It's really c-c-cold!

Life could be a little wonderful if I were a polar bear. It's so freakin' cold outside (still can't beat Siberia's -68C, but I think -19C is still pretty bad) and I unfortunately forgot to wear my mufflers and my hat today because I thought I was going to be late for lunch with everyone. As usual, I was the first to come. I should have waited for the next bus so I could better equip myself. Meh. I just can't survive without soup. Herbal Chicken...

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Sleepy winter

As winter comes, I become really lazy. And I turn into a real glutton. 5 pm feels like 8 am, and the darkness just makes me feel that it's time to sleep. Low productivity. As I promised last time, I'd post some pictures when I was in Japan. Roaming Tokyo area in 6 days (or maybe it was 5 days, including travel time and all that) was really tiring. The weather was great (the coldest winter in Tokyo is only about 5 degrees C!), the food was great,...

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Love from Japan

It's quite late, but I went to Japan during my Thanksgiving Break. Yes, it's a short Saturday-to-Saturday break, but I think I spent my days there pretty efficiently (like, from dawn till dusk?). During those days, I visited quite a lot of places near Tokyo. The weather is perfect (around 9-17 degrees C in general), although it rained on some days. At first, I was still too shy to speak Japanese on the plane. My first language wasn't Japanese, by the way, and I haven't had any formal Japanese classes. Surprisingly, as I landed on Japan, words...

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Me, the picky eater and the bad essay writer

The reason why I hate baking is that it's not as flexible as cooking savory foods. Let's say, I hate sugar. But I can't bake without sugar because sugar affects the texture of the cake. I feel like I'm underestimating bakers, but I feel that cakes are just combination of sugar, fats, flour and some flavor. Of course, you add things to cakes such as baking soda, egg whites, egg yolks and all others which I may not know. One wrong move and your cake is destroyed. I guess the biggest deciding factor why I'm not into baking is that I rarely ever say...

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HELP!

Not meant to be gory! The initial concept was a person who gets shocked after looking at his friend getting stressed out from studying. After it's been done, the concept changed to a person who witnessed a crime scene (LOL). I don't have any bento ideas nowadays. I've been channeling my ideas through the songs I composed. Thanks to my friend, I became familiar with VOCALOID and I finally got the software. It's surprisingly rather easy to use....

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Spicy Attack

I don't know why but somehow I wanted to eat something really spicy. It's hard to find cabe rawit here, so I used dried chili peppers they normally use in kungpao chicken. I boiled about 40-50 of them, fry them in a little bit of oil and crushed garlic, and just a little bit of lemon grass. And then I added a piece of chicken thigh, cut into 3 parts. Yum! Oh, by the way, good news: I can take French 101 next semester! \(^ v ...

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Shokuyoku no Fuyu

Shokuyoku no aki - a season of hearty appetites in fall season. Well I can't say it's fall right now. It's entering winter. So I'll call my phenomenon "shokuyoku no fuyu" since I'm becoming a real glutton in the cold winter. It's midnight and I was hungry. I ate all the freebie cereal bars at home, so I had no choice but to cook something. I made shrimp alfredo linguine for lunch, and I guess I made too much sauce. So I decided to make a gratin. At...

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Revenge!!

I spent half my weekend (Saturday and Sunday) in my research lab. It was kinda stressful. On Sunday I went to lab at 1 and came back home at 7:30 pm. That was tough. I was really hungry. I thought of dining outside. I didn't think I have enough energy to cook anymore. But as soon as I got home, I thought of cooking something fancy. there we go, Indonesian nasi kuning. Yellow rice My dinner on Sunday and my lunch on Monday Pretty simple to make.  Yellow...

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Bread Bowl

It's getting colder and colder, so I guess it's almost time for soupy meals again. Shrimp and scallop creamy tomato bisque on bread bowl I got the bread from Panera. Or rather, I got it from one of my food science class because we were talking about bread and cheese production and my very nice professor brought us 4 different types of bread and 3 different types of cheese. We had quite a lot of leftover so I brought this one home. But I left it...

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Sleeping Bento

The leaves have started to turn red, but the temperature was around 29-30C today, so it doesn't feel like Fall has come. I was talking to my friend today, and I just realized that it has been 2 months since the start of this semester! I only have 3-4 bento photos so far. That's sad :( I had more last year... So the theme for today is "I still want to sleep..." I think everyone has at least experienced this before: the alarm clock rings, you try to...

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Checkered Cookies

Hello again! I'm back to surface. As you probably have known (if you know me or you follow this blog), I don't like sweet stuffs. But I can't resist cuteness attacks, so I've decided to bake checkered cookies. I was actually inspired by my friend's photo. She made black and white cookies for Valentine's day. Before baking After baking It wasn't that hard to do. Basically, it was the same as shortbread cookie recipe, but with altered flavor. I got...

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A Day to Thank

I'm planning to start this project called A Day to Thank. Basically this is going to be my last year as an undergrad, and I don't know if I will switch univ for grad school. I can't say that my life has been all so colorful - sometimes gloominess just overshadows me. But I survived and I'm doing pretty well as a whole. There is always someone or something to thank about :) Like the big tree near the bus stop that shelters me in the morning from the scorching sunlight, the bus schedule gadget I downloaded on my computer to check when the next...

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Oven Grilled Shrimp

It wasn't what it supposed to be, but it happened that way. I wanted to grill those shrimps with spicy chili pepper dressing, they ended up herb flavored. Oven grilled shrimp with onion and garlic spicy chili pepper dip, baby spinach salad with sesame dressing, and mushroom rice side dish. Shrimps aren't that hard to grill. If I recall correctly I used 350F preheated oven toaster to cook the shrimps. Just keep basting the shrimps to keep it juicy...

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Childhood Food

I used to love corned beef. It tastes really good with rice ♫ Nasi goreng corned beef I found corned beef on County Market's shelf. I don't think I've ever seen corned beef in WalMart. I feel like County Market has a lot of 'exotic' foods not available in groceries like WalMart and Meijer. But I guess the bad thing about County Market is that it doesn't have what other groceries would normally have. Ingredients: 1Tbsp butter 1/4 tsp minced garlic 1/3...

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Gum paste!

As you all know, I have very very little experience with sweet foods, especially cakes and pies. The sweetness just... kills me. I guess I have very great sensitivity to sugar, but even then, I think US cakes are just over-sweetened. The point is... I didn't know what fondant and gum paste were until some time early this semester. I didn't even know of the differences. All I know is that it's all sugar and ingredients that can kill a person with...

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Sweet and Sour

You can't live only with sweet things. Sweet and sour pork with sauteed baby spinach Okay, I'm not trying to be sour. It just happens that when I'm sick I prefer something very flavorful. People suggesting you to eat bland, unappetizing porridge when you're sick pretty much lack empathy. When you don't have any appetite, how can you serve something so pallid to your tongue? I had a pork curry two days ago, and that was quite a bad idea since it...

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Food for the Sick

My mum hates porridge because it's a food for the sick (i.e., when you're sick, you can only eat porridge because either you have difficulty swallowing or you can't digest properly). I've been sick pretty badly since yesterday. I've taken both cough and cold medicines, took a 2 hour nap (and almost forgotten to thank my scholarship sponsor at 6 pm!!), rested my body well... but my condition was still very bad in the morning. I almost collapsed in...

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Have a Good Semester!

I remember my days back in secondary school where my friends and classmates wrote down good luck wishes on a piece of paper and passes it along with sweets, chocolates or coffee to their friends. Ever since I went to univ, I've never given anything for anyone anymore :( Lemon mini cupcakes with no frosting I bought the wrappers from Hobby Lobby. Last week was actually the first time in my life entering that store even though it has been 2 years...

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No time!!!

I don't know how many times I've said this this year but my schedule's been killing me. The credit hour limit in my university is 18; I'm taking 23. Not to mention that at least 3 of them are hard core materials. And then I'm also very involved in 2 clubs related to my major. There is no lunch time at all. And when I got home, it's already dinner time. I had no more appetite - I just want to slam my body against my bed. Then do my assignments...

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First bento of the year

Hello again! Little did I realize that I have entered my last year as an undergraduate. And I have been in college only for 2 years. Sometimes I wish I could graduate normally like others, but tuition is expensive. Why not graduate in 3 years when I can do that? That being said, my schedule this semester has been very hectic because at least three out of seven courses I am taking right now only exist in Fall semester. Which is to say that once...

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Chicken and Beer

It was actually quite some time ago when my friend left a case of Stag beers in our hotel room. She left earlier than I did, and I called her to ask if she still wanted those beers and she said no. I hate wasting things off, so I took them with me and I didn't know how to deal with them since I don't drink beers. Chicken breast cooked in beer and herbs on rice vermcelli and sauteed squash It was a little scary to see the beer foaming up as I heat...

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Bye Bye Bye, Forest

Today was the last day of internship. I'd say I will miss living without a TV, newspaper, internet and phone service. I'm serious. Okay, I did get some phone service in the kitchen and sometimes in my room. I did get unreliable internet service at the lab and at home (but it's always gone whenever it rained because it was a wireless connection). But seriously, no TV and no newspaper. We had some old magazines from like.. 2005 at our house. That's...

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Forest Treats

Well well well! I'm back again from my deep slumber. I've been living in a forest again for another month, and that explains why I don't really post anything on this blog. I do have internet access but sometimes I'm just too tired to post pictures. And lately, sad to say, I haven't been making bentos. Sigh. I do have my rice cooker, but since I'm sharing fridge with 3 other people in the house, I don't think I could get as many ingredients to put...

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Happy Re-Birthday!

You see, today is officially my birthday :) Since I was born in Indonesia, it was officially 12 hours ago. My mum called me when I was about to finish my lab stuff, so I couldn't talk to her for too long. I didn't feel quite right because it's just not June 24th yet in US. But you know, technically it was my birthday. So, uhh... I went to my friend's house to celebrate his sister's birthday (it's more like his mom who invited me to the house). She...

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Pretzel Ice Cream

After graduation, lots and lots and lots of people left. They also left me tons of stuffs - some of which are plainly junks, some are just awesome: just like the ice cream maker. I hate to admit it, I'm not an ice cream eater like the rest of the population. Unless it has some unique flavor or texture that can make me remember how yummy it is. The first and only time that I made ice cream was in my public speech class. One of my classmates taught us how to make ice cream in a ziplock bag using ice and salt as the cooler. He told us that it was...

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I miss home

I miss my home. I miss my home in Indonesia, and I miss my home in Champaign. Right now I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere, doing my summer internship. I can't say it's the most exciting job ever, and it's even hard for me to go through one day after another. I've never shared kitchen with other people before, so I'm afraid to make a mess in the kitchen. My housemates are all nice people, but it's just me and my personality. I didn't cook much here....

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Orange Scallop

Okay, time for some scallops! I bougth frozen scallops a while ago. I wish I could have fresh scallops, but I guess frozen scallops were good enough. thyme-seasoned pan-seared sea scallop, with triple sec (orange liquor) reduction, crispy bacon and cold mango slices I was planning on using fresh oranges, but it turned out that the oranges were invaded by greenish-grey mold (probably Penicillium italicum- heh). I have half a bottle of triple sec...

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Pork Mozzarella Croquette

Had sudden craving for melty mozzarella cheeze. Yep, just like the ones on top of pizza. Before I came to know cheeses better, I always thought that mozzarella was a magic cheese. During my childhood times, what we called 'cheese' is limited to sliced processed cheese, and the only cheese available in the market was produced by Kraft. It made me wonder why those processed cheese won't turn out like those on top of pizza, and now I know why. Someone...

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Skew skew skew!

It's graduation time again. Tons of my good friends left the college, and it makes me so sad. I'm especially sad that my foodies friends are gone :'( Now I have to find people who like to eat and cook.... >.< The end of semester also means cleaning up my fridge. I still have quite a lot of meat in the fridge, so I have to start using them every day so I have nothing left in the fridge. I wouldn't want to eat meat that has been stored for 3...

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Green Tea Caviar

As far as I am concerned, I am so very excited with spherification. I know, I know. I'm like 7 years late, but who cares? Just for additional information, spherification of liquids creates a product that has texture similar to caviar, and thus they are often called 'faux caviar'. So I tried using orange juice at first. I've seen people blogging saying that you have to increase the pH if it's too low, but curiosity always comes first. It failed miserably,...

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Shuriken?

I bought this last week. They're called estrellitas (which I think means little stars), but no matter how I look at them, they look like tiny shuriken... or it's just me and my wild imagination. Estrellitas with meatballs and ham in tomato soup Okay, they don't look that wonderful. I still don't have a sense on soup presentation, especially when the soup is not homogenous like this. Normally I'd just add some garnish like parsley on soups. I haven't...

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Pasta Days

I can't agree better that the easiest food to cook for a college student is pasta. With ready-made sauces available in various flavors, it doesn't take you more than 15 minutes to prepare a simple pasta dish. Orzo with meatballs and green onions in Bertolli's tomato vodka sauce Very useful during exam period. Cook the pasta and dump everything into the pre-made sauce on a pan, heat it for 5-10 minutes and voi...

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Penne penne penne...

I need to start reducing all the food ingredients in my apartment because I'll be moving to southern Illinois for internship this summer. Well, a box of pasta won't rot that easily, but I figure that I need to reduce as many meat products in the freezer as possible. Penne tossed with sun dried tomato and ground beef, ricotta cheese, thyme, Italian parsley, and ground Parmesan cheese Honestly, I don't think it looks THAT appetizing, but...

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Good Breakfast, Good Day

Nowadays I can barely make it to cook myself a good breakfast. Every single spare moment I have, I'd rather spend it by sleeping. It's been rather tiring lately :( - easy over egg (flower shaped) - sauer kraut - broccoli and cheese - pan fried bacon - tomato ketchup Took me about 20 minutes to prepare everything. I was too lazy to use two different pans for the egg and the bacon, so I did the egg first, then the bacon. I suddenly remembered...

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Onion Head

 I used to like Onion Head emotes a lot. They're really cute :3 Looking at them make my mind at peace~...

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Feastful Weekend

I wouldn't have realized it if my friend didn't tell me. Aside from this blog, I also posted my food photos on Facebook, and she told me that I posted 5 different food photos this weekend. Quite a lot for a college student, I guess? This is called lontong sayur. It's an Indonesian dish my mum used to make for breakfast. I'm not particularly into lontong (= rice cake). I don't like the texture =( The reason why I started making lontong out of...

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Thumbprint Cookie

The baking idiot is back to make some mess in her kitchen! I call it the "tower of poo". So this idiot basically melted the chocolate chips first and poured it into a sandwich bag and squeezed it out of the bag onto the cookie dough. I thought it would magically spreads down and make a good pool of chocolate filling, but no. For the cookie recipe, I used this. I modified it slightly. Instead of using almond extract, I used chocolate liquor....

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Cinnamon Roll Bento

My friend kinda requested for a Hello Kitty or Cinnamon Roll bento. I didn't really have enough time, and she said Cinnamon Roll would be easier. So... here we go, Cinnamon Roll bento! They're really basic. The ingredients are: - rice - nori - ham (for the blush and the bento box lining) - meatballs - frozen mixed vegetables (the corn, carrot, green bean and green peas come in one package, so I had to separate them one by one) - cherry tomatoes If...

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