#SimplyJoy is getting my ticket ready! It’s been confirmed since, I changed the date, and yippie I can’t wait to fly back to Indonesia. Hmm you know what? I love playing with my iCal and make notes for all I wanna do recently :P
Author: Azis Abdul
Azis is Indonesian whose interest in design & photography, traveling, cooking, and food styling.
He loves croissant, Paris, forever-die-hard-fan of august in folklore, and nice things.
He shares his stories, thoughts, creativities here in a room called goofydreamer [obviously he isn't goofy].
All content © Azis Abdul, unless noted.
Chinese Food Last Night
Had another chance for dinner last night at China Town, one of Chinese small restaurant in Victoria Island. I passed there with my flatmate after we did an event for crazy client (Ups! ;P), and yup we had to enjoyed chinese foods we chose as our revenge.
At China Town we never miss their Tom Yam. I could say that one of the best seafood tom yam I’ve ever tasted is their own! So tasty and pungent. Aside from tom yam, we ordered chicken chinese fried rice, crispy fried duck (yum!), and as always for drink, just cold spring water (they don’t have various drinks!). We love their tom yam and fried duck but NO for other spiced menus, WHY? Black pepper calamari, chicken in sweet sour sauce, or beef with cashew nut? Same taste (!!!).
Here, some of snaps from last night dinner. Two last foods below ; black pepper calamari and rice noodle with chicken aren’t taken last night ;P I found them in my food lodge.
Thanks Alice!
First time I wrote about Alice was in Bahasa, and finally after I struggled to find perfect time to write this, here, special post for my role-model photographer ; Alice Gao.
To be honest, I couldn’t remember when exactly I found her instagram feed was, yet truly, I felt in love with what I saw at the first sight, then I followed her until present. For me, Alice is something else. She has awesome eyes to capture beauties. As an amateur photographer wannabe ;P (*I’m ashamed! haha), I can see every single pictures that she takes is thoughtful. Content, idea, angle, composition, color-tone, lighting for sure, it’s wowed me!.
I just can’t say anything by three pictures below, my fav pics from her (I’m lying, I love all her photographs!!!), Maybe I could say she is insane! ;P Oh nope, I mean brilliant!
See that Paris? Oh how could she capture that misty wonderful city perfectly in black and white? from The Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile? Speechless! And that scone? and the dessert also? Alice, you-are-some-thing else!
Honestly, I’ve learned so much from Alice Gao how to capture things beautifully even I learn through cyber world. By seeing her picturesque blog, oh let me tell you my reasons why I can say her blog is picturesque. First, she presents her photographs in perfect pixels and big size which is it could make you want to see her works more and more. Second, she named ‘lingered upon’ brilliantly, it works so well, it makes you trap on it and lingered for hours! And third, she is very detail, how she choose the font, the color of background and small small things like caption, ah it is so well-presented.
And here, some of pictures in my instagram inspired by Alice Gao, I mean I learn from her ;P ;
Oh yes, she has a place among fav videos in my iPad, her short interview for instagram’s BIGGEST stars and I just read about Alice here also, you better open! :) . Anyway, from Alice I learn how we should enjoy to do everything we love, don’t ever afraid to choose what we love and keep learning until all eyes on us, and yup someday I’ll visit NYC and probably can meet her and learn directly for photography, someday :) Like what I wrote at number 7. THANKS Alice!
P.S. Im a bit upset since last night with small nonsense widgets on this blog, how could they move from right hand side to bottom! :( Rghh, does anyone know why this could be happen on mine? Please share.
Just because I can not wait anymore to show you how AMAZING Alice Gao is, so, I’ll ignore this nonsense for a while and trying to figure out the problem. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Cheesy Farfalle + Shrimps & Caviar
Oops forgive me to post this simply recipe a bit late ;P
I’ve promised to post the Farfalle recipe that I cooked for my Bday lunch that day, just had fun with Photoshop and this is it ; Super Simply Yummy Spontaneous Italian Farfalle with Cheesy Shrimps and Caviar! :)
You better try!
Oh Sky.
I can not lie that I miss Indonesia either food or her breathtaking scenery. I do miss beaches and perfect sunrise/sunset, I really do. Indonesia such an amazing heaven on the planet where splendid and mesmerizing sceneries could find easily, mountain, sea, beach, deep sea, oh I proud. I cant wait for my leave this year and stay for days in the exotic island, heading the ocean, feel the breeze, clear sky, orangish sunset, nice foods, hmm I cant stop thinking.
Here some snaps that I took randomly few days ago here, small moments that made me forget my endless works for minutes.
Meester Carlo.
Hey, just wanted to pop in this blog and share my small meeting with Mr Carlo, flower supplier for our company. Today was my first time I met Mr Carlo and he’s friendly man indeed. We shared our business relationship for hours and uh he showed me his cute baby boy in his iPhone that really well photographed! His son is so fine and I do love his expression in those pictures, so innocent in very very cute poses!
He visits some countries in Africa for days concerning his business on fresh flower and will be back to Netherland tomorrow. And before he gone I said “Mr Carlo, I’d like to snap you, If you don’t mind” haha, “Oh sure!” and as you see above, he looks friendly rite?
P.S. To be honest I always love to meet vary friendly people, make friend and expand my network in the future and oh yea I’d love to take picture with him like what I did with Aunty Linie. Unfortunately, today I was in mess for appearance, hahaha yeah I’m quite difficult to put picture of mine, I mean, I have to make sure my picture is deliberate before I post it here. Seeya in Amsterdam Meester! ;P
Oh Kecap!
Akhirnya flatmate saya sudah kembali dari cutinya sebulan. Biasanya, setelah liburan cuti ia selalu membawa bahan-bahan makanan yang mustahil ditemukan disini disamping barang-barang pribadinya (baca: baju-baju baru! *envy!). Bahan makanan yang wajib alias fardhu ain yang harus ada di koper setiap kami kembali dari Indonesia tak lain tak bukan adalah Kecap. Ya, Kecap manis.
Segitu pentingnya kah Kecap? Oh yes bagi saya. Kenapa? Pertama, jangan harap bisa bertemu dengan kecap manis di Lagos. TIDAK ADA! Meski di supermarket kadang bertemu dengan Soya Sauce bikinan Hongkong atau Thailand, rasanya jelas-jelas bukan kecap! Pernah saya coba membawanya pulang dan ternyata rasanya sungguh aneh dan berbeda. Kecap manis tidak ada disini kecuali kalau kita mau bersusah payah ke KBRI dan mengikhlaskan membelinya beberapa kali lipat dari harga sesungguhnya. Jadi, setiap pulang kampung, kecap manis jelas HARUS punya ruang sendiri di koper. Kedua, pentingnya kecap manis ya jelas untuk memper-maknyus masakan-masakan yang tidak akan afdol tanpa kecap, Semur dan Sate contohnya.
Kecap bisa menjadi andalan saat rasa malas memasak melanda (baca: kantong kempis). Siapa yang tak suka dengan telur ceplok yang dimakan dengan nasi panas dan lumuran kecap? Ada yang tidak suka? Kesalahan! *sigh. Saya pikir hampir semuanya suka. Selain sederhana dan murah, rasa telur ceplok berpadu dengan manisnya kecap kadang kala bisa menumbangkan rasa makanan-makanan lezat di restoran, setidaknya bagi saya. Ada yang tidak suka dengan ayam goreng atau telur dadar yang disajikan dengan kecap yang dicampur dengan tumbukan cabe rawit dan bawang merah mentah? Jika iya, sekali lagi, itu kesalahan besar.
P.S : Saya berterima kasih pada flatmate saya yang bersusah payah berburu kecap sesaat sebelum ia harus check-in. Sepertinya ia terlalu sibuk liburan sebulan penuh dan kemudian harus merelakan $2 untuk sebotol kecil kecap di salah satu toko di terminal Internasional Soetta. Ia membawa dua botol untuk oleh-oleh saya, hehehe, saya jelas akan memilih kecap daripada apapun untuk oleh-oleh. Sebenarnya saya berharap ia membawa kecap terbaik yang pernah ada, si Bango! Tapi tak apalah daripada tidak sama sekali, hehehe. Kadang hal kecil yang membuat saya bangga terlahir sebagai seorang Indonesia adalah kekayaan pusaka kulinernya, kecap manis salah satunya. Foto terlampir itu masakan pertama yang saya olah dengan kecap dua hari yang lalu, krengsengan hati sapi dan telur mata sapi, oh damn sepagi ini saya tiba-tiba lapar :P
Cushy & Simply
Being a ‘chooser’ for food sometime could be a wise choice to respect ourselves. Spending ten or fifteen minutes in the kitchen, choosing fresh ingredients then cook them, for sure, it is so much better than grabbing delish fast food from a food court. A cushy and simply food I cooked for breakfast yesterday for an example, 15 minutes needed, let say 30 minutes for everything; boiling the pasta, making the soup, blending avocado float, (Capturing? 15 minutes extra!). It was a quite busy started my morning time I know but it was worth it.
Here, some snaps from my breakfast yesterday ; Almond Loaf (+ Mayo and Lumpfish Caviar) for starter, Spinaci Pasta served with Garlic soup and boiled Chicken Breast (+ Chopped Broccoli and Stir fried Cherry Tomatoes), small glass of Avocado Float, A stick of Choux à la Crème, and Spring water (+ Lemon). It was a quiet full for breakfast!
A Little Celebration
It’s always good to be grateful when we are blessed with another year (it should!). A little celebration that I did yesterday as my BDAY gift (?), oh nope let me say it was just another spontaneous practicing Italian food.
A simply salty and cheesy cute bow-tie Farfalle served with Shrimps and Lumfish Caviar such a perfect late lunch meal and a piece of Strawberry Cheese cake was a yummy choice after salty and cheesy taste melted in my mouth. It was a little or too-little food for BDAY huh? Oh nope, I promise myself to have a proper dinner for late BDAY celebration when I’m coming home (yes! home!). I hope I can control my giddy side from pricey food for that celebration :P
P.S. Forgive me for the strong light on all these, that was because I cooked late and as always dramatic light comes around 5 pm makes pictures too sharp :P. I’ll post the recipe later, I’m off now, it’s Monday oh, real life awaits.
25
Personally, I always have a minor fear for my birthday for years, it sounds insane I know. There is nothing special for birth(day) unless the fact that I have to make tons of changes in life, for every single part of life, which means that some of the things I haven’t gotten yet MUST be on my hand and all dreams inside my bucket list must be REAL.
For me life isn’t easy when getting older and older, and probably that’s one of my personal reason that makes me hate to be stupid cause it will be harder. In the same time I should be grateful for everything that has been happened for past year, any wishes everything better for the next.
I’d like to write 24 memorable things that I should remember ;
- Had an encourage to show that I could raise my bar to another level, crossed the continent for the first time in my life
- One of the biggest fearless decision in life made me out from comfort zone
- Moved to the land where it has been teaching me so many things, out dare the real life since I started my steps, it’s unreal
- Working in the brand new industry where I find all the odds are endless
- Met an amazing Madam Uche who teach me so many priceless lesson
- Could be a wiser young man by loving adorable parents (+family) more, distance makes a real change
- Knew Alice Gao who inspire me a lot in (food) photography, I do love every single of her works, ALL (awe-inspiring Alice!)
- Met and worked for some well-known figures from this country, from politician, VS model, Miss World, lawyers, until Vice President (more ahead)
- More grateful by enjoying every pieces of food that I could easily enjoy them, hm I’d like to be a serious glutton someday
- Stuck deeper into (food) photography since I got my mirrorless
- Had cool stuff(s) that I got from my own hard work (really worth it)
- Had an indescribable (or unforgettable) feeling when I got home after several months
- Spent three days at Ranu Kumbolo with 4 best friends, I could see entire sky full of stars along blissful night, felt a real freedom
- Eat out more
- Had some meetings with old friends, spent hours in some different places where we could share anything since we’ve been separated each other
- Salary raised (I spend more, seems the same :P)
- Having small private room where I can share anything, this young blog
- Did so many different projects that I couldn’t even believe that I could (port folio should be richer)
- Speaking English in daily life, learning more to speak with British accent, it would be enrich my language skill (and it’s free)
- Being expatriate in this age isn’t easy, but I’d like to be grateful for sure
- Broken hearted
- Respect myself more than before (so much)
- One of my biggest dream to visit my dream land has a mild sign into reality
- Spent 10 days for Ramadhan in my own country, it sounds ridiculous but it was meant to me
And I’d like to wish 25 things for a year ahead ;
- Keeping up my good work, build my self-esteem in my professional career
- Always ready for all the obstacles in the future
- Visiting different country in Africa where I can see the beauty of life clearly,
- Not only working but all experiences that I’ve gotten could open another door, another chances, another level of professionalism
- Meet more and more amazing figures who I can pick their brain and learn more
- Giving my parents small gift that I get from my hard work
- Not only see Alice Gao in her instagram feet, having chance for coffee time in NYC :P
- Exploring foods in different spots in Indonesia when I’m coming back, this year (can’t wait)
- Get my DSLR and high quality lenses
- More Apple products (!)
- Can fly back home twice in a year with executive class :P
- More new places, more travel, more experiences of life
- Enjoying more hi-end foods in hi-end places and capture them in hi-quality ones
- Meet more friends, can’t wait to see them this year (!)
- Salary raise twice oh no three times or four :P, and get another income from hobbies
- Posting more and more quality posts in this blog
- Taking part in some inter-continental projects
- Taking French class
- No more broken-hearted, can find perfect one for future (!!!)
- Visiting Marbella in April for work and spend more days to see Mediterranean, Paris – Berlin and their neighbours
- Celebrating I’d Fitr in houuuse this year (!)
- Getting my first step for Master Degree (!)
- Diving in many different amazing spots in Indonesia
- Taking swimming course (rggh!)
- Live this year fulfilled with energy and positivity, being meaningful person for others
Last, overwhelmed gratitude for all blesses every day, Thanks God.
Cheers,
Azis.
goofydreamer 