What is Your Favorite City to Live?

I have been pretty nomadic since I was 11, and I have been moving from one place to another in search of my dream (it keeps changing, by the way). And no, I don't move because my family had to move somewhere. I basically moved out of house by sheer luck (and perhaps destiny, if you believe in one).

So if I create a map, this is the extent of my mobility (and I am 25 years old when I wrote this):

I'm pretty sure that you must have read or heard so many people saying "you must travel lots when you are in your 20's". Well, I guess my case is a rather extreme one. So when I feel like I need to spend some of my weekends lazing around my apartment, I have a reasonably valid excuse :P

To people who have never lived outside their own country, or even their own hometown, I get a lot of "Which country/city do you like the best?"

The answer is always difficult because there are pros and cons to each place. And while some places are great for tourism, it's not a great place to live. For this, I will have to nominate Paris. I don't want to say anything further about Paris, but living there for 2 months certainly destroyed my fantasy about "a romantic city".

Living in the US can be rather boring if you are interested into experiencing cultural events because pretty much people are interested in shopping, getting the latest gadget, eating at famous restaurants, etc. Unlike in Europe, Christmas season means big sales, not drinking mulled wines and enjoying little Christmas treats. And living without a car can be pretty painful in the US, since the public transport is pretty bad. Well, it probably differs from cities to cities, or from states to states. The US is a very convenient place to live, with stores open till late every day and online shopping made very easy. The best part of it? Almost in every corner of the US, everyone speaks English and at this point, I am more confident speaking English than my native language, Indonesian.

(image source: dailymail.co.uk)

Cork in Ireland can be rather dull and gloomy. And rainy just like the UK. But what I love from Ireland is the Irish hospitality. I felt so welcome by the locals, and I perceive their kindness as saintly. I remember getting lost in the city as a newcomer, and someone on the road just stopped her car just to ask if my friends and I were lost. They speak English, too, but their accents are a little bit hard to pick up. It took me about 3 weeks to adjust my ears.

In Kinsale, a neighboring town to Cork

Lund in Sweden is a cozy place, although it's pretty much filled in with aged residents in the summer, since the university students would be leaving for home. Things are rather slow-paced, and it is blessed with great nature. I was there during summer and I enjoyed it. Not sure if I'd become a snowball in winter, though. One thing I don't really like about Sweden is that the food is rather bland. With exception of the Swedish meatballs served with real lingon berry - not cranberry - jam. I know that in most IKEAs around the world, lingon berry is not available, so you've been eating the IKEA meatball with cranberry jam instead. The difference between lingon berry and cranberry is probably rather minimal and if you don't even know how lingon berry tastes like, cranberry jam is good enough.

Summer in Sweden

I lived in two cities (well, I would consider the other one a village, but it is officially a city based on legal laws) when I was in the Netherlands. To be honest, Rotterdam has been the most enjoyable city I have lived so far. It was a lively city, not too crowded, convenient, excellent public transport... and almost everyone speaks good English. The weather is considerably mild, and there is almost everything you need. True, it is rather modern and some people may take modern city as boring, but it is very close to good touristic places. And oh, the open market is absolutely awesome. Everything is fresh, the prices are lower than the supermarket, and there are good selections of items, ranging from fresh produce to gorgeous flowers.

The iconic symbol of the Netherlands: windmills

If there are unique things I like about the Netherlands, those are: 1) a lot of people speak good English considering English is not their first language, 2) finding Indonesian (and other Asian food) is rather easy, and 3) it is very international. The hardest thing to get adjusted to was the Dutch directness, which can be perceived as rudeness if you are not aware that they do not have evil intention when they openly criticize something about you. But in the end, I kind of like it. It's better than holding in things and cursing people behind their backs, not giving them any chance to improve.

Singapore, on the other hand, has gone quite tremendous changes over the years and sometimes when I went back there for holidays or to visit my friends, I felt that it was oddly foreign. There are more and more foreigners, and wherever I go, I always meet an Indonesian on the street. It's weird. Singapore is rich with many forms of entertainment, but it can be a very stressful place to live. I remember when I was in high school, someone from the top 3 school across the nation committed suicide because she got one B in her midterm exams. The "B is a failure" mentality can be rather suffocating, but I don't think Singapore can be released from this culture any time soon. But hey, there are lots of good food in Singapore, like Hainanese chicken rice, laksa, and roti prata.

(image source: forbes.com)

Now, the reason why I started this post was because I just moved to Switzerland almost two months ago, and by far, this move was the hardest for me. Contrary to the "I don't care if you see everything inside my house, I'm gonna open all the curtains in my house" mentality of the Dutch, the residents of Switzerland love to close their windows not just with curtains, but with metal blinds. After working hours (let's say 5-6 PM), all windows are shut.

Enjoying Alpen horns in St Cergue, close to Geneva

You can say it is peaceful, but it is too quiet for me. It's kind of like Wageningen in the Netherlands. But I think I will get used to it soon by picking up hobbies and exploring places. The best thing about living in Switzerland is probably the abundance of good cheese and white wines, the reliability of the public transportation system, and the fact that you are forbidden to work on Sundays (yippie!!).

As for my hometown, Jakarta... I think I see more cons than pros, and if my family is not there, I would not pick it as a place to live. The traffic jam is insane. At one time during my vacation back home, it took us at least 30 minutes to go to the supermarket, which is probably less than 5 km away from our house. My mobility is extremely restricted, and I really hate that. Walking on the streets alone as a girl, even in a broad daylight, can be very dangerous. In the malls, in a restaurant, on the streets, in front of your house, in your car... let's not even talk about in public transport. When I go back, the only things I appreciate are my family, my house, and the food.

Can you imagine that you have a sudden heart attack in the middle of the road and the ambulance can't even pass through? Or you are in labour and you are going to give birth in the next few minutes, when the traffic is like this every day? I mean, let's cross our fingers that we don't have to be in such situations, but if any of these emergencies were to happen... Ugh!

(image source: says.com)

Oh, and finally, Tokyo! I went there in spring for 3 months, and it was awesome. Things are pricey, and people there are rather reserved. Stand out a little bit, and everyone will be staring at you. The morning trains make me understand how it feels to be a sardine in a can. But overall, it is a very convenient city with lots of entertainment (especially the karaoke boxes and game arcades!). Tokyo is rather unique, with very modern buildings blended with natural landscapes. The old and the new are standing side-by-side. Vending machines are everywhere, and 100 yen shops are dens of evil sucking money out of you without realizing it (the items are worth their values, though). People are still shy about speaking English, but the young ones are quite willing to speak English. And there are more and more signs in roman letters, so navigating through the city is rather easy.

In a traditional Japanese inn (ryokan)

What is your favorite place to live?

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Cooking Collections during Bachelor's Degree

If you study food science major in the United States, you'd most probably end up in a somehow rural settings where entertainment is somewhat limited. After I came to Wageningen, I feel that there were actually more entertainment in Urbana-Champaign. Basically, Walmart is my haven. I remember spending 2 hours in food section of Walmart with my foodie friends after having a large dinner together. Yep, this was how I spent my bachelor degree without getting too bored.

I actually made recipe cards for the stuffs that I cooked. Printing photos in Walmart was quite cheap and easy, so I just did a simple editing by adding text into the pictures, and print them. Then I wrote the recipe at the back. Almost all of the food that I cook have no recipes - they were just something that I thought of when I was bored. Now my mum keeps this recipe-in-photo collection of mine.

It is actually easier to get ingredients in the States than in the Netherlands, although the freshness of the items, especially fruits and vegetables, might not be as good as those in the Netherlands. Farmers markets sell them at expensive price, and those found in large groceries stores like Walmart are normally picked before they were ripe, and ripening occurs during storage (because of increased ethylene concentration). Tomatoes taste less sweet, French beans last shorter... oh, and a lot of fruits are pre-packed. Cut pineapples in modified atmosphere packaging taste really sweet, and sometimes I don't know if they spray liquid sugar to keep its freshness (and also to reduce browning from oxidation).

Well, these were some of the things I cooked in the past. Somehow I feel that I was way more creative back then. Like substituting roasted seaweed with egg white as sushi wrap? Yeah, it's insane, but it's possible.

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Brain Tonic & Sugar in Drinks

This is one of the weird stuffs I saw on the shelf in the US: Brain Toniq.

I don't know what it does to you, but I want to try tasting it.

Ingredients List

I think this is not the first time I see blue green algae on the list. Seems like it is gaining popularity. But what about the rest of them? Choline? Eleutherococcus extract? Rhodiola Rosea extract? What the hell are those? They're not something that normal people would know. I'm a student of food science, and I don't know what those are and what their functionalities are.

And.. that's why we need Wikipedia. It's not the best website for accuracy, but it's a good place to look for possible leads to more accurate sources. I found them, it's quite a long reading, but if you want a summary, scroll down to the next paragraph after the explanation on Rhodiola rosea.

Choline: 

The cation appears in the head groups of phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin, two classes of phospholipid that are abundant in cell membranes. Choline is the precursor molecule for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine which is involved in many functions including memory and muscle control.Choline must be consumed through the diet in order for the body to remain healthy.^[6] It is used in the synthesis of the constructional components in the body's cell membranes. Despite the perceived benefits of choline, dietary recommendations have discouraged people from eating certain high choline foods, such as egg and fatty meats.

Eleutherococcus:

Some species, notably E. senticosus (Siberian ginseng), are used for herbal medicine.

Rhodiola rosea:

Rhodiola rosea may be effective for improving mood and alleviating depression. Pilot studies on human subjects^[2][3][4] showed that it improves physical and mental performance, and may reduce fatigue.

After reading Wikipedia, I suddenly remembered that I learned about choline in my psychology and human physiology courses. Eleutherococcus is basically a family of ginseng (not sure which ginseng). Rhodiola rosea.. I'm not sure what kind of root it is, but it's supposed to help physical and mental performance. 

Why use such a complicated term any normal person will not understand? I don't know.

80 Calories doesn't sound too bad, but all of them seem to come from 20g per 8.4 fl oz (250 mL) of sugar.  Seems legit because 1 g of sugar gives you 4 Calories. So is it considered high?

Comparing sugar level is a little hard because different beverages have different serving size, so the best way to compare is to find the concentration of the sugar by dividing the mL serving size by the weight of the sugar (so that leaves the unit in g sugar / mL drink). 

For example, this one has 20/250 = 0.080 g sugar / mL. 

Teh Pucuk Harum, a fairly new bottled sweetened tea in Indonesia, has 26/350 = 0.074 g sugar / mL.

Of course, it's a little difficult to compare these numbers when you go to stores, unless you really have nothing to do and you decide to take out your calculator / phone and start calculating the sugar concentration of each drink. Like a geek. Or an overly health conscious person.

But what is there to be ashamed of? You are responsible for what you eat. The company provides the list; you decide whether to buy it or not to buy it. The labels are there for you to look at.

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Microwave vs Oven: Tony Luke's Cheesesteak

All the locals would tell me that the best Philly cheesesteak is actually not found in Pat's or Geno's, but in Tony Lukes. Pat's and Geno's are more popular among the tourists.

I hadn't had the chance to visit Tony Luke's, so when I went to Target I found this frozen Tony Luke's cheesesteak. Okay, we all know that frozen food is never as good as the real thing, but I'd like to give it a try.

When I got home, I expected the cheesesteak to be prepared by oven because this Tony Luke's brand makes the cheesesteak more... "premium" and thus I had the perception that it cannot be prepared using microwave. But no, I was wrong. I had two options: oven preparation ("the best method", as described on the packaging) or microwave preparation.

It's a perfect setup for an experiment: 2 frozen Italian breads and 2 packets of vacuum packed sliced beef and cheese. I tried both preparation methods at the same time.

 I was supposed to microwave the meat and cheese packet into the microwave without opening the package. At first I was a little skeptical about what will happen to the packet. It simply inflated.

I guess this way the moisture from the meat won't be lost so the meat remains juicy. On a side note, it was also written in the instruction that you can pour whatever "meat juice" left in the bag onto the cheesesteak to make it more... delicious (beef broth and beef fats? Hell yes).

The other option of reheating the meat was to submerge the meat packet into boiling water. The texture of the meat prepared in boiling water wasn't that different from the microwaved one.

As for the bread, I can either microwave it for 2 minutes, or bake it in a preheated oven for 3 minutes or so. The results were so obvious.

The left one was microwaved and the right one was oven baked. The oven baked one was more "expanded". You can't really tell from the picture but the microwaved bread was rubbery and tough. The oven baked bread was light and crispy on the outside. And a little more dried.

So you can't really tell the difference in the meat, but you definitely can tell the difference in the bread texture.

The first one you see above is microwaved. And the one below was oven-prepared.

The bread matters a lot when it comes to appearance.

My verdict? I'll go with microwave method when I only have 5 minutes for dinner. I definitely prefer the oven-prepared cheesesteak over the microwaved one.

I think the new trend nowadays is to involve consumers in some sort of food preparation to make them think like "they can cook", but in the end everything is instant if you really think about it. This kind of frozen food definitely seems more premium than instant meals on the shelves.

When I prepared the cheesesteak, I didn't feel like I was cooking. I was just re-assembling everything into one piece. Kind of like building a GUNDAM plastic model: you have the parts ready, you just have to put an extra step of putting everything into a complete piece of work.

I felt like "I didn't make the cheesesteak".

At the end of the "experiment" I felt really guilty. Look at the calories. 590? Holy crap, I ate two of them, so I had 1180 Calories that night. Boohoo.

And 80% of saturated fat intake, and 126% of sodium intake. What the hell.

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