Jokes on Grandma

Eid Al-Fitr always become the most awaited celebration for most people in Indonesia. It is the longest public holiday when the big family could gather, pay visits to long-lost family members, spend the nights over in hometown, and eat lots of food. This year, my grandma decided to spend holiday at my house, which is unusual. Normally, it's the children who had to visit the elder.

However, I was not that excited in welcoming grandma because I know exactly the big question she has in mind. My sweet grandma is 82 years old and suffering short-term memory loss. She couldn't recall what she had for breakfast an hour ago and whether or not she had taken a bath. Despite of this, she's a lovely, caring grandma, who puts priority of others than herself. In the big family, she's known for helping relatives finding partner. Yup, she's a love cupid. She never forgets to question each of her grandchildren to get boy/girlfriend. She worries the single ones, which none other than me. Consequently, I have to deal with her frequent question, "Dear, have you got a boyfriend?"

She once arranged a date for me with her friend of friend's son. I didn't mind at that time, however it didn't work. She teased me if I'm thinking of getting a boyfriend or if I plan to become a single old lady. Well, I would say building relationsthip takes time, it cannot be imposed. How could the elders become such impatient?

To make her happy and to keep my pride on, I told her, "Grandma, I actually already met a really nice guy. His name is David, a British, very sporty and handsome. We've met in Madame Tussauds Museum in Amsterdam." Then the conversation went like this:

Grandma : "Really??? Show me the picture!"

Me          : (showed her the photo) "Look, grandma, we've even done sports together!!"

Grandma : (examined the photo carefully though she couldn't see well due to her low vision) "Has he ever visited

                 Indonesia? Then, please make it fast. What are you waiting for?

Me          : "Don't worry, grandma. Our relationship will be everlasting."

Grandma : "How could you be so sure if he never visits Indonesia?"

Me          : "Because it's a wax-made relationship."

Grandma : "?????"

Eventually she figured out who the real David is. I couldn't help but laughing. Sorry, grandma.. ;)

David, after this workout, we should pay grandma a visit!!

Classic Kaasstengels

Setiap menjelang Lebaran, di rumah pasti selalu ada kue Kaasstengels. Tahun ini aku dapat tugas dari ibu negara untuk membuat kue klasik tersebut. Beliau pun mendikte resepnya, dan seperti biasa takarannya tidak pernah persis, selalu mengandalkan feeling dan metode 'kira-kira/secukupnya'. Ternyata resep kuenya mudah sekali! Hanya perlu bahan-bahan seperti margarin, terigu, kuning telur, dan pastinya keju.

Berikut cara memasaknya:

- Mixer 2 sachet margarin hingga berwarna putih dan lembut

- Masukkan 1 buah kuning telur

- Parut seperempat bola keju edam, campurkan ke adonan

- Masukkan sedikit demi sedikit setengah kilo tepung terigu, aduk rata hingga kalis

- Bentuk adonan menjadi kukis kecil, olesi dengan kuning telur dan parutan keju cheddar

- Panggang dalam oven yang sudah dipanaskan selama 30 menit dengan api kecil

Melihat ada kacang almond nganggur, langsung ku blender dan kucampurkan bubuk almond ke dalam adonan. Jika adonan dirasa masih terlalu lemas, tinggal ditambahkan terigu sampai adonan bisa digiling dan dibentuk. Sebelum masuk oven, loyang harus diolesi margarin dahulu supaya tidak lengket. Olesan kuning telurnya pun dicampur sedikit susu cair dulu supaya permukaan kejunya nanti tidak lepas dari kue.

Percobaan pertamaku sukses, gurih dan renyah, begitu pun hingga batch loyang terakhir keluar dari oven, alhamdulillah nggak ada yang gosong. Walau ukurannya nggak standard, ada yang panjang-pendek-tebal-tipis, yang penting rasanya pas. Setelah dikeluarkan dari oven, kue diangin-anginkan setengah jam baru dimasukkan dalam toples. Ada sekitar satu kilo Kaasstengels yang sudah jadi dan disimpan dalam dua toples. Di antara kue-kue Lebaran lainnya, Kasstengels buatanku yang paling cepat habis. Seneng deh libur Lebaran kali ini bisa tambah skills di dapur, nggak cuman jago di skills cuci piring :)

Homemade Kaasstengels ♡

Durian Tree

So here's the story. My family has a durian tree. If you come to my house, you will find it fruiting a lot. The fruits come in big sizes. They’re yellowish, redolent, and yummy!

My durian is special, more than any durian you ever saw, because my durian tree has its own long story J

Twenty years ago, back then in 1994, my dad came home from office carrying a poly bag of durian seedling. He got it from his friend who had nursery business.

The seller said, "The seed is very good! It’s a kind of Durian Petruk."

My dad put the seedling in our little garden. The garden itself is only 30 meters square, not really spacious, but my mom and dad love gardening very much, they planted kinds of tree, vegetable, flowers, fern and shrubs, made it now look more like rain forest than a garden.

However, the durian seedling got its special spot. At the corner of garden it was kept in poly bag for ten years. It grew very slow.

Then my dad decided to pluck the tree out from its poly bag, he changed it into a large drum barrel to make more space for the tree to grow. The tree eventually grew faster, it become thick and tall, but produced zero fruits (sigh).

Then my mom became very anxious about the tree’s fertility, she bought many kinds of fertilizer. The tree was under her attention. It received royal treatment, daily watering and given the best nutrition a tree can get, until our neighbor told my mom to give the tree some cuts, to make the tree fruiting real soon. In no time, my mom came back to the tree with a sharp knife. She cut the trunk several times, left it smeared with resin.

Six years passed by, still no fruits appeared, and the tree seemed like had stopped growing (!)

"Perhaps the root has grown too big for its tiny barrel", said my dad.

Then we decided to move the tree from its drum barrel to the ground. The tree had grown so big and heavy, it took 3 men to relocate it. We moved it to the ground so the root can grow more freely and hopefully will soon bear fruits. The durian tree is now placed next to our mango tree.

Another three years passed by, we thought the tree must be fruiting now. But apparently, the tree became thinner. Its branches had lost more leaves than before.

We had no idea what happened at that time. Perhaps the tree didn't like its new place.

One night, there was heavy storm in Bogor, ravaging our garden. The next morning, we found our poor durian tree was hit by the mango tree. It seemed like the storm broke some of mango tree branches, it fell upon the durian tree.

The durian tree was severely injured because of the storm. We tried to fix it but it didn't work, the three became thinner and scrawny.

My dad said, "Well, it’s only a matter time. Our poor durian tree might not survive."

My dream to enjoy delicious durian flesh was over.

But after a year, surprisingly, our durian tree survived! It recovered itself and started to grow flowers! When durian season comes, the tree showed its fertility. Baby durians came out from its branches, so many of them, around 6-7 durians. They were coming out like 'plup-plup-plup' everywhere!

Soon after, durians became trending topic in our neighborhood. Neighbors began to talk about our durian. Every time they walked pass by our house, they would stopped for a while, looking up, observing our durian tree, guessing which one of the fruits that would ripe perfectly.

The first ripe durian was successfully landed on our garden. My mom cooked sticky rice, served with durian sauce and we shared it with our neighbors.

Lessons learned I got from the durian tree is that we cannot stay forever in comfort zone. The tree has experienced relocation twice, from poly bag to the drum barrel and to the ground. It has to compete with other plants to get enough sunshine, soil, and water. It had gone through dry and rainy seasons, wind and storms. It took 20 years to finally produce fruits.

I think it's similar to human being, we cannot stay in comfort zone forever. We had to compete to survive. We had experienced series of bad situation that actually helping us to grow. We have potentials that perhaps we haven’t figured it out yet. But if we keep learning, patiently and persistently (like the durian tree), we will sow our hard work in the future.

Our first ever prime durian was perfectly ripped off right after it's fallen from the tree J

Babysitting Althea

What can you learned from a toddler?

My niece, a 19 month babygirl, is like a box of chocolate, full of surprise!

She has innocent angelical look that adults can't stand not to kissing and cuddling her.

She could be very sweet at one moment, running around the entire house, dancing all day long,

trying to walk in adult shoes, seeking for new things. Her day is adventures and her energy is curiosity.

Sometimes she just fooling around to make us laugh. But if she can't get what she want, she could be very angry, rolling on the floor, and crying so loud that the universe could hear.

I'm the last child in the nuclear family, so the presence of my niece is really help me to learn babysitting. Here's my tips for you who never been babysitting before.

(1) Recall your memory for children songs. The melody and lyrics you sing for toddler simultaneously teach him/her new vocabulary.

(2) When bath time comes, do quickly in undressing + bathing + drying + dressing because toddlers usually spoiled and easily distracted by things surround them.

(3) Inspire toddler to walk, less holding around. It helps him/her to develop leg muscles and stimulate brain in exploring the environment.

(4) If toddler has been crying out loud, get him/her mineral water to stabilize his/her emotion and prevent toddler from dehydration.

(5) Always keep an eye of toddler whenever he/she go and whatever things he/she touch. Keep away from dangerous goods, like stationeries, workshop equipment, or even cutleries. Better attract him/her with safe goods made from carton, rubber or plastics.

Hope you find these tips useful! If you're having similar experience, let's share!

Ta ta for now! ~~kiss~~

Little Things About My Family

I couldn’t be more thankful to God to be born in a modern family. We’re living in a nice neighborhood. Growing up in Budi Agung, Bogor, means that everybody know who lives in Jl. Ulin D-9. My mom is famous for she has specialty in making yoghurt. She likes to experiment flavors in her yoghurt. Most of them are taste great because they are in blueberries, mango, strawberries, and mocha flavor. Only the ones with kiwi flavor I couldn’t get the idea why she put in it. If only she had the courage to open a shop, she would have competed Sour Sally or Heavenly Blush right now. My dad is an old wise family man. He’s like a walking encyclopedia for me. He knows almost everything, from physics to politics, history, geology and philosophy. He can do the plumbing, repair the bike, and cook the dishes. His pure hobby is doing mechanical things, that’s the reason why our dying washing machine still working.

        My two elder brothers are handsome. I bet they should have already been actors but destiny led them to be office workers. My first brother is a technical service engineer and the second one works in a national bank. They’re all encouraging me to pursue a scholarship abroad. I know they also had dreams when they were in my age, common dreams that most kids who were born in 80’s always wanted to live in United States. I’m not quite sure whether they will be happy residing in US because all I know is that property taxes can be freakishly high. Just like Benjamin Franklin said, “There two things that are certain in life: taxes and death.” Creepy.

        Another family member is my dog, Boggy. I'm used to play with him. Unfortunately he lost his tail because of veterinarian said he had to cut it for the sake of rabies campaign. More sadly, Boggy died when I was a fourth grader, concurrently with the accidental death of Princess Diana. I was just arrived home from school when I heard that news, then I locked myself in the bedroom, crying for a river. I’ve lost Boggy for I cannot longer playing with him and lost Lady Di for I don’t have any other charming princess to be adored. Since then, my mom always said no every time I asked for adopting new puppy. She doesn’t want her garden to be pooped by any pets.

        Family time comes every weekend. We usually order pizza delivery. We exchange daily life stories by having real conversations. Then we start online with each own laptop, Facebooking and having conversations in the virtual world. That sounds like a modern family to me.

Eid Mubarak 2010

Ied Fitr always be an unforgettable moment to celebrate. This year, our home gets crowded with families and neighbors, smiles are put on our face, blessing the day for we could have quality time in togetherness.