For The Love Of Baking

November 1, 2007

Things That Make You Go ‘Mmmm’

When it comes to salad, I am pretty much adventurous. By that, I mean sometimes I got a plate of heaven freshy, other times a bowl of garbage. Organic garbage, though

But this one, I think you can eat. And like, actually. The secret duo are: pecel sauce and cilantro. They unsurprisingly love each other, by the way.

Pecel spice is a spice mix popular in Indonesia, that is used to make the sauce in Pecel dish — an orchestra of steamed veggies that you have to try once in your lifetime because it’s oh-so-good.

Cilantro, well, you know it’s the magic thing that brought Thailand to the glamor world of international food realm. Cilantro is one of God’s exceptional gifts to the world. World with palates like you and me. It turns simple dishes to extravaganza. Making it special, making it expensive.

The salad’s gone already, sorry. Can’t help myself.

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December 31, 2006

Idul Adha Morning

Morning of Idul Adha. Prayed in mosque, went back home.

While hubby was sipping his morning coffee, I threw the ribs I fixed up the night before into the slow cooker and let it cook on HIGH until lunch time. Washed the rice, fixed up the spices, and threw them all into the rice cooker.

By lunch time, the ribs were stewing, the cardamom rice was warming in the rice warmer, Pacri Nanas was cooling in the fridge.

Happy Idul Adha to all muslims in the world!
May Allah accept our sacrifice and place us in highest place.

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November 22, 2006

Food Blogger’s Welcome Dinner

I was tagged by Burcu of Almost Turkish Recipes with this meme, initiated by Angelika of The Flying Apple. Dash off to her lovely blog to find out more about it.

Oh, boy! I’m so terrible at entertaining, let alone constructing a menu. But I do have some favorite dishes I hope my foodblogger guests would enjoy as much as I do.

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November 13, 2006

Retro Recipe Challenge #4: Koninginne Soep

Rain, rain.. come again another day
or today whenever you may
bless the grass, bless the earth
with my window glass you flirt

Laura Rebecca hosted Retro Recipe Challenge every month on Retro Recipe Challenge Blog. This month’s theme was Fall. Well, we don’t have Fall here, but the cold wind that comes with the upcoming rainy season makes my front yard all covered with leaves. It’s Fall in my front yard. So I’m up for this theme.

Retro, short for retrospective, is a modern term used to describe things from a bygone era. -Answers.com

Oooh, comfort food. Nothing beats the comfort of slurping a big spoonful of warm homemade cream soup in a cold windy days. Rain had began to visit Jakarta every now and then, peacefully taking its turn with the pinching hot sun. Although wet season is not really here yet, clouds are now hanging on the sky and cold wind is breezing through my window. Maybe it’s gonna rain tonight. Hopefully.

Flipping through my old recipe book, where I kept recipes I collected when I was 8, there were plenty of choices I could use. Traditional hot drinks like Bajigur, Angsle, Wedang Ronde, Sekoteng, would be very nice choices. But I just can’t resist the image of me gulping those creamy homemade soup and feel its smoothness caressing my tongue and its warmth swirling in my tummy afterward, leaving soft tasty broth in my lips.

I clipped the recipe long ago from Gadis Magazine belonged to my big sister, October 1980 edition. It adapted the dutch name: Koninginne Soep, which is basically cream soup with mushrooms and chicken chunks. I used big straw mushrooms and followed the recipe word by word, including making the broth from scratch and boil it for two hours. And oh it was so good! At first I though the mushrooms were too many and my soup began to smell like damp straw. But then the magic happened when the milk was poured. The whole soup became so soft in everything. Soft taste, soft smell, soft texture.

No more store-bought soup for me.

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