Tom Yum with Anchovies & Undur-Undur

I went to Depok beach yesterday with my neighbour friends for inauguration party of the new RAS squad. We bought heaps of seafood: clam, skipjack tuna & a kind of flat fish (flounder, I guess) in the fish market, and then brought them to a nearby restaurant to be processed. The clams were stir-fried in sweet and sour sauce, the flounders were baked, while the skipjack were deep-fried. The food was great! It was really worth the time and trouble to reach the beach (about 50 km from home).

Having tasted all that seafood delight, suddenly I had this urge to cook seafood too. I decided to make Tom Yum with this oval-shaped crustacean called undur-undur. The taste was like shrimp, but more crispy & savoury.

Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
2 lemon grass, bruised & tied
4 keffir lime leaves
1 inch ginger, crushed (I wanted to use galangal but ginger is all I have)
2-3 tbsp chilli paste
3 bird chillies (whole)
1 lime (you only need the juice)
1-2 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)
3-4 cups water
1-2 stock cubes
1/2 kg fresh anchovies (I recommend you deep-fry the anchovies first until they browned & firm. I made mistake by adding the fresh achovies while sauteing the onion. The taste were good, but they disintegrated into pieces, making the soup cloudy.)
2 large white tofu, cut into 2 cm cubes
1/4 kg fried undur-undur
100 g dried mushrooms, soaked in warm water
salt to season
cilantro & leek (sliced) to garnish

Saute the chopped onion until tender. Add ginger, anchovies, undur-undur, lime grass, keffir lime leaves, chillies & chilli paste. Add the water & stock cubes and bring to boil. Add tofu, lime juices, fish sauce, mushrooms & salt. Serve with cilantro & leek.


Can you see the orange pieces floating on the soup? That's the undur-undur.

You can substitute anchovies & undur-undur with any seafood. I know a restaurant which serve Tom Yum with chicken feet. ^o^

Every Ending is A New Beginning

Or is it 'a new beginning requires an ending'?

Anyway, this past 10 months has taught me many things I could never get from school alone. I'm going to miss everything, but it's good to know that they're within my reach.

Can't wait to start the new chapter in my life.. ^_^

Bedog Arts Festival

This morning, our maid told us about this festival held in the studio near her house. The studio is now very large. A few years ago, they bought the land & the spring by the river, previously owned by my maid's family. The price was not too high, but things like that always happened. You know lah, the case of low bargaining power.

Aniway, we (my sis & I) went there this evening. Today's programs were seminar about 'Art, Environment & Community', movies (children, environment & Opera Jawa), and also a dance called Mawar Dance. (mawar=rose)



Okay, call me blind of artistic value. But I did not understand what the dance was about. It started with two half-naked women making out, like lesbo couple. Then one woman left the stage. The remaining performer danced what looked like some random yoga moves (in my opinion). Hohoho.. The men watching that must had been very.. aroused. ;D It was nice though, despite no music & unknown story.

I did not see the Opera Jawa movie. Mainly because I have to get up early tomorrow and it was cold, for my shirt was pretty thin. Since the place was near my home, I didn't think to change or grab a jacket. To be honest, I was wearing my pyjamas.. ;p

Maybe I will visit the fest again for the closing ceremony.. I think with better publication, they could have attracted more people.

Harvest Time: Melon

Last week, when visiting one of the assisted farmer group in Lendah, Kulonprogo, I saw the field was full of balls of melons. Yumm.. Some of the melons were scattered on the road, half-eaten by the farmers, or maybe local people, thus making the air so fragrant with melon scent.
That's one thing I love about Kulonprogo: clean air, except on the main inter-city road. On the village, people often sun-dried their spices on the road. You could smell vanilla and cloves as you passed the road on your way to Samigaluh.

There were few people selling melons on the road. Later I found out, they were selling melons rejected by the distributor. Small part of the melons were spoiled, maybe because of insects or improper handling. Otherwise, they were perfect. Since I was dying to taste it, I bought one anyway, despite those little flaw. It was really cheap!! Only Rp 5000,- each. When I got home, I found that it was really sweet & nice. I wished I'd bought more.. ^o^

Menoreh Green Land

My TPHP friends,
I'm really sorry I didn't upload this brochure earlier. I hope this will provide enough information for our Makrab. If you found the map confusing, please see the self-made map I sent via email. And if you found that map even more confusing..just go ask the locals. Don't bother me to make another map.
I'll see you there on 16-17 August. ^_^
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Menoreh Green Land is the fund-raising unit of PPSJ (Pusat Penyelamatan Satwa Jogja = Jogja Wildlife Rescue Center). So while having a vacation, we could actually help to save the animals. Isn't it great?


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More about PPSJ-Menoreh Green Land:
PPSJ dan Menoreh Green Land
Bandung students learn from farmers in nature, cultural tour
PPSJ (the Centre of the Rescue of the Jogjakarta Fauna)