Tempe

No, not the town in Arizona. I have never been there and that Tempe is inedible. This tempe (or some people called it 'tempeh') is made out of soy bean, a great protein source, and pretty delicious. 

Lazy person's Dongpo pork

So, my interest in Dongpo pork was a result of going to a new restaurant in town that just opened. If you know me, I'm always on the lookout for the next "IT" restaurant. No, not "IT" as in the coolest, hippest restaurant in town - I'm actually like a fish out of water at those places - but a restaurant that's different, unique and can pique my interests in their dishes. 

Figure 1. Dongpo pork

Black Pepper Chicken or Soy Sauce Chicken a la that Delicious Mamak-Style Eatery in Malaysia...

When I was a wee late-teen gal, I was sent off to Malaysia for about a couple of semester. Now it seemed like AEONS ago that that episode in my life happened... 

From Hainan with love...?

This is probably a strange meal. Simply because I used to hate this dish. When I was little, I prefer mixed rice (Indonesian: nasi campur) compared to this. Mixed rice is a mixture of lap cheong sausage, salty and sweet roasted pork (brown roasted pork and red roasted pork), cooked eggs in brown sauce, and a bunch other delicacy with chili sauce. So you can imagine how pale this dish is next to the aforementioned dish. The chicken in this dish is almost colorless, the flavor is VERY mild, and it's really accentuating sesame oil, ginger, and cilantro: all the things I hated when I was a kid.

Thanksgiving... Thank you for everything!

Thanksgiving is unknown in Indonesia. Quite frankly, I didn't even learn how to make my own thanksgiving meal set until after I lived here for 4-5 years. The meal is complex, not because of its flavor profile but the sheer amount of trimmings involved in making a proper thanksgiving meal.

It is, in short, a labor of love.

Yum, yum, yum!

Probably NOT the right name to call this. And I really didn't know what to call this being that I am not Thai. But this dish is inspired by the Thai beef salad, except that mine has the added shrimp which makes this surf and turf. I liked it to pieces and I like to make a big batch and keep it in the fridge, but NO more than overnight, the salad gets too watery otherwise. But, I'd wager that this is due to the fact that I am lazy to keep the components in separate pieces. 

Satay (aka. skewering chicken mercilessly)

Have you ever had the urge to skewer something...? Say... like, you know... chickens? Well, fear not! I have the remedy right here! (Actually, I hope not. Chickens are nice, they're cute and fluffy, and they peck at you lovingly and chase you out of their coop curiously... well, you get the idea...)