"it is your life, live it well, live it happy"

Recently, I read a book called "Si cacing dan kotoran kesayangannya". The book was written by an Australian monk named Ajahn Brahm. I was not interested at first but the book is best seller and many friends of mine insisted that the book is very enriching and they somehow got motivated after reading it. Although I didn't get motivated and did not enjoy it as well as I enjoy reading Cosmopolitan, but there are some good learning points quoted from the book. 

"future is uncertain, we will never know what will happen next"

"whatever you do, do your BEST"

And this one is my favorite, "the hardest part in life, is thinking about IT". It's really gotten me that many times I do think too much about everything, even things that not even happen yet. Perhaps we have to learn to not be totally worried about everything going around us and just be happy, enjoy life and have faith that God will always do His best. Like my beautiful Dr. Doreen Tan, founder of Best World Lifestyle said "it is your life, live it well, live it happy". 

Mad for Garlic

Last month, there's a new Italian restaurant open in Grand Indonesia. Mad for Garlic. They say it is the most famous wine & italian restaurant in Korea. I opened their website and learned that they have 11 branches in Korea, one in Singapore and recently new one in Jakarta. I figure, a restaurant with 11 branches in one country should be a good reason to try.

Today, I decided to go there for my friday lunch. The restaurant looks small from outside but turns out it was quite big inside. The ambience is nice, when we enter the restaurant it was quite dark as they use dim lights, but walk further they have sections with brighter light, separated with wall glasses with wine selections, more or less like Decanter. 

The menu selections are varied enough. They have several types of pasta, rice, pizza and steaks. I am craving for  pasta and my favorite type of pasta is actually aglio olio but their aglio olio is plain, only pasta covered with garlic, without any chicken chunks or at least some mushrooms . Yucks! So, I decided to order Triple Garlic Pasta (110k). It was spaghetti with shrimps, mussels, squids and of course garlic covered in tomato sauce. The spaghetti was mixed with shredded leek. It was ok, they are generous enough on the shrimps, mussels and squids. But I don't really like the sauce, it's too much so kinda wet. I prefer my pasta dry. On the other hand, I like my colleague's aglio olio, Garlicpeno pasta (60k). Even though it's only spaghetti and garlic, but the pasta is good. We asked the waiter if we can add shrimps or bacon into it, and they said can't at the moment as they just open and need to follow the menu as instructions. My other two colleagues order Garlic Sizzling Rice (110k), it was fried rice with bacon and fish roe on a hot plate. It was good. Another one is Arrabiata pasta (80k), spaghetti with bacon in tomato sauce. My colleague said it was quite ok, but I didn't try it as to me the presentation was too wet and red, too much tomato sauce. 

                                                                                                                                    

Arrabiata Pasta

Garlicpeno Pasta

Garlic Sizzling Rice

Triple Garlic Pasta

Overall, it was a good lunch. Turns out they are in the same management with Tony Roma's, so if we have Tony Roma's member, we can show them and get 10% discount. 

Mad for Garlic
Grand Indonesia, West Mall Ground Floor
Jl. MH Thamrin No.1
Jakarta
ph: +6221 23581076
http://www.madforgarlic.co.id/index.htm

Katsusei

One week ago, me and my colleagues purchased a voucher to dine at Katsusei from a website who specialized in selling coupon with certain discount. The voucher was sold at 45k for 1 set of katsu bento. We decided to use our vouchers today for lunch. Btw, I am working at Menara BCA, that's why I often have lunch at Grand Indonesia as the building is linking with the mall. Anyway, back to our lunch... Today was my second time dine at Katsusei. The place is empty when we got there, only 1 table besides ours. Same thing during my previous visit, also only 1 table besides mine. I'm not sure because it is weekdays or because the menu is quite pricey. Although they often have 50% promo by certain credit card. The interior is nice, before we enter the restaurant we will be walking through a short alley. The dining place is not spacious and designed with dim lights. 

Beef katsu Set

Tonkatsu sauce

This time, as we can only use our vouchers to redeem with bento set, I didn't bother to look at the menu. But I remember the Katsu set (original not bento) is around 200k. Coming back to the bento set, we can opt between Chicken Katsu Bento (65k), Beef Katsu Bento (80k) and Salmon Katsu Bento (95k). There are four of us, and we chose 2 sets of Beef & 2 sets of Salmon. We were jokingly said that because this one is paid using voucher, the portion will be small. We were wrong. Even though it was different and smaller from the original Katsu set, but it was fulfilling. My beef katsu was delicious and so was the salmon. They have this Tonkatsu sauce mixed with sesame to be dipped into the Katsu. Yumm! 

After the meal, we were given a small glass of hot tea. I don't really know what kind of tea is that, but according to the waiter it helps to cleanse out the oil from our body.

Payment time: we were not charged at all for the Katsu bento set, the vouchers had inclusive tax also. So we only pay for our beverages. I think it is totally worth it as we purchased the voucher at 45k to be redeemed with meal worth 80k - 95k. Good deal! 

Katsusei 

Grand Indonesia East Mall Garden District 2, Level 5

Jl. MH Thamrin No.1

ph: +6221 23580060

Other outlet: Plaza Indonesia

Pasta de Waraku

Me and my colleagues decided to have lunch at Pasta de Waraku. I am a loyal eater, most of the time I will just repeat the same menu, but for my blog purpose, this time I decide to not order the regular chicken & mushroom with wafu sauce. Let's scroll down to see what we order. 

Mine was Chicken Teriyaki with wafu sauce (58k). It was ok, but I dont like the white mayo sauce that they topped above the pasta. 

This one was Chicken Tamatoji w/ wafu sauce (58k). My colleague said the Katsu is delicious and the presentation is tempting (at least better than mine)

I always like Takoyaki (38k) and curious whether this one is good so I decide to order one, turns out it's just ordinary but still better than the one at Tokio Kitchen. 

I have been coming here for several times. I enjoyed the pasta and they have a lot of varieties, not like italian restaurant who mostly comes with creamy pasta which I don't like as I don't eat anything dairy and creamy. 

Pasta de Waraku

Grand Indonesia Mall Level 3A
Jl. MH. Thamrin No. 1
Jakarta Pusat

http://www.waraku.com.sg/index.aspx

Junior Masterchef Australia

Recently, after I got married... I begin to enjoy cooking and do things that I never used to do such as google for new recipes, starts to buy recipe books, and watching TV show about cooking. At the moment, Junior Masterchef Australia has been one of my favorite reality shows. I am amazed by all the super talented kids who can cooks so well... not so well but amazingly great. And they are only age between 9 - 13. Gosh! 

I love all the contestants although I mostly enjoy watching Pierre and Sofia. But hats off to Isabella as the winner of Junior Masterchef Australia. I hope one day when I have children, one of them can cooks as great as these amazing kids... =) 

See the full details about Junior Masterchef Australia at http://www.masterchef.com.au/home.htm