an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
It’s been a while I haven’t posted a simply thing that makes me simply happy. Yesterday I got these magnets from Rufina, my mate in the office. I thought that she forgot with what I requested to her when she told me London would be her first destination before Istanbul and Miami for her annual holiday. I grabbed my iPhone to capture these three cute magnets, they will make my collection-box fuller :). Which one do you think the cutest? Are you agree with me if I say the BUS!
I’m a kind of person who love spending money for souvenir, yes I do. A month before I left Africa for my annual leave, I went to Lekki market three times. First visit was a time to find souvenirs for some best friends + my family and capturing Lekki itself, poor me it was drizzling. Second time I went again and got some additional souvenirs for my close friends and capturing Lekki was successful. And the third one I went there AGAIN, to find more souvenirs AGAIN. The last visit was for my new friends.
I had no issue for that because I knew myself would lie to what I’ve been promised before I left that I would bring SOME souvenirs only. Yes, because I already brought for some of them first year I came back home. In fact, I still took my pocket to Lekki. But hey by seeing pictures for this post when I gathered/edited them before is another simply joy for me.
I don’t know, I do love buying souvenirs. For me, a little thing you bring from where you travel/live outside could be a simply love worth to share to your beloved ones. I’m thank God this year, on my second time I went home, I could spread that simply love. Here they are my simply love for them :
AYOS
I always happy if I meet Ayos, one of inspiring friend I had. Even we just had only, hmm, just three hours this year I appreciated a lot. He’s awesome friend of mine who loves culture, so I brought this wood carving, the figures are Igbo women wearing Gele, a part of Nigerian woman’s traditional costume. O lemme tell you, I know it sounds garish, whenever after I meet Ayos I feel smarter, Hah.
WINDA
Yeah Winda got an African cloth called Kinte. It was so funny when I saw that cloth in Lekki my mind said that it would be fit and lovely for Winda. Gosh I love when Winda said so.
ATRE
Hah. Atre was the one who made me back to Lekki for third times! Yeah, when she tweeted me, I decided to go back AGAIN. I was so happy could see her in person, she’s my new fantastic friend. Atre got a tribal handmade African necklace.
MAYA
One bag made from wood bark, a cute key ring from Dubai and M&M’s chocolate in cute figure were for Maya. I remembered when Maya and I talked on our Line, she told me to bring THIS, THAT, and THIS, hahaha. Oh yeah the chocolate was for her cute toddler, Ranu :*
RULI
I met Ruli two times this year, I wish we had more. I brought a unique craft, Africa map shape, it’s a small jewelry box actually. What I love from that craft is the key to open the box is Nigeria map. Apart of the craft, I gave him Swiss chocolate inside gold box I found in DBX. Shit my spirit said “BUY!” immediately to give Ruli those GOLD, big GOLD when I chose some chocolates for myself :P
SHOHIB
Shohib requested a stone bowl with African painting on it, see zebras, very Africa right?. He got something like this before in a smaller size. He loves history and culture as well, probably I will bring another thing next year. O yeah, Shohib wasn’t confident enough to pose in front of my camera. Dah.
PUTRI
Another new fantastic friend this year I could meet with. For Putri I got a tribal necklace in red as a gift. O yeah I love giving a gift for somebody and an elephant made from stone was a cuteness :). Hope she love it.
NURAN
I wasn’t sure this year I would have a chance to see Nuran a.k.a Bang Nuran in a person. So, when he passed Surabaya from where he traveled before, I agreed to meet even my time was so strict. Thank God I could manage my short time to meet him and shared breakfast. Oops shit I forgot to ask him to pose with his souvenirs, poor me. You have to know that he’s a brilliant writer, I officially say that he is one of my fav writer. One more thing, he’s good in cooking!
JONATHAN
This guy is so funny, he asked me to bring wood statues that I gave to my other friends when we met last year. And can you imagine, Jonathan even forgot that he said so, Dah!. But I know myself I would bring something he asked for, I’m too kind right? :) I brought this craft for him for his birthday gift last month yeah, as souvenirs as birthday gift so :P. His photograph here wasn’t clear enough, sorry for that, I thought my hand was shaking and out-of-focus on his face when I snapped with iPhone. Sigh.
FAHMI
Fahmi is my best friend since we were in high school until today. This year he got Akosombo, Toblerone and one key ring from Dubai. Key ring wasn’t on my list actually but I remember he gave me a very cute Mickey key ring one day. So, 1-1 right? :)
MBAK IKA
I respect Ika a.k.a Mbak Ika, a mom of two who always has time to see me when I come back home. She always try to find quality time to spend even when she is busy doing her thing. She just like my own sister who care about me since I live outside country. So, when she asked me to bring fridge magnets I grabbed some when I was in DBX, not only that because I thought Akosombo for woman would be lovely for her. O yes, I should thanks to LINE by keeping me close with Mbak Ika since I use my BB for phone only :) You will see her hilarious-posed here :P
LUKKI
She was my junior in school but wait, she grows so fast!. She is one of young talented award-winning movie director, was it cool? Yeah!. When I and Putri agreed to meet this year, we invited Lukki as well so I thought small souvenirs for her was a good idea. O yes, hope she has a chance to South Korea for her scholarship in movie next year!
Happy I could share simply love when I came back home last month. I’m gonna say thanks for all friends above due to they could take time to see me. I would love to see another new friends this year but sadly as I said time was my challenge. I had some of friends that got souvenirs as well I couldn’t attached here cause I couldn’t meet them :( but hopefully they were happy with the souvenirs. I felt that those souvenirs are so much better than what I brought last year, don’t you think so? You can compare with this.
Alright, I think I talk to much on this post but I’m gonna keep this post as one of my fav post on this blog. Hmm how about next year? I can’t promise myself to bring those souvenirs again EXCEPT my spirit says contrarily. Lets see.
I felt blessed this year I still had time to see some of my old friends and best friends in Indonesia. Short time was my challenge to meet yet I tried hard to take my time for them. Happy could see Maya, one of the craziest best friend I had.
I met Maya two years ago when I, Winda and Ruli decided to take short vacay to Bandung. That was the first time I knew her from Winda. Then four of us spent crazy time there. I had no clue why I had a ‘click’ chemistry with someone crazy like Maya. She is super stupid, crazy, hilarious and so goofy, maybe that’s the reason. Maya is one of a kind.
Oh a week ago, yes it was Sunday last week when I was stayed in Jakarta for a day before I left to Africa, I met Maya and Winda. We tried to spend time even it was too short. I arrived in Jakarta in the afternoon, Winda came around 5pm and gosh I remember the thing that made my tummy cramped. Maya, she took Bajaj to the hotel and what happened was she didn’t have small money to pay Bajaj. So she called Winda from the lobby and shit, It was too funny! I wish I could describe how the way Maya acted that day, we laughed in the lobby, so loud!
Before we went, Maya and Winda took time to capture themselves in the hotel, we tried to enjoy the golden hour on 6th floor. By 6 pm we went to one of a huge plaza, Plaza Indonesia quite near my hotel to spend japanese food. We talked so many things randomly, it was a short quality time for us. For me the best part of our meeting that day was the time we walked from plaza to my hotel after our dinner. I could enjoy the evening in Jakarta with laugh and joy because of Maya, and wait, Maya took me to her Bajaj again :P It was my first time in Bajaj.
Sadly Maya couldn’t spend long time for us yet I had to thank to her as well for her time. Ah, I feel time flies too fast, a week ago at this time (8.06 am here), in Indonesia, I prepared my time to say bye bye to my family, oh no! Sorry, out of focus. Here, I attached some of Maya’s pics that I took that day, she looks do hilarious and crazy right!?
Saya kira saya tidak akan seperti ini. Saya kira saya sudah berbeda. Bisa kuat saat berhadapan dengan namanya perpisahan sementara.
Kemarin saat saya masih menyiapkan diri untuk kembali meninggalkan rumah, perasaan kecil yang pernah saya rasa setahun yang lalu muncul kembali. Setengah malas, setengah tak rela, dan berat. Setengah tak sadar kok saya sudah harus pergi lagi. Perasaan tadi diperparah Ibu saya. Ibu menangis saat saya menjabat tangan kemudian menciumnya. Beliau menangis sambil memeluk anak bungsunya ini. Dilain sisi saya terenyuh. Di lain sisi saya ingin menghentikan momen seperti itu karena saya benar-benar tidak menyukainya.
Tahun ini Ibu saya berbeda. Dua tahun yang lalu saat saya pergi meninggalkan rumah pertama kalinya untuk memulai hidup baru di Afrika, beliau tak menangis sedikit pun. Tahun kedua sama. Tak ada momen seperti kemarin. Parahnya tangisan beliau menular ke kakak-kakak perempuan saya. Sungguh, saya benci momen seperti itu. Hampir saja mata saya melelehkan air mata, hampir. Air mata saya sudah di ujung, sudah hampir tumpah. Ibu berujar masih merindukan saya. Beliau bermimpi saya bisa memiliki waktu yang lebih panjang di rumah. Beliau masih ingin saya di rumah. Hati saya sebenarnya berkata sama. Saya masih rindu rumah, rindu kota dimana saya dilahirkan dan dibesarkan, rindu akan negara indah ini.
Tadi saat masih di dalam kamar hotel tempat saya menginap semalam disini, di Jakarta, saya kembali ingat wajah Ibu. Saya akui masih belum banyak menghabiskan waktu berdua dengan beliau, namun tahun ini jauh lebih baik. Saya lebih sering di rumah dibanding tahun pertama saya pulang. Tahun ini saya mensyukuri banyak hal. Mensyukuri waktu, kesehatan dan kesempatan kembali pulang. Mensyukuri bisa menikmati masakan Ibu, merasakan kembali indahnya berbuka puasa di rumah, mendengarkan gema indah di malam takbiran, melihat seluruh keluarga dalam keadaan sehat, dan banyak berkah-berkah lain yang tak terlihat yang harus saya syukuri.
Saya berusaha menguatkan diri untuk selalu berpikir ke depan, berpikir bahwa yang namanya perubahan hidup selalu ada harganya. Saya memilih Afrika sebagai tempat mengais rejeki dengan harga yang tak murah. Harus meninggalkan kedua orang tua, saudara, sahabat ah, sungguh itu semua tidak murah. Dibalik itu, saya akui hikmah terbesar dari terpisahnya jarak antara saya dengan deretan orang-orang tadi membuat saya semakin mencintai mereka.
Menangkis perasaan-perasaan seperti hari kemarin, perasaan berat meninggalkan rumah untuk kembali ke Afrika, tak akan pernah mudah bagi saya. Saya sudah melewatinya dua kali dan ternyata sama beratnya.
Nanti malam saya akan kembali mengarungi waktu kembali ke Afrika. Selain selamat sampai disana, saya hanya punya harapan kecil ; semoga hati saya masih tegar melawan perasaan-perasaan rindu yang masih tersisa disini. Di Indonesia.
Jakarta ; 12.56 PM
I spent an afternoon tea (a simply tea time!!! It wasn’t a proper one :P) at Majapahit Hotel, one of historic luxury hotel in town last week with my best friend, Sohib. We went there at 17th of August which was our Independent Day :)). Majapahit has its own story. The hotel was the site of the famous “Hotel Yamato incident” in which young Indonesian revolutionaries tore the blue part of the Dutch flag flown in the hotel to change it to the red and white Indonesian flag on 19 September 1945 . Did I come at the right time? Spending my afternoon at historic Majapahit on Independent Day? :)).
We enjoyed our tea with some snacks and seriously the music that time, some of national heroic songs in instrument which was so cozy and comfy. I was so lucky could feel the ambiance of Independence Day here in Indonesia this year :)).
After spent 2 hours for tea we went around the hotel to enjoy the building. Here some snaps from the hotel itself. For some reason I really wish I had pro camera :( to capture beautiful building like Majapahit (See the tiles! Yup, I fall in love with the tiles!!!! dutch pattern tiles, very pretty!!!)
After a year me and Putri talked, shared, tweeted via air, a week ago we met in person. We agreed to meet at Carpentier Kitchen after Putri posted that place on her instagram. It was a blissful noon we could share our stories there, a simply peaceful small place in town (sadly the food should be yummier please! don’t mind me :P).
Putri as I knew is a fantastic freelance travel writer. I amazed that she chose her passion to be a writer than follow her background from where she was graduated from Airlangga Univ majoring Pharmacy. I amazed by what she does on her dream job as a writer. Putri loves traveling, writing, gardening, and cooking (she loves capturing food as well :P). That noon we shared so many random stories and seriously I was so happy could see Putri.
Oh Putri wasn’t came alone, her hubby was on her side and whoop whoop Lukki, my junior at school came on our meeting as well, she is talented young movie director (!!!). We took pictures as usual :P before we went and ouch I couldn’t attach myself on this post, I was too weird (nope, basically I’m not photogenic at all and pfft I’m quite quarrelsome for picture :P).
O yeah, you can read one of my fav write-up about Putri on one of my fav writer here. Oops he wrote in Bahasa, should we beg him to re-write in English? :) Hey see Putri below, she was busy capturing our foods before we ate them, just like me even I’m worst, sigh.
If I remember first time I looked Squids when my sister ate them it was something else. I couldn’t imagine why she liked that black thing and mixed with rice. Well, I was stupid then. Why I didn’t try Squids (+INK!) before I made my own conclusion. Squids cooked with their ink is absolutely delectable!
I become Squids (+INK) fans, hard fans :P. If you ask me how to cook this I will tell you the truth, I had no idea. My sister said its easy to cook, probably I will ask her clearly and show it on this blog.
For me come back from another country where you work and live to your home and eat one of the most delicious food is HEAVEN. And food that you eat is cooked by your Mom, it’s another HEAVEN AGAIN.
I’m so lucky having a super Mom who cooks well for her family. I don’t have a doubt to say that she is superb when she cooks in our small kitchen. I’ve been craving one of the most delicious food from my region, East Java, for a long, like three months before I left Africa for my leave, it’s Rujak Cingur. I tweeted about Rujak Cingur as one of MUST-EAT when I came back. And she made it for me a week ago. You can say Rujak is another kind of traditional salad from Indonesia apart of Gado-gado.
Basicly we are Indonesian have two type of Rujak, Fruit Rujak (many kind of fresh fruits, sliced, and served with spicy and sweet sauce made from brown sugar, tamarind, chili, salt, and fried peanut) and Rujak Cingur. Rujak Cingur is made from fresh veggies (short boiled) like bean sprouts, water spinach, cucumber, bengkoang, served with rice cake, fried tempeh and tofu. The sauce of Rujak Cingur is made from fried peanut, fried garlic, chili, salt, petis (fermented shrimp paste), and sometimes we add terasi (shrimps cake), so the taste of the sauce is totally different from Fruit Rujak. Its spicy and a bit salty. Could you imagine the taste of Rujak Cingur?.
Oh let me tell you the meaning of Cingur in Indonesian. Cingur is kind of cartilage and meat of the nostrils and ears of cow (sounds scary? disgusting? :P). Nope! it’s not. The taste is something else. Like what I said, Rujak Cingur is one of MUST-EAT food from East Java, Indonesia.
Some pictures from last night dinner with my best friend since high school, Fahmi. We chose steaks, Tenderloin for him and Tuna for me. As usual I feel I’m not alright to skip our dinner time for minutes just for taking picture and sadly, lack of light always be my problem. If you see pictures above the light from the restaurant was quite strong, I struggled a bit to find angle of our food (I was trying to be friend with the yellowish light last night)
Lately I had no clue why I become so lazy to pick pictures for this blog, really, I had so many ideas before I left Africa. Ideas of food to be captured. I will try harder to fight the laziness and yawn, I’m going to take short nap, I have an appointment with Ruli this noon. I hope my eyes work sharp this noon, for? Should I tell you now? Nope, I’ll post it if I’m done :P.
It was three days ago when I went out with Winda and Ruli and I just posted this (sigh). These are few pictures when we decided to eat Sushi before we watched movie. We didn’t eat much yet I think it was a pretty awesome moment when we could sit together, enjoyed our meal, and shared stories. Winda and Ruli who knew more for those Sushies than me took control to order our meal. I’ve been eaten at well-known sushi restaurant in town (well-known+affordable :P) for times but ssst let me tell you my small embarrassing secret when I have to eat japanese/chinese food, I COULD NOT eat with chopsticks properly. Please, don’t judge me for this. Shameful.
Anyway let this post be a short post to reminiscence my quality time with Winda and Ruli. So sorry I couldn’t remind each name of those Sushies, should I go there again to eat more and capture better than this?
Sadly we took picture when we were tired and well, I don’t want to grumble for this last pic. I should appreciate more of the QUALITY time we spent, and make note to capture better picture if we spend time together again. Whoof whoof I always love nice picture.
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
Ton meilleur pote à Bruxelles
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
"It's so beautifully arranged on the the plate - you know someone's fingers have been all over it." - Julia Child
baking makes friends.
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
Healthy Vegetarian Recipes.
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
an insight into the life of a dreamer who loves croissant, Paris, folklore, and nice things
goofydreamer 