Me & My Batik #20 : Batik Lasem 3 Warna

After months, I'm finally back with a post for Me & My Batik Project! I already expected that I won't be making posts about batik as frequently as last year, since Netherlands climate is not exactly batik friendly most of the days. So I'm happy that I get to make a new post for the Batik project :).

Well, actually I have worn batik quite often this winter. The trick to wearing batik clothes in cold weather is simply by layering. Though when I'm outside my batik dress or shirt is hidden under the thick winter coat. So yeah, it doesn't really work for the purpose of showing off my batik :D.

Anyway, this particular batik dress coat was made from a beautiful three colored Batik Lasem. I own a few other Batik Lasem such as the blue one in Me & My Batik # 14 post. I purchased the fabric just a few weeks before my departure to Netherlands. At the time a friend asked me on a spur of the moment to visit a batik & craft exhebition in Jakarta. I swore not to buy anymore batik because my suitcase was already filled up, but yeah, promises promises! Couldn't resist myself when I saw this one, because the pattern and colors are classically beautiful, and the price was decent for a hand painted batik.

As I was counting down days to my departure, I rushed my dressmaker to sew this one along with 2 other fabrics :p. 2 days before New Year's Eve I litteraly was sitting at his workshop, waiting for him to do the finishing touches for them! Hehehe :D.

I purposedly wanted to make a dress coat which I can wear on the colder days. I put on a simple black dress underneath, and combined it with a black obi sash for accent. Looks appropriate for a cold day, right? :)

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Newbie Cook #4: Tom Yam Soup with thick rice noodles.

It has been one of those cold and windy days recently, and K was having a bit of cold. So I thought a nice warm and spicy noodle soup would be nice to help clear the nose. The soup was cooked with fish balls, small shrimps, assorted mushrooms.... and prepackaged tom yam spices! :D.

As much as I try to cook from scratch, I still keep quite a collection of "bumbu instan" as we call it in Indonesia, because it's a quick fix for the days when I don't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Plus I have to admit that some Asian cooking recquiers quite a bit of spices that I don't keep stock of because I don't use too often, and on top of it I'm still pretty bad at building the asian flavours in a dish. Hence, prepackaged spices!

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Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking Facebook Page

Hey Guys!

As you may have noticed, I've been making some changes on the overall look of this blog. It was time for me to step out of the "darkness" i.e. the black-grey theme and go for something fresh and light. I still have some tweaks to do but I'm liking how it is coming along. How 'bout you?

I've also created a Facebook Page for the blog. It is a work in progress, but I would like to be able to communicate more with everyone who's been visiting my blog. Please head over to the page, contact me, drop me a comment and tell me what you would like to see featured more in the page and also in the blog itself!

There's a "Like" box on the sidebar of the blog, so please click on it ... if you like ;).


See you guys on the page! :)

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Dedication

"Als je post bezorgt, werk je buiten, in alle vrijheid, in je eigen wijk. Als de zon schijnt, maar ook als het regent of sneeuwt." [http://www.werkenbijpostnl.nl]

Being a postman can't be the nicest job in the world when it's freezing outside, roads are covered in snow and ice, and still you have to deliver all the posts regardless. The picture was taken on one of the most cold - snowy day here in my neighborhood. The bridge was too slippery so the postman had to walk with the bike.

Talk about dedication.

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Newbie Cook #3 : Stir Fry Chicken & Kai Lan

One of the easier meal to put together is a variation Chinese inspired stir fry. As I mentioned in the Newbie Cook #2 post, I do this kind of meal quite often, especially after a visit to the Asian supermarket where I could get some asian vegetables.

So the last time we went there, I got a bag of Kai Lan, also known as Chinese Broccoli. Not exactly cheap, 2.4 Euros for 250 gram. For the same price you can get like 2 - 3 huge bags of chopped Kale in the local supermarket! But, we only go to the asian supermarket once a month anyway, so why not? ;)

The recipe is pretty basic and uses the usual ingredients: garlic, onion, ginger, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil. I followed the recipe and instructions from this video. But I think it's relatively easy to vary it yourself.

Allright, onto cooking!

Let me show you the situation room. Hahaha :D. This is how the kitchen looks like when I'm cooking. I'm not one of those cook that has things all neatly organised while prepping.... I just lay them all out.

Oh, the laptop? Sometimes I'm too lazy to print the recipe, that I'll just have my laptop instead. I guess if you have a tablet it works even better and takes less space! Anyway, I also like a bit of background sounds while I'm cooking, so sometimes I put on some tv series to "hear" and glance at in between cooking. What can I say, I'm a tv series junkie! :P.

Prep, chop, marinate, stir fry. 

I didn't know that Kai Lan can grow cute flowers! It wasn't all flowery when I bought them, took me by surprise when I got it out of the fridge :). Anyway, prepping was fairly easy. The Kai Lan was coarsly chopped. Chicken was cubed and marinated with soy sauce, sesame oil, a dash of sugar and a bit of corn starch get the flavours really stick. Then everything was stir fried with onion, garlic and ginger (I was lazy so I used powder garlic and onion) and a dash of oyster sauce. Done very quickly!

The Kai Lan was still a bit crunchy, so if you like it softer I'd suggest to blanch or boil them shortly before stir frying.

For a side dish, I made Fried Tahu and Tempe. I'm used to having the best and the tastiest of these soy beans product back in Indonesia. They were so good that you can just fry them without marinating or seasoning and they would taste so good.

The tempe and tahu (tofu) I got at the Asian Supermarket were unfortunately just a shadow of the real deal. Just rather bland. I coated them with prepacked seasoned flour in hope to add a nice flavour to them, but to no avail. K had one bite of tempe and decided he wouldn't even finish it :P.

However, I got some tip from my sister on how to marinate these flat tahu and tempe, and I'll try them next time.

Finally, here's the dish: Stir Fry Chicken & Kai Lan, Fried Tahu & Tempe. We ate them with rice and sprinkled some fried shallots on top for a real Indonesian touch ;).

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