Independence Day, Ramadan and my own personal fireworks

Having participated in and organised a few Indonesian Independence Day celebrations at a variety of schools, I was really excited to actually be in Indonesia on the 17th August. The preparations start early - a few months before some of the boys (maybe older teens/early 20's?) in the area started a collection by standing in the middle of the road and asking for money for decorations. Then a few weeks ago red and white bunting started appearing on buildings, and flags (a mix of the expected red and white, plus lots of other bright colours, like the ones below) started appearing by the sides of roads, especially in residential areas. It makes it feel like you are in a parade, driving along with banners and flags flapping merrily :-)

Seeing as the school break started before the actual day, we had a flag ceremony at school on the 13th, where I happily wore my new batik dress (which is conveniently red and white!). It's always fun seeing what interesting things the staff come up with when we wear batik ;-)

On the real day, there are flag ceremonies, where the anthem is sung, the Pancasila (the 5 principles or philosophy of Indonesia) and the text of the declaration of independence are recited and then some other national songs are sung. School students, officials, and anyone else who wants to goes to the ceremony, then the day goes on much like any other. The schools and government offices are closed, but there was a decided lack of interest from the locals I was with! Perhaps it was because I was in a tourist area? Or just like at home, for plenty of people it's just not that big a deal?

What is a big deal is Ramadan (the fasting month) and Idul Fitri (the first day after the fasting finishes).  I'll post more on it later, but I was very surprised to find that every night during buka puasa (breaking the fast) there would be fireworks going off in different places. The noise freaked me out a bit at first, until I realised what it was! It turns out there are no regulations on fireworks, and once I knew what to look for, I saw them being sold in heaps of places, especially at street stalls. So to have my own personal show, I just have to go up on the roof, or out on my balcony. It's a bit special seeing bursts of light all over the city, and last night there was even some from a spot maybe two houses down from me. Even though Ramadan has finished, it appears people's love of fireworks has not :-)

Sunday evening musings

Well, I'm a happy little vegemite right now - I spent most of Saturday shopping with a new friend. She has many great qualities and is a fun person to have around, but at the moment I am just happy to have someone to go shopping with. I am no good at making decisions by myself - I guess it's a by product of usually shopping with my twin ;-)

I'm also content because it's rained a little (it's been a while!), plus I managed to do my washing, clean up and do a fair amount of school work. I've struggled somewhat since the school year started, it turns out I developed some bad habits while doing replacement teaching, and during my first few months here when I only had 2 classes. I'm slowly getting back to where I was during my second or third year of teaching - productive, efficient, organised, and not taking much work home. I would much prefer to be out exploring Bandung, than sitting at my computer for all of Sunday writing worksheets and lesson plans. It's also tough to fight the sleepiness/laziness that comes in the afternoon when the work day starts before 7am and finishes anywhere between 4 and 6pm. Any suggestions? Am trying not to solve it with sweet biscuits and chocolate, but I don't know what else!

Anyway, I'm off to watch a movie, I will take my musings elsewhere. I'll leave you with a picture of the t-shirt I bought my brother yesterday - I hope it makes you smile :-)

Some things are always the same

I've had a great time finding out that so many things stay the same no matter where you are in the world - some I expected, some I didn't. I could go on and on about how great my students are, how the school is at its core just like any other school I've worked at, or even about nice stuff like a tall guy helping me reach stuff on the top shelf of the supermarket :-) but what I really want to show you is my new teapot.

It's exactly the same as the one I have at home, only it's purple. Awesome!

PS The word for teapot is poci (but remember the c is pronounced 'ch')
PPS Dad - I'm back to making tea properly, you must be so proud ;-)
PPPS Sis - I think I need a tea cosy! Not a heavy duty winter one, but can you please make me something cute? ;-)

Ahh, Singapore!

I've decided I really like Singapore. Really like! It's not cheap like other parts of Asia, but it's clean, organised, and easy to get around. Here is a photo tour from my trip last week - enjoy!

There are lots of interesting buildings in Singapore, but this is particularly good - it's the Art Science Museum, and it looks something like a cupped hand or a lotus blossom.

Inside the museum was the official Harry Potter exhibition, which was completely fantastic! Sure, I got gouged for everything, but the audio tour was so worth it. They don't let you take photos inside, so here is the ford anglia which hangs over the entrance.

The Art Science museum from the Skypark at Marina Bay Sands.

A different view from the Skypark, with a very trippy looking shadow! 

And here is the reason for that shadow - Marina Bay Sands - 3 50 something storey buildings, with a boat shaped bit on top! 

 Inside the shopping area of Marina Bay Sands (which is enormous) is this - a restaurant based entirely around tea. There is a big thick book to explain the 150+ varieties of tea they have, there was white linen on the tables, orchids around the edges, and my tea was served in a gold plated teapot, along with scones. Heaven. It didn't matter that I hadn't slept properly in 2 days, and it's kind of awkward to eat out by yourself (I always feel the compulsion to look happy, so people don't pity me, which I know is stupid, but anyway...) - all that mattered was my contentment :-)

Changi airport is just as great as Singapore in general. This sculpture?instillation?awesomeness! is made up of a couple of hundred bronze tear-shaped baubles, which are programmed to move up and down their strings to make all sorts of patterns.

And here's something to help you finish reading with a smile :-) I met up with a couple of teachers from one of the other campuses of my school, and we shared a drink at the Skypark. It was a nice way to end the day (although it was by a long shot the most expensive lemonade I've ever had!!) and the guy in the middle made it even more fun by insisting we take this photo. It's a good thing I've had lots of experience at dancing catching kids doing handstands ;-)

Getting organised, and ice skating in the tropics

So I knew I was being a bit slack, but it has taken an influx of new teachers (the school year started 2 weeks ago) to make me get organised in the house department. I was making do very nicely, and had convinced myself that I didn't need anything else, but then I got the opportunity to go on a shopping trip to a big hardware shop, which resulted in the following (awesome) shelves:

I got a few comments along the lines of "those shelves look too rickety Alice, be careful!" which was an interesting lesson in perspective/the way pictures can be misleading. In reality, the only thing wonky about my shelves was the bar near the top for hanging things! It's straight now, as you can see, and having everything lined up, not piled all over the microwave, fridge and floor makes me happy :-)

Now I have grand plans for more shelves, a better tv stand (the tv in my place is so ancient - I had almost forgotten tv's were anything but thin), a shoe rack and something to organise my desk with. The neat freak in me will be satisfied for a while!

I will finish with a photo I took on our day off on Friday (for the first day of Ramadan - more on that later). I can now say I've been ice skating in a tropical country - so deliciously ridiculous and fantastic at the same time ;-) The really strange thing was the doors were open the whole time! I have no idea why; in my experience ice skating rinks are usually designed to jealously keep the cool in, not let in the tropical heat! It did result in a rather mysterious mist, which was fun. The only downside to all of this was leaving - it felt so hot outside!

Food Part 4

In an effort to include as many interesting foods as possible, and knowing that I have a holiday coming up in which I will definitely encounter new things, I am about to show all of the photos which have been building up on my computer. Are you ready? You could be reading for some time!


This kind of meal has become my standby - good old Indomie, which you can actually buy in Australia (I even found some in my small country town a few years ago!!). They are basically 2-minute noodles, but along with the seasoning they come with kecap manis and sambal (sweet soy sauce and chilli sauce) as well as a little packet of fried onions to sprinkle over the top. I make them into a more complete meal by cooking them with carrots and greens (usually kangkung or another type of greenery), and adding bean sprouts right at the end. A new dish to add to my list of comfort food, and so easy to make! If you do want to make your 2minute noodles more interesting, it's worth trying to get a packet of fried onions - they use a small variety, not regular brown onions - and I've found them before in Asian supermarkets near home.

I've mentioned baso before (meatball soup) but have since learnt more about it. The word 'baso' (or bakso in other parts of Indonesia) actually refers to the meatballs, not the soup. Below is the baso komplit (no prizes for guessing the meaning of komplit!) which had regular beef baso, baso ayam (chicken), baso goreng (fried) and one more that I've forgotten! Also in the picture is the free dessert one of the others got with their meal - containing cubes of white bread, ice cream, chocolate sprinkles, fresh coconut at strawberry syrup!!!

This is lotek - from the gado-gado family (which is basically a vegetable salad with peanut suace, but has variations across Indonesia) with blanched kangkung, bean sprouts, string beans, cabbage etc. plus peanut sauce. Also krupuk (prawn crackers). I haven't found a good translation of kangkung yet (I have never seen it in Australia) but it's an asian green which is very good!

More kangkung! I needed some vegetables, so ordered kangkung spesial - which contained kangkung, quail eggs, beef, garlic, chill and tomato. Aside from having to pick out the larger pieces of chilli, I really enjoyed this. I'm getting better at spicy food - this was just on the right side of the line between 'tasty' and 'my mouth is on fire!'

Pempek has been a great discovery - it has a great story behind the if you want to check out wikipedia - it's made from fish and tapioca. This one is pempek kapal selam (submarine pempek!!!) with a whole egg inside, which is fried and then served with a runny sauce called kuah cuko (made from palm sugar, chilli pepper, garlic, vinegar, salt added to boiling water). I found the sauce a bit spicy, but not so much I couldn't enjoy the pempek, which doesn't have a very strong taste, but the texture is chewy and the whole thing just works.

Pempek is used in a wide variety of ways, and comes in lots of different shapes. This is lenggang - an omelette made with slices of pempek and also served with kuah cuko.

Soto ayam - comfort food! There are variations on this in different regions, but chicken soup will always be a good bet. To eat this, you spoon some of the meat/veggies onto the rice, then eat. Chill optional ;-)

Another kind of soup is soto Bandung - made with beef, daikon radish and kacang - which I thought meant peanut, but obviously applies to a variety of nuts and beans. Again, this is eaten by combining the solid parts of the soup with rice.

Now this soup is really yummy - sorry mum and dad, it even rivals your slow cooked veggie soup! It's called sop buntut (ox tail soup), although it's made from beef tails, not ox. We had the original version - with gorgeous meat falling of the bones into a tasty broth with veggies - and sop buntut goreng - where the meat is fried with a slightly sweet sauce and served fired oxtail, served with the veggie soup.

Whew! Nearly there. I'll finish with something to make you laugh: a 30cm hot dog. Ridiculous, I know. Hotdogs are actually fairly common here, usually called 'sosis' (say it out loud!) and often cooked in different ways, not just in a bread roll. I have trouble calling them sausages, or real food, though!

Food Part 3 - Warung

I haven't done as much eating at warung as I thought I would (a decent cluster of them are an angkot ride away) and after dark the angkot don't go past my house, so it's not that convenient. However, on my way home from the supermarket I have tried some sweets/snacks. The first was es cendol, from a gorgeous old man with a cart, who was quite bemused when I asked for a photo. I think he might not have much Indonesian, and probably speaks Sundanese (the local language), but we got there in the end.

Basically cendol is a mix of coconut milk, palm sugar syrup, water and different-shaped jellies made from rice flour. It's sweet, but the palm sugar gives a depth that's hard to describe - I guess like brown sugar, but better! A bit butterscotchy? The jellies don't have a strong taste - the green ones were made with pandan, of course, but I guess they are there for texture. 

The penjual (seller) mixes up the ingredients in a glass, then pours it into a plastic bag. You can 'drink' it straight away (the green jellies made it up my straw, but not the pink ones!) or he will tie the bag and you can take it home. It doesn't look as difficult to make as I imagined - here's a recipe I found with a quick google search if you are interested. If you can find the ingredients, it's definitely worth it!

http://www.belindo.com/indonesia/indonesian-recipes/beverages/es-cendol/183

Last Saturday I finally stopped at this warung, which I've been wanting to for a while, but have not been able to justify it. Cue a message from my sister, reminding me to keep taking food pictures! So, for research purposes of course, I bought one of each. The warung has 'gorengan' written on the side, which literally means fried things. Grammar note: the suffix -an turns the verb 'goreng' (to fry), into a noun. There are lots of gorengan warung on the streets, but most of them sell savoury gorengan, and that's not as appealing to me!

Okay - here's my attempt at describing each of these! I'll go clockwise from the twisty one at the bottom. My apologies for the lack of names - I had to get my shopping home so didn't stop to talk much, although the guy was lovely - I will have to go back some time. Purely for research, of course!
1. The twisty one was fairly hard, more like a biscuit than a pastry, and only just barely sweet.
2. Next was banana wrapped in a cakey-type pastry - again only just sweet, but yummy because of the banana.
3. The doughnut shaped one is, you guessed it, a doughnut! A light, soft doughnut with just a fine coating of sugar.
4. The long thing one was more like a chox pastry, very airy.
5. The round ball coated in sesame seeds had some sort of bean paste in the middle, maybe red bean.
6. The dark one next to it was the only truly sweet gorengan in the mix - which surprised me because usually desserts are VERY sweet. This one was sticky and dense in the middle with a crusty, sugary outside. Very yummy, but I have no idea what it was made from! Maybe sesame?
7. The next one was very like number 4, only a different shape!
8. The last one was round and not too thick, with a nut filling.

Food Part 2

Ok, so I'm a bit behind on the blog front, but now that exams have started I have a little more time, so am attempting to catch up. I'll start with sweets (cue comments from those who know me well along the lines of "Why are we not surprised?").

I found these cakes at the supermarket - they are called Kue Pia, and the internet tells me they are Chinese. They have a cakey kind of pastry around the outside and a filling made of black beans. They aren't as sweet as I was expecting, but still yummy!

Here's a close up in case you want to read the Indonesian on the packet:

Last Thursday we had a day off, so a friend and I went out looking for yummy food. She took me to Cafe Madtari, which began life as a warung (street food stall) and then became popular and more permanent. There were Kraft signs everywhere; I think they may even be sponsored by Kraft?? Anyway, it was obvious there was going to be a lot of cheese.

So this was our breakfast - roti bakar dengan susu, keju dan lain-lain! (Toasted/grilled bread with milk - actually sweetened condensed milk - cheese and more!)

Mine also had pisang (banana) and strawberry syrup inside, plus chocolate sprinkles on top! It's very common here to combine cheese with sweet things (not super great quality cheese, by the way, just ordinary plastic cheese as my family would call it!) and even though the idea takes a bit of getting used to, it's good :-) There was a lot going on on the plate, and a serious amount of cheese, so it wasn't the easiest thing to eat with a tiny plastic fork thingy (even though the bread was cut into pieces - which you can't see for all the cheese), but it did taste good. Having said that, I don't think I will have it for breakfast again :-P

After our breakfast we decided to go for a walk and some shopping, but found that the place we wanted to go was closed, so we went for tea and cake instead! I know, I know, no one is surprised to hear that from me :-) We went to Amanda's, which is famous for its brownies, which came served with strawberry ice cream. Yum!

And finally here are some drinks. First some es teh (iced tea), then some jus blackberry (do I really need to translate?!) (which was tangy and just sweet enough - most juices and drinks get sugar syrup added to them, sometimes too much sugar!), then lastly es cendol, which I struggle to call a drink, given the floaties (more about cendol and other street food next post).

PS: Mum and Dad, I promise I am actually eating healthy food too! Just not all the time ;-)

Friday afternoons

There are some pretty obvious advantages that come with not having any classes on Friday afternoons (actually the majority of my classes are in the morning - not sure if that is by design or accident), but there is one big disadvantage: a part of me is already in the weekend! Sitting at my desk working for three hours is not exactly the most motivating prospect, despite my long to do list. The best approach I've found is to chip away - do one thing at a time, until eventually something gets done ;-) So, in that spirit, here are some of the things I've been cooking.

Baso is a common dish here - it can be found everywhere from street food to restaurants. The word baso refers to the meatballs, which are usually chicken or beef, but can be other things (ok, to be honest calling them meatballs is usually a bit of a stretch), and they are most often served in soup/broth, perhaps with some noodles, vegetables, fried onions and other garnishes. I found some in the supermarket last week, and decided to make some soup. I put corn in mine - which is not exactly traditional - and it was both super easy and quick to make, so it will definitely get a repeat showing.

Siomay are a lot like baso, except they are usually made from prawns or fish. The ones I bought had a wrapper around them, so to me they are similar to dim sims, except with prawns inside. This time I added beaten egg to my soup when it was nearly done, which looked a bit weird but tasted good :-)

Ok, to be honest I only made the rice in this one, in my rice cooker - I thought it was time I made something in it other than cake! A friend came over on Monday (we had a day off) and we had a trade off - I showed her how to make banana cake, and she made smashed tofu. I'm sure it has another name, but I like the sound of that one! It was really easy - just cook lots of onion and garlic in some oil, add the tofu (which was in small yellow blocks - I think it might be the local Bandung version) and break it up with the spoon while it cooks. Then you finish with spring onions. Yum!!!

Last but not least, my other attempt at making something other than cake in my rice cooker. This demonstrates my laziness when it comes to cooking (funny, I will spend hours making tiny sugar flowers to go on someone's birthday cake, but get annoyed sometimes if cooking my tea takes more than 20min or two pans!!). This is the definition of easy - put in rice, diced chicken, diced vegetables and water, then press cook. Full stop. It needed a bit more flavour, so next time maybe some chicken stock, or brown some onions and garlic first, and it was a bit of a gloopy mess because turns out I bought sticky rice instead of normal (it was the only small packet - all the others were huge!!), but it was tasty, filling, and lasted nearly all week ;-)

I'll leave with something to make you smile. My first thought when I found out I had sticky rice was, "great - now I can make rice pudding"! Cake Girl, indeed.

Getting lost, a little yellow ducky and a motorcycle taxi

So, I'm a little slow because this is a story about last Saturday, but I still think it's worth telling!

I had decided I needed to get out of the house, and go do something by myself, so I headed off to BIP (Bandung Indah Plaza - a shopping mall) to get a new watch battery, some stationary and try to find some work clothes. I got a laugh out of my reception on the angkot by a group of primary school students (Indonesian schools usually operate 6 days a week, so Saturday is not a day off!). There was a moment of shocked quiet, followed by lots of giggling. I told my sister, who caused my first tiny moment of homesickness by saying she misses being stared at, now that I'm not with her to attract attention. I guess, having spent my whole life with the two of us being stared at, I'm used to it, and being one of the few westerners in this area means life is no different. It doesn't help when I wear my fabulous new t-shirt (thanks, sis!) which is tardis blue, and has the slogan "Keep calm and don't blink" in big white letters on the front. I haven't found anyone yet who knows what it refers to, and the joke is kind of flat when I have to explain it ;-)

But I'm off track - back to my story, in which I was also off track. I didn't get off the angkot at the right place, and ended up in an area I had never seen before! Luckily when I asked the driver, he was very helpful and stopped another angkot for me, which took me to BIP. I can't say I love shopping by myself, but it was kind of fun to wander around the shops, and it was exciting every time I managed to find something on my list :-) For lunch I had miho Singapore, from a place in the food court called mi hotplet & co. It was basically noodles (hence the mi in the name), chicken, some vegetables and lots of a really thick sauce served on a hot metal plate (when I say hot, I mean it!!! Because of the plate, and the thickness of the sauce it took forever to cool down enough to eat, although because my chopstick skills aren't so great, this wasn't a huge problem), plus something called fruit tea punch, which was (I think) carbonated fruit tea. Also on the tray is the obligatory chilli sauce, which is always provided, but never touched by me!

Here are two friends I made along the way, a gorgeous duck-shaped sharpener (who needs a name - any suggestions?) and a guy in a costume advertising a bank (no, I have no idea what the connection is either).

My journey home was no less eventful - after buying too much at the supermarket (again! I will never learn) I walked outside to find it raining, which means it's hard to get a taxi, so I had to get on an angkot, which is not a particularly enjoyable experience with heavy shopping bags - I'm always a bit embarrassed and clumsy when it happens! However, my grumbling soon stopped when I saw that on the angkot with me was a couple with a water dispenser in a big box. I should know by now that just about anything is acceptable in an ankgot (or for that matter, a motorbike)! The angkot I had gotten on didn't go all the way to my house, so I finally got to try an ojek (motorcycle taxi), which I quite liked. The driver was lovely, chatting to me the whole way and teasing me about all my shopping, plus there was very little other traffic so we could go fast on the sections of road where there aren't potholes, or speedbumps, or pedestrians, or dogs, or any of the other things that can slow you down. 

And that was my adventure :-)

Celebratory spaghetti

I must be having one of those days where everything goes right. After my success with the water, I headed off to the supermarket. I've mentioned the angkot a few times - well, here's a picture of one.

There are lots of different angkot routes, and a fair proportion have a label with a number and route name, but the easiest way to tell them apart is by the colour. To get to the supermarket I take the orange, green and white one. Anyone who's been shopping with me will know that I always take a list, and I always buy heaps of stuff. I'm not sure if it's a pathological fear of running out of food, a touch of OCD, or just me ;-) Anyway, today I happily bought more cake making ingredients, and managed to find cinnamon and nutmeg, plus all the things on my list.

As I was sitting on the front steps packing it all into my backpack (I know it's wrong to bring my own bags and still get the plastic ones - but I need them for my rubbish bin! Plus this is not Australia - I think the end of plastic bags in Indonesia is not in the foreseeable future - they're just too useful!) one of the office staff from school walked past, and seemed quite impressed that I take myself to the supermarket by angkot. Go me!

To get back, I take a green and yellow angkot a short way, then change to the orange, green and white one to get home. The photo's not great, but in the traffic I spotted this cute car (I probably should know what it is, oh well!). The thing in the middle of the windscreen is a little gold garuda (a mythical eagle, Indonesia's national emblem) on a homemade metal stand - it's fun to see how the drivers customise their vehicles!

Now I am back at home enjoying leftovers for lunch. Actually, I don't think spaghetti cuts it - I think I'll have another celebratory cup of tea! Hopefully my lovely day extends to the quizzes I am about to mark :-)

A celebratory cup of tea

It's seems such a silly thing, but I've had a bit of trouble up until now buying water. I have a dispenser in my room that takes big 19L bottles, and my housemate gave me the phone number of a shop just up the road that sells them. So I've called a few times, given my address, and waited for the guy on the motorbike to show up with my water - with no success! Eventually my housemate steps in, and orders it for me, which is very nice of her, but I've felt a bit silly not being able to get it for myself. I was raised to be an independent woman!

But now I have the secret - the name of a past resident of the house, who is known by the shop owner. So I am sitting here smugly drinking a cup of tea (using water which I ordered myself) in celebration of a small win :-)

Rice cooker cake

Yes, the title is correct - I found out how to make cake in my rice cooker!! I was a bit sad, not being able to use an oven, but a quick google search (you've got to love the internet) told me that the rice cooker sitting in the corner of my room, untouched, would suffice. So, here's my first attempt - a banana cake.

It was ok, but with a few adjustments I was able to make a second one I was happy with. I got so excited I forgot to take a photo, and instead took it around the corner to some of the other teachers where it vanished in about 2 minutes ;-) I love the fact that teachers like free food (particularly cake) in every school I've been at!

In return for the cake, one of the above-mentioned teachers wanted to give me something, but all he had in the fridge was a tub of strawberry yoghurt. My instant (and a little facetious) reply was that I would turn it into another cake, so here we have a strawberry yoghurt rice cooker cake, complete with icing:

For my next attempt, I decided to make a chocolate cake for the performing arts club, who did an awesome job of their show (Mulan) last Saturday! I actually made two cakes, and then this morning sandwiched them together with strawberry jam, then covered the whole thing in chocolate icing. I know it's bad, but I enjoyed my breakfast of chocolate icing :-) After a bit of ingenuity to get it to school safely (the container I bought wasn't tall enough) I am now ready to present it to the kids. It cracked a bit, which is disappointing, but it smells good, so we'll see how it goes!

Food!

After a request from my sister, I have now started to take photos of everything I eat. This is strange enough for most people, but then I ask what the food is called, and proceed to write down the English and the Indonesian. I'm sure everyone will get used to it, and it's fun explaining that my twin sister is a teacher just like me :-) but after this plus the maths puns on Pi day (among other things) it's obvious some of the kids think I'm a bit strange. Thanks sis! Mission accomplished ;-)

So, here are some of the things I have been eating:

This is my lunch from the school canteen yesterday - they do a cooked lunch for around $2 (Aus) which in my opinion is amazing, but for here is perfectly normal! There is nasi (rice), bawang (onions - cooked until they are soft and sweet), ikan (fish, served with gravy) and pangsit goreng (fried and filled wontons). The pangsit goreng are really yummy - if you want to try them I found this easy recipe: http://asiancook.eu/indonesian/hidangan/554-pangsit-goreng-fried-filled-wonton

Before I went to pilates last night, we had these two: the one on the right is tahu brintik (essentially nuggets of tofu, fried and covered in sweet chilli sauce and some other sauce I couldn't identify!) and the one on the left is bakmie nyemek (the 'mie' means noodles - this was a lot like mie goreng, which I love, but had a runnier sauce, and more of it).

On the weekend I had batagor saus asam manis. Batagor are essentially nuggets of fried tofu, like the brintik above - I have no idea how they are different, but apparently they are. I guess I have very little experience with tofu! The saus asam manis is sweet and sour sauce.

I have no idea what these are called, but they are too cute not to share! A couple of teachers and I went out for dim sum one night after school, and these were our sweets. They look like little alien creatures, and are green because they have pandan in them. Pandan is often described as the asian vanilla, although it is used in both sweet and savoury dishes. Plenty of foods here are coloured with it, and no one cares about the vivid green-ness, unlike some of the teachers at one of my past schools, who weren't sure about the pandan pancakes I made for Independence day ;-)

This is a dessert called mie jelly (literally, jelly noodles!). Like a lot of Indonesian desserts, it has a lot of components - the jelly noodles (which were grape flavoured), fruit (strawberries, dragonfruit and kiwi), shaped jellies (one that looked like an egg and some that looked like turtles or monsters, I couldn't decide which!), and grape syrup on the bottom. It was very sweet, and very unlike the desserts I am used to!