pepperoni) I’d had before the awards, and there were pictures to take, people to catch up with etc., so I drank a Leffe Blonde and ate some Mangalica ham from D'Artagnan, and a "French Kiss" from them, too. That’s a foie gras-stuffed Armagnac-soaked prune, I believe. It was good.

And I took some pictures

I decided to pick one after party and stick to that one this year, and I picked Eleven Madison Park, whose chef, Daniel Humm, was named, as I predicted, best chef in New York City. It made sense. Daniel Boulud (whose restaurant Daniel won the Outstanding Restaurant award). Stood on some furniture with Humm and danced, eventually spraying the crowd with Champagne.

He did that in 2006 at an after party at Thor (he’d won Outstanding Restaurateur that year), so it was kind of old hat, but people loved it.

The picture above, taken by Kent Miller, is of Daniel Boulud earlier in the evening.

I have some pictures of my own to share, but they’ll have to wait as I’m late for dinner (at Aquavit, sampling the food of its new chef, Marcus Jernmark), so I’ll post one now, and more later.

(Starting on the left) This is French Culinary Institute dean emeritus Alain Sailhac with his wife Arlene, and awesome chef extraordinaire David Bouley and his wife Nicole Bartelme Bouley.

The Bouley’s were wed in a legendary, awesome five-day feast that was in fact covered for the New York Times by my good friend Thomas Crampton.

Oh, and below are the results of my most recent poll, in which I asked you to vote for the Rising Star Chef of the Year. I find the results interesting.

Timothy Hollingsworth, French Laundry, Yountville, Calif. 9 (31%)

Johnny Monis, Komi, Washington, D.C. 3 (10%)

Grégory Pugin, Veritas, New York City 3 (10%)

Gabriel Rucker, Le Pigeon, Portland, Ore. 7 (24%)

Sue Zemanick, Gautreau’s, New Orleans 7 (24%)

May 7 update: I have dug myself out of the work hole I have been in all week and have time to upload some more pictures from the Beard Awards, starting with a shot of Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson, chef-partner of Frasca Food & Wine in Boulder, Colo., and Bobby Stuckey, that restaurant’s master sommelier and partner.

Lachlan might be the quietest chef I know, or maybe we just haven’t had a chance to bond.

Next we have Gary Danko, who you won’t be surprised to learn is the chef-owner of restaurant Gary Danko in San Francisco. To his left (your right) is George Atterbury, general manager of Craft restaurant in New York City.

I’m not sure what they’re doing together, and frankly it’s none of my business.

It’s none of yours, either.

Moving right along, we have Nancy Olson and Chris Bradley.

Nancy, of course, is the famous pastry chef of Gramercy Tavern in New York City, Chris is that restaurant’s sous chef.

He’s not famous yet, but you never know. It’s good to be a sous chef at Gramercy Tavern.

Next up, we have Rita Jammet, former co-owner of La Caravelle, with her twin sons Nic, on the left (her right) and Patrick.

Nic is a partner in a successful little fast-casual salad-and-frozen-yogurt chain in the Washington, D.C., area called Sweetgreen. Very big on local, organic, sustainable stuff, including using recycled materials to build their stores. Their yogurt truck is a supergreen hybrid. They hired someone special just to source the best products, and called her their sourceress. Cute, right?

Patrick works for one of those high end beverage companies that sells tea drinks. I’m afraid I have forgotten which one.

From the Chicago contingent, pictured here are best chef in the Great Lakes region nominee Bruce Sherman from North Pond (sporting the beard), and Paul Kahan, who has already won that award.

In fact, this year that award went to one of his underlings, Koren Grieveson. This is what Paul (@PaulKahan) tweeted about that: ”First time ever that someone wearing a jb medal said I was their mentor. Feels pretty great.“

Staying with the Chicago contingent, we have two other previous Beard Award Winners.

On the left is Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, etc., and on the right is Tony Mantuano, chef-owner of Spiaggia.

I’m embarrassed to say that I have never eaten Rick Bayless’s food, except for a bit of salsa served at a cooking demonstration at the St. Helena campus of The Culinary Institute of America.

I’ve eaten at Spiaggia, though it was years ago. It was the first, and possibly the last, place I ever had Ohio wine — not that it was bad, you just don’t see a lot of Ohio wine out there. It was a flinty Pinot Grigio.

Heading down south, we have this year’s best chef in the Southeast winner, Sean Brock, executive chef of McCrady’s in Charleston, S.C, who was just beside himself that he’d won. Shocked, really, and I’m not sure why.

Next to him is New Orleans chef Susan Spicer. I don’t know if she and Sean actually know each other. I pulled them together in the press room for this picture.

Here’s Michel Nischan and his son Chris.

I met Michel, oh, probably in 1999, when I was a new puppy at NRN and he was the chef at Heartbeat at the W Hotel in Midtown East. It was the first of the five Ws that are now in New York City, and Heartbeat was ahead of its time in offering food that was good for you without tasting like you were missing something.

He’s currently the chef-owner of The Dressing Room in Westport, Conn.

Chris and I had never met before.

Finally, from DC, we have pastry chef David Guas, who was with the DC Coast restaurants for years but now has his own company, damgoodsweet. Next to him is Ann McCarthy, whom I met years ago when she worked at Saveur. But now she’s José Andrés’ communications director.

Day Three! finds us on our way to Brugge.


At the train station in Haarlem.


Hurry up and wait describes train travel in Europe.



~headed to Brugge...



~a couple locals that we snapped a picture of at one of our transfers...



~heading into the village from the train station.

~where would we be without maps?


Cool design...



...but color makes all the difference in the world. Color is amazing! I'm so thankful for the gift of sight and color.


~a random street in Brugge.


~beautiful buildings everywhere, that is Brugge.



~looking for B&B Hobo...


The buildings and architecture are just incredible!!!!



~where are we now?



I love the cobble stone streets! It was amazing watching women with high heels walk on them too.


~the roof tops.



~our B&B!!! We finally reached it after 30 minutes of backpacking around. We actually sat down in exasperation when just then a lady walks up and says to us, "Are you the Americans? It's right over here..." (a few yards away.) Wow!






~ the Market Square in Brugge.
The queen's birthday is in April, so they were having celebrations everywhere! To the left is the Neo-Gothic Provinciaal Hof, and to the right the Bell Tower...more about that tomorrow.


~our goat cheese and honey salad
...beautiful, but the cheese was a little much. I mean, I guess if you like the taste of the way a goat smells then you would love it!


~our table at the Flemish Pot...so pretty. And it was so nice to just sit down and get served! :D



~meandering and taking pictures.



~the view from our room.
Another day is gone. I can't even begin to tell you how good it felt to crawl into bed each night. :)

~Anna

Day 13: Touring Damascus

We set off early for what our guide promised would be a wonderful day-long tour of the most important sites in Damascus. We moved fast, let me tell you, mostly on foot. And it was wonderful.

Our first stop was the National Museum. My favorite room was the reconstructed synagogue of Doura Europos, covered with dirt and preserved when the Persians conquered the town in the mid-3rd century AD. We also saw a small tablet of the alphabet of Ugarit in cuneiform from 1400-1300 BC that formed the basis of the Phoenician, Greek and all the Western languages.

We stopped briefly at the handicraft market next to the museum housed in the hospice area of an Ottoman-era complex from the 1550s. We particularly loved the scarf shop and the one where a fellow was blowing glass.

And then on to the Old City. While I had been to Damascus in 2003, my visit had centered around conversations between Muslims and Christians. We didn’t spend much time on tourist activities. So I was thrilled to return to the Old City.

We walked through one of the western gates into the souk or market, dating in its current form from the late 19th century, full of people shopping. Women wearing every imaginable form of head gear, including black scarves completely covering their faces. Little kids in pink and green play suits holding the hands of their covered moms and casually dressed dads. Many eating ice cream cones as they walked along.
We headed toward the Great Umayyad Mosque, dating mostly from the 8th century when Damascus was an Islamic capital. As visitors to the mosque, we had to be properly covered and for those in need, the mosque provides long beige coats with peaked hoods.

We continued walking toward the Jewish and Christian Quarters, amazed by the quiet after the hubbub of the market. While these quarters have been primarily residential, our guide, who lives in the Christian area, is concerned that the quiet won’t last for long. The cost of houses has risen so much that families can no longer afford them and hence many of the old houses are being turned into restaurants and hotels that generate more traffic and noise.

We stopped for lunch at Jabri House. Like most of these old houses, it is built around a central courtyard, with all the rooms facing the courtyard. We had a delicious lunch but the best dish was falafel. I was a little worried when our guide ordered it as I have eaten falafel that landed in my stomach like lead. To my surprise and delight, it could not have been better. They nearly floated off the plate. Dipped in a light and creamy tahini sauce, they were so good.

Finally we visited several art galleries and the home of a collector and gallery owner and saw paintings and sculptures that were just beautiful. The Arts District is a vibrant and growing area of the Old City and brought us right up to the present moment.

Damascus is perhaps the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. In a day we have seen the span of Damascene history. Neolithic settlements (8500-4500BC) in the museum. The story of Paul on the road to Damascus from the Christian Bible. The Umayyad Mosque when Damascus was the center for the Islamic world. And more and more… Finally we are here in the present moment walking through an immensely alive and active old and new city. It is quite amazing.