shopping for silver

Mom has a thing for bags... And brooches... Well, and flower seeds and gardening. She tried to resist my offer to buy her something from Bali, but then she said, "Well, if you INSIST, then a silver brooch," to which I replied, "But Mom, I bought you a silver brooch when I came to Bali two years ago and you never wore it!"

"Says who? I wear it often! The thing is, it the pin was bent, so I'm worried it'll break," she said.

So off we went to Ubud, where silver jewelry (the highest quality in Bali) abound. If you're looking for silver jewelry or silver artisans, Bali and Yogyakarta (central Java) are famous for silver. The designs and the craftsmanship are exquisite (this was the word I kept muttering when I saw the silver collections).

Our search began in several artisan shops in an area called Celuk. They sell exquisite jewelry from rings, brooches, hair pins, to earrings, and bracelets and bangles, and decorations made of silver and or gold. We went to one artisan shop and there was this exquisite (see, I keep repeating that word) brooch. The price tag was around USD 600. The seller saw that we were locals, so he gave us USD 300. When we were about to leave, he gave us USD 100.

We went to other artisan shops, including one called UC Silver. Their collections are beautiful, but too crazy contemporary. Too modern for my taste. I was looking for something more local, more traditional, more Indonesian, and definitely not that expensive (Ruby encrusted brooch for USD 1,200? Really? I guess they have to pay for the billboards, the shops, the personal assistants for shoppers (yes, kidding I am not), the display, the decor, and the renovation for the new parking lot).

Then we began our search to smaller silver boutiques in Ubud, and I found the perfect brooch for Mom. Strangely, it was at CV Utami, the store where I bought Mom her first silver brooch.

Isn't it just exquisite? I couldn't find a cat, so I chose a peacock. Hopefully it'll remind her of my tattoo and give her subliminal messages to allow me to get more ink.

Finally, we had lunch at Tutma, a cozy open-air restaurant in Ubud. I had Vegetarian Platter (seriously overpriced and not even tasty) and iced tea (which had an icky aftertaste), and Cinnamon Roll (this one is crazy good. It was big and warm, picture attached). 

dining in bali

When I went to Bali last year, my boyfriend took me to a vegan restaurant called Deity of Miracle. We had a few lunches there, and most often than not, we were the only customers there. It was a big, big restaurant with two seating sections: the upper floor had tables and chairs while the garden offered several patios where diners can lounge.

Yesterday evening, we went there again. To my surprise, Deity of Miracle was still open for business. I helped myself to a plate of Sweet & Sour Mushroom (pure and epic deliciousness) and Bean & Tempe.

My tummy had never been happier.

So please, for the sake of this restaurant (that always seems to be empty), please eat here.

coffee time

 If you're in Bali, if you're a coffee or tea drinker, if you love Indonesian coffee and tea, if you're looking for cakes, or free and fast Wi-Fi, visit Coffee Revolution. It's my little coffee shop in Kerobokan. 

At Coffee Revolution, we believe in serving you authentic Indonesian coffee and tea, acquired directly from local coffee and tea farmers. The beans and leaves are processed manually, with love, so every cup tastes slightly different and unique, not generic the way one gets when one drinks machine-processed coffee or tea. 

Also, there are delicious cakes and fresh pastries, bagels and croissants (it's all-day breakfast, Baby!) and free Wi-Fi. Trust me, the Wi-Fi is free and fast. I'm using it right now!

We serve 100% Indonesian coffee from all over Indonesia: Aceh, Mandheling, Toraja, and Papua, as well as a variety of teas (peppermint, lemongrass, Javanese tea, and green tea). 

the perfect pasta

I love pasta. I really do. What can I say, I love carbs! Carbs give me my curves... Okay, I'm probably delusional.

However, I had an epiphany just last night. I said to myself, "I'm going to make a garlic bread!" not unlike the way Ms. Vida Boheme (RIP Patrick Swayze) told Ms. Noxeema Jackson and Ms. Chichi Rodriguez that it was going to be a say-something-hat-day nor the way Mrs. Dalloway said that she was going to get the flowers herself.

So, I did.

There was no pestle and mortar, so I had another epiphany and decided to chop the garlic into fine, tiny pieces (thank goodness the IKEA knife was not sharp, otherwise I'd have lost two fingers), then dumped them into a little glass, threw in a lump of vegan butter, and mixed them together with spoon. I spread a bit on a slice of bread.

Next came the pasta. I put the pasta into boiling water and after about 7 minutes, I threw in the spinach (washed, obviously). After approximately one minute, I took the pasta and spinach out of the water. When I was cooking the pasta, I fired up my frying pan, put in the garlic butter until it sizzles, then I threw in the mushrooms. After the mushrooms were golden, I put in the pasta and spinach, sauteed them a bit, then put in the sauce, some tomato slices, and stirred some more. The timer in the little oven went "ding" and I saw the garlic bread, all toasty and ready.

So, yes. I just cooked, and I loved it. Who knew?

There's nothing better than a delicious and satisfying meal on a warm, lazy Saturday.

white powder stuff

It was 5 PM and I was feeling peckish - a natural condition considering I only had half a banana for breakfast, four blueberry minimuffins for lunch, and a killer Dance Conditioning workout in between. My Soy Drink helped, I have to give it that, but my mouth was craving for another soy helping of Tofurky sandwich, so I went down to the kitchen.

Even in San Francisco, where vegetarianism and veganism are very much alive and well much to my liking, it is still difficult for me to find vegan mayonnaise. Therefore, I have to settle with what WholeFoods has to offer. I can't help it, I love mayonnaise. Mayonnaise is the greatest flavor enhancer known to humans. It's better than chocolate. It's better than sex... Well, there are some nights when you just want to munch on something else other than youknowwhat.

I knew my mayonnaise had been running low. However, when I swiped the jar out of my designated private shelf, I was surprised to feel its weight. It had decreased so much more than I had remembered or anticipated. I opened the lid and looked inside. Oh hell, no: I was certain it had been at least 1/8 of the jar and when I opened it, it was only 1/10. Someone has obviously been eating my mayonnaise. Maybe I ought to poison it, a thought occurred in my mind.

Nevertheless, I was too hungry to investigate, and there was still enough mayonnaise to lather my toast with.

As I was making toast, Li, my Vietnamese friend came into the kitchen.

"Hey!"

"Hey too! How're you doing?" I asked. He used to be my roommate before I moved to a single room.

"Good. I went to San Jose with my family this morning."

"Oh, that's nice! What did you do?"

"Nothing much, we just make cocaine..."

I actually stopped spreading mayonnaise on my toast and put the spoon down. I looked at my friend in disbelief.

"What... did you do? You made... cocaine with your... family?" I asked, trying to control my stutter.

"Yes! And you should try one of our cocaines! Here!" he said, taking out some white packages from his brown paper bag. I stood there, mesmerized. "Here's tofu dessert, and here's some sugar syrup! You have to try!" he continued.

I almost burst out laughing, yet I was able to compose myself and finally said, "Wow, I've never tried tofu dessert before! Does your family do lots of COOKING?"

"Yes," Li said proudly, "But just for fun. We don't sell these things," he opened one container of sweet, thick caramel liquid the color of maple syrup and honey and poured some into three shallow cylindrical plastic containers. Inside each container was white and creamy tofu. Looks like yogurt, I thought. "Here, for you!" he said, offering not one, not two, but all three portions of the togurt (Yes, togurt. I completely made that up).

"Wow! Thanks! I'll definitely try this tonight!" I said as I rushed to label my yummy dessert.

"You're welcome! I'll see you in school tomorrow!" he replied and left.

"See you!"

I carefully taped the three containers one on top of another and stuck the label firmly on top. I may have lost some of my mayonnaise, but I'm absolutely not going to let anyone take this sweet, sweet, sugary tofu.

In fact, I'll try one tonight. Tofu, I mean. Not that white powder stuff.

joannie's lunch & breakfast: love at first munch

The concept of luxury has become somewhat distorted these days. Decades ago, it was about tangible objects; now, it has stretched itself to include time. Indeed, with only a forty minute lunch break, time is a luxury for people who consider idle rumination during eating a form of therapy. I happen to be one of those people, and, as a person confined to the somewhat upscale Fisherman’s Wharf area of San Francisco, I have two options for lunch: prepare or purchase it. The former is virtually out of the question, since I am a sloth. Consequently, every day I have to venture out there to seek a convenient restaurant. And by convenient, I mean price, distance, cleanliness, and availability of vegetarian dishes. All other priorities such as atmosphere and the staff’s friendliness have been rescinded.

It took me four months to find a place like Joannie’s Lunch and Breakfast, which, surprisingly, is just around the corner. I did not have high expectations about this place. After all, it is an eatery that offers the standard breakfast and lunch of Americans: pancakes, waffles, burgers, and sandwiches.

I had my reservations about this place when I first entered it. I wouldn’t call it shabby, but I sure wouldn’t call it stylish either. It is a standard, family-oriented restaurant: no opulence, no pretense. And yet, my doubt was cast away when a delightful Chinese waiter promptly took me to the table that subsequently becomes my regular place, and gave me the menu. A quick menu scan revealed that the establishment, much to my joy, offered vegetarian options for burgers and sandwiches, using mushroom patties. I was smitten, but still unconvinced. I ordered a portion of Vegetarian Garden Burger with French Fries (I love carbs).

In spite of the restaurant’s crowdedness, my food came rather quickly. In fact, it was too quick: I did not even finish my ponderous thoughts of the meaning of life. All of my grandeur fantasies were reduced to an approving growl of my stomach when the waiter came to my table, serving a big plate of ye olde’ classic burger and fries, with a vegetarian twist. I am no hermit: I take pleasure in being a glutton, and the food presentation, though standard, was pleasing to the eye. The aroma was so delectable that I dug in without a moment of hesitation.

The restaurant had me at first bite. The burger was succulent yet crunchy at the same time. I have savored many a vegetarian burger, yet this one was by far, the best. The delicious mushroom patty was roasted to perfection. On top of it were fresh onions, lettuce, and tomato slices. These were placed firmly between two sweet sesame seed buns (again, I love carbs).

Even the French fries helping was generous. These weren’t the usual, fast-food type, stick thin fries dipped in residual fatty oil, nay. These fries were fat, fresh, yet crispy to the core. The only flavor enhancer I could detect was salt.

After devouring my meal, I dabbed my mouth and its sides with the napkin, smiling from ear to ear, satisfied like a kitten that had just lapped away a bowl of milk. Why did it take me so long to find this gem? I kept asking myself. Perhaps it is the location, and yet it is just around the corner. For an $8.00 quick lunch, the experience sure exceeded the expectations: a worthy vegetarian feast, not five minute away from EF, in a clean establishment, and yet, there’s more: WiFi connection is available and the friendly waiters, as Chinese as they are, speak in perfect English, much better than the employees of Bank of America. How can you not love a place like this?

people say the strangest things

During EF Graduation Day Ceremony for Late Winter 2011 Term:

A friend asked me to take a photo of her with one of her teachers. I don't know the teacher, though. So, click click, and this conversation happened:

Teacher (to my friend): So, are you leaving?

My friend: Yes. I'm going back to my country.

Teacher (to me): How about you?

Me: Oh, I'm staying until June.

Teacher (to my friend): I hope you wouldn't leave. (then looked at me and said to my friend:) I hope he'd leave, not you.

And I had that WTF moment. I mean... This guy is a new teacher and he didn't even know me. Am I that dislikeable?

In a Godiva Store in Westfield:

Supernice Salesgirl (to my friend): Here, why don't you try this? It's a new product! (handing a chocolate sample from her tray)

My friend: Oh my God, this is so good!

Supernice Salesgirl (to me): Here, you can try one too!

Me: Oh, no, thank you. I am prone to break-outs.

Supernice Salesgirl (to me): Oh, that's wonderful!

Right.

down with sickness

I always get sick whenever I embark on long trips. When I was in Bournemoth, I was so feverish one night that I went from being extremely cold to extremely hot. And then there was the long-awaited London excursion and I almost got hit by one of those black taxis. The fact that everyone hated me (yes, including those from Indonesia) didn't help. I was alone the entire time.

The experience traumatized me a lot. Even my mom admits that I don't make friends easily, but when I do, I'll keep them close to my heart.

Right now, I'm trying hard not to get sick. My sleeping pattern has gone down the drain and so has my eating habit. I'm trying hard to eat on time but everytime I want to cook something (usually at 8 PM or 9 PM), the kitchen is always full. People seem to hang around there. In the storage room, even. I was trying to get some bananas the other night and there were two girls just chatting there in front of my storage cube. Blah.

And then there are those who just won't bother with cleaning up the frying pans and those who leave muck in the sink. Icky, greasy muck.

And don't get me started on the Frenchies.

I'm not the only one who complains about the French people. They're loud and all over the place. It's a funny thing, really, because when I was in France, it was always the Americans who were loud and obnoxious... And all over the place.

Are they having a citizen exchange or something? By God.

But then again, maybe I'm just xenophobic.

I just finished my Chinese pancake with egg dinner. I had that for lunch and it was too much so I kept it for dinner. Neat, huh? In about 15 minutes, I'll have my daily dose of Vitamin C and probably take a cold pill or something. I'm not feeling too well.

learning to cook

Not many people know that I love cooking. Well, I LIKE cooking. I don't really like the cleaning-up afterwards.

Currently, I'm living in a hostel. That means there's the communal kitchen, refrigerator, dish-washer sink, everything in it. During busy hours (breakfast / lunch / dinner), the kitchen gets... busy. So we sometimes have to wait to use the stove or the frying pan or the pot.

That's why I decided to go down at 3 AM to make some Penne and mushroom. The recipe (or lack, thereof) is courtesy of my boyfriend.

He still cooks and is ambitious about it (I love that about him... I love eating, and he is an excellent cook). I need to get back on being serious about cooking once again.

Hell, there was even a time when I would bake a cake each night for months! Of course the cake usually failed. Ha!

But this morning, I made a breakthrough. I cooked! And it didn't fail (too much). So, yeah... I think I'm pretty proud of myself.

Later, guys!

children and homework

I hate children. I really do.

Okay, so I used the exact same opening a while ago for an entry.

Well, sometimes there are children that are cute and just nice. These children, I can easily play along with. They remind me how joyful it was when time was on my side.

In class today (and yesterday), we read about aggression. Mr. Stephens told us a story about the day when he was out grocery shopping, there was an African-American woman with a little child. The child could walk, obviously, and the woman wandered off minding her own business. She didn't even notice that she was going far away from her child. When she finally noticed, though, she said, "Hey! Get your black ass over here!"

Wow. That really made me glad I wasn't raised in a hostile family. Strict, but never hostile.

When I boarded the 47 bus back to the hostel yesterday, it was a nice ride. I didn't get lost. The only time I got worried was when this Afro-American man (around 50 years old, big) boarded the bus and went straight to the back seats, sat there, and talked gibberish. I was so worried that he would take out a gun and start shooting everyone.

I always had the feeling that if ever, God forbid, I got caught in a hostage situation, I'd be the first one to be killed. Either by accident or on purpose.

But nothing happened, at least until I got off the bus. I walked back to the hostel safe and sound.

Today, it was almost another different case all around. I boarded the 47 bus in hopes to yet again have a nice, quiet ride so I could finally finish reading my TIME Magazine with Aung San Suu Kyi on the cover.

It was raining, but I didn't have to wait long. The bus came and it was relatively empty. After a few stops, the nightmare began.

School kids went on board. And I am certain that nobody paid the fare. They just boarded through the back entrance. I sat myself in the back, next to the back entrance. Bad choice. One girl was standing directly in front of me and she was eating something and passed it along to her friend who was standing on the doorway right next to me. She was passing whatever she ate right on top of my head.

In Indonesia, that would be considered really rude and I would most probably do something about it. But they were too numerous (they just stood there blocking the door and telling people 'no space' and the driver obviously didn't do anything to stop it) and kids could be dangerous. And... I was carrying loads of books, as usual.

When I felt like my stop was getting near, I finally looked up and saw that they were taking out rulers and pens and... tearing off the PSA posters from the walls of the bus right above my head. That was just... what's the word... VANDALOUS. It was such an ANARCHY that I was so glad I got off the bus right then and there.

On a lighter note, I had a really nice lunch today. Well, a big one. I had cheese ravioli and a tall glass of hot chocolate (well, I had to. It was raining again today althought not as cold as two days ago). When my ravioli came, I looked at it and almost complained. But after everything was downed, I felt that the portion was just perfect, if not a little too much. Well, it'd better be. It was USD 22 including tax and tip.

I felt sleepy in the GRE English class because of that big lunch.

And I'm telling you, it's hard to get sleepy in the GRE English class. At least for now. I can say that I don't need it to get into the universities of my choice, but I will keep doing it because I'm learning so much.

The students in the class are around my age, and I feel it's just where I belong. The class is very engaging and challenging at the same time. Although I have to say, the words are... kind of otherworldly. Did you know there are 500,000+ words in English? Yeah, Mr. Stephens told us that. We were given a book that specifically deals with words and the roots of those words. It's like a mini dictionary of hard words.

I can't say that I enjoy it for the time being (wait, am I being paradoxical here? No, I guess that's the "challenging" part).

Tonight, I'll have to finish rewriting the statement of purpose so I can speed up the process of the University of San Francisco application and look into the St. Mary's College one.

Wish me luck!

streetsmarts and sandwich

Of course I got lost again yesterday!

I always had to get lost when I had tons of things on my back. When I come home, I'll be having some serious muscles.

Yesterday, I brought the wrong books with me, and since this week's the first week for me, they kept adding books and more books. I came home with this stack of books and I had to carry them because I didn't bring a bag. I got wiser the next day and life became so much easier.

I didn't get enough sleep because I had tons of homework and I felt like I needed to work on that application letter / statement of motivation to University of San Francisco. So I did and I submitted it to Ms. Astarte from EF to review it. I sent over the form from USF to my dad to fill in with the bank statement / reference and sponsor letter. I hope that'll get sorted out really quickly.

I woke up early because classes start at 8.30 AM Monday to Thursday and hopefully just one class on Friday that starts at 11 AM. But in overall, this day is so much better than yesterday! The sun was shining brightly that I felt warm at times. I can't wait to discard my overcoat. I opened my bank account in Bank of America (I had to go through some of their policies, but I think I got the gist of it. Although it's never a sure thing with bank and legal things). I ate a very nice vegetarian burger (the patty is made of portobello mushroom and I could really taste the mushroom) at BurgerMeister down in Colombus Street. And then I got home and didn't get lost!

Yay!

One thing, though... I forgot to bring my GMAT book because I mistook my TOEFL book for my GMAT book. Gosh.

But Stephen Zannis (or "Mr. Stephen") is always cute and upbeat as ever (he looks like Sylvester Stallone... His face and features, not his body) and I think so far, I like the people at EF. Although I have to give kudos to Mr. Stephen and Ken for making TOEFL/English and Math classes less painful.

And I need to study more! There are just so many English words (words, words, words, wooooorrds!!) that I don't know.

Well, here's to Sylvia Plath and her Thesaurus.

Oh, and I've decided to cancel today's dance class at the ODC Studio because of the bad review I got from Yelp about the neighborhood. When I went there last Saturday, it did feel a bit ghetto-ish. And it was in the afternoon. I don't think I'd want to risk going there at night.

Let's just hope FCBD wants to take me on afternoons.