Explore the possibilities.

Never be afraid to choose a road that nobody chooses.

Challenge new boundaries

Nobody knows what lies beyond.

There is always something new every day.

Pay attention to little details in your life and appreciate them.

Share the knowledge.

It is always fun to talk to someone who knows the subject as well as you do.

Be excited, and remember the excitement.

Never say you're too old to do something.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Thank you for the good, good food (Florida)

Bali Cafe
109 NE 2nd Ave
Miami, FL 33132
(305) 358-5751



Bali Cafe serves a wide variety of Indonesian and Japanese food, mainly sushi. I didn't try the sushi menu because I was looking forward more to the Indonesian food. They server beef rendang, soto betawi, ikan balado, bihun bakso, bakmi ayam, opor ayam and other generally well-liked Indonesian dishes.

Some of the menu that I know are tasty: beef rendang, opor ayam, ketoprak and ikan balado. The beef rendang was very close to the authentic rendang, in case you are wondering. It's not as spicy as it should, but nonetheless very appetizing.

The dessert was brilliant. They serve lapis legit - a layered cake - with three flavored ice cream: yam, pandan and jackfruit. At first glance, I thought the very eye-striking colored ice cream (purple, green and yellow) were outrageous, but surprisingly the ice cream went really well with the cake! It was so far the best combination of dessert I had ever eaten.

The restaurant has a good ambience. The small restaurant also offers very friendly service. My rating of the restaurant is 8.5/10.



Texas de Brazil - Miami
The Dolphin Mall
11401 N. W. 12th St, Ste 514
Miami, FL 33172


I was recommended by a person sitting next to me on the plane. She resides in Florida, and she said Texas de Brazil is a must-go. It's a Brazilian steak house, in which many types of meat were served.

They have a wide variety of sides available at the salad bar. The vegetables are fresh. I personally like the artichoke salad. Other than salads, they have sushi, sashimi, brisque, rice and some other appetizers to start. But since the entree is going to be really heavy, I wouldn't recommend having heavy appetizers.

The best meat was of course the special meat: the ribs. No, it's not just normal ribs. The meat is extremely tender even though it is fully cooked. It melts perfectly in the mouth. For that moment, I will close one eye to the fact that the meat is extremely high in fat.

For the dessert, I tried a piece of cheese cake and key lime pie.



The cheese cake was well-displayed. It has a bottom chocolate flavored cheese cake, topped with caramel sauce. It was a pretty normal-flavored cheese cake, but I like it.

Next, the key lime pie.



A beautiful blend of sweet and sour, accompanied with strong, aromatic lime flavor that leaves a fresh aftertaste. It's a good choice of dessert right after eating a series of meats at the steakhouse.

A quite pricey restaurant, indeed. However, it is worth paying. The restaurant also has a good view. The calm ambience and the lightings make one feel comfortable. My rating for this restaurant is 8.5/10.



Arabian Nights


Seriously, the food sucks. The USDA Sirloin steak was dry and tough. It was very unappetizing. My friend ordered the cut steak because she cannot eat half-cooked meats. It turned out that the cut steak was just a beef patty with BBQ sauce on it. I prefer the "cut steak" compared to the sirloin steak since the sauce added some juiciness to the meat, but it was still a disappointment. The mashed potato keeps the score up, but overall, I wouldn't recommend anyone to eat there. The vegetables served were frozen vegetebles. Drinks (coke and water) are free flows, and alcoholic beverage costs $5. For the dessert, they serve vanilla ice cream with some chocolate sauce.




The ice crea was far from spectacular.

The show I watched during the dinner was also disappointing. Indeed, some tricks performed were quite eye-catching, and they did put some jokes that caught everyone's attention (I don't think I'd spoil it here). However, most of the horse tricks were getting boring from the middle part onwards. Not to mention how horrible the storyline was.

My rating for Arabian Nights is 5.5/10. It's been overrated, seriously.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Something to contemplate about

Within this one week, I had a lot of things to ponder.

Actually I had been thinking about this idea since about 2-3 years ago. One branded bag (LV, for example) can save a lot of people living in poverty. It was amazing to see how wealthy people can be blind about such crisis going on in this world, wasting so much on unnecessary things for the sake of pride.

The pride in which they are not supposed to be proud of. What I'm talking about is when kids spend their parents' money when they're not earning a single cent.

It's not that I have a particular grudge against rich, pampered people, nor I am jealous of their capability to use money to control people. As a matter of fact, I could be capable of turning myself into a lazy-assed princess who can only lift my fingers to get things done. But if I do that, I feel that I'm throwing my self dignity away. The time when I don't know how to wash dishes, that's when I die.

When I think like this, I think I'm just not suited to become a millionaire. I fear the thought that someday I might lose my heart just because I have enough money to buy power and control over the others.

Not all rich people are heartless. But what amazes me is that how they can turn utterly ridiculous.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

First day of Spring

Now there's one more reason why I love going to google.com: to see what special day it is today.

Yep, it's today. It doesn't feel like it's the beginning of spring, since the weather was so warm last week. It's gotten colder again today. I love the weather just as it is: not so cold and not so hot. I generally prefer colder temperatures, though.

After looking at leafless trees along the roads for months, I get the feeling how winter is very romantic. Summer is more like... cheerful and lively, but winter has its own elegance. And if I were to pick, I would choose winter over summer. You can wear as much clothes as you want during winter, and it would help you fight the cold. Sadly, even if you're wearing as little clothes as you can during summer, you can't do anything against the heat.

Spring break is just one step ahead, and yet I don't feel very much excited mostly because I can't keep my head clear of the things that I have to do before and after the break. I have lab reports to do and tons of materials to study. Let me make the list of things happening the week after spring break:

Mon: FSHN 260 lab report, MCB 101 practical exam
Tues: FSHN 131 lab report, MCB 101 lab report
Wed: CHEM 232 (hellish) exam, CHEM 233 lab report
Thurs: FSHN 131 lab report
Fri: MCB 101 exam

...plus the other minor stuffs that I need to do.

Okay. No more time to complain.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Tired.

Simply tired.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Interesting recipes

Go to this link: TasteSpotting

The pictures look so gorgeous. Ohh yumm...

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Merlion struck by lightning

I read Tasya's blog, and found out about this news.

Well, the Merlion is only 36 years old, but the fact that it was blown by a lightning strike kinda strikes me. Really. It was pretty unthinkable, considering that the Merlion doesn't have a sharp, pointy head :S

Another bad news struck me too. An Indonesian final year engineering student stabbed his professor.

A dark blow of wind is coming towards Singapore...?