Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Sinar Pagi

My mom's Sunday morning ritual is always waking up early to go to morning market and have breakfast with my dad. Even I never understood why on earth does anyone has to wake up that early on a Sunday, but I always thought it was sweet that my dad always accompanied my mom to the market, helping her carrying all the groceries, my mom loves to cook. You should see her refrigerator. 

Anyway, one of my folks' favorite breakfast was at Sinar Pagi in Muara Karang area. My mom said that the place developed from a small hawker in Muara Karang market into a Ruko near the area and always filled up with loyal eaters. One morning, mom told me that she wanted to have Lontong Sayur for her breakfast, so we went to Sinar Pagi. My mom ordered Lontong Sayur (18k) and I went for their Nasi Sayur with beef rendang (22k). And yes, both were deliciously yumm. I liked it how the Lontong's broth was not oily and seasoned well, and they were being generous on the condiments for both lontong and the rice. 



When you happen to be in the neighborhood, this place was a recommended breakfast place, not everyday though if you want to live a healthy life. ;)

Sinar Pagi 
Jl. Muara Karang Raya 
Enter from Toyota Showroom
North Jakarta 

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Beware and Be safe

This was a true story happened to me quite some time ago, I think around 3 years ago. I decided to write it in my blog in the hope that the story can be read by as many as people, in the hope that somehow after reading this people can be more aware, in the hope it will not be happened to anyone.

After the incident, I shared about this by sending massive emails to everyone at my Yahoo contact list, but lately I have been reading too many criminals news, too many broadcast message sharing about new types of deception that makes me want to blog about this. 

One morning, I was driving my dad to the airport. It was just the two of us. I parked my car at Departure parking lot Soekarno Hatta terminal 2E, second row beside an electricity pole. After we parked, I accompanied my dad entering the departure gate and after he went in, I walked to the parking lot to drive home. It was around 9 something in the morning. For the record, the parking lot was full with cars but not crowded with people. 

I got into my car, and thank God that it had become my habit that I always always lock the door the second I step in to the car, I never waited for the automatic lock. Just when I started up the engine, my window (the one in driver's seat) was getting knocked by a man, around 30s, polite appearance, like someone's driver. Bottom line, not looking like a bad person. I pressed the window button and let it open only an inch, just that I can hear what he was saying. More or less this was how the conversation went:

Man: (speaking politely) Miss, your back of the car, left side was broken. I think you accidentally hit the electricity pole when you parked the car earlier. 
Me: (in shocked) Really? how bad was it? 
Man: Quite bad, you should come down and see it. 
Me: (at that time, I don't have any suspicious towards that man as he was really looking like an ordinary normal driver type of person, but something just hold me to not get out from the car to check it out), so I said to him, "No need, thanks anyway", 
and I closed the window and was about to press the gas when another man knocking my other window (passenger side), and shouted but still in a polite way "You should really get out and check it first, as the damage was quite bad", I opened my window, again only an inch and said "No need, damage already, what need to be checked?" and I drove away. 

At that time, I was still not in any suspicious and the only thing that I think about was how bad was the damage and when should I bring it for insurance's claim. Approaching the exit ticket booth, there was quite a line of cars, and I decided to check on how bad was the damage. I got out from the car, went into the back and NOT A SINGLE SCRATCH was found. I got an instant goosebumps and quickly ran inside my car, lock the door and drive. 

It hit me, I was almost got trapped into a criminal deception case. Until this very day, I still really truly cannot imagine if at that time, I was in panic and trusted him to come down to check on my car, it was one thing if they only took my car and left, but what if they took me along? Gosh... If I remember that day, that incident, I still get the same goosebumps and I never stop thanking God for His guardian that He protected me that day and every single day. 

When we went on our honeymoon eleven months ago, there's a couple who now becoming a friend of us, and during one dinner, we were talking about all the criminal or deception cases mostly happen in Indonesia. The wife shared with me and my husband about the case above. I was surprised and told her that it was a true story happened to my self and that the broadcast email she received was originally from me. I am very glad that the email was broadcasted widely which is my true intention so as many as people can be alerted.

To all of you, boy or girl, anyone, please be extra careful. By posting this in my blog, I do sincerely hope all of you who happen to read this can help sharing this to all your friends and relatives. 

Thank you and be safe! 

Monday, October 24, 2011

The PlayGround

Saturday afternoon, me and my best friend went to the newest just opened restaurant at Plaza Indonesia named PlayGround. The place was located at the 4th flr extension near Ootoya. To me the design was nothing like playground, the only thing that was even close was there were several dining chairs hanging like a swing, other than that it didn't strike me as playground as the place was dark and none colorful. 


I asked the waiter for the specialty and he recommended to us from pasta selection, Katsutti (65k). It was like a donburi japanese rice topped with chicken katsu, egg and onion, but this Katsutti, instead of rice they used spaghetti. We followed the recommendation and order 1 Homemade abstract pizza (58k). The pizza topping changed daily and that day what they have was hmmm... something about cheese. I asked the waiter twice for the topping, but I still can't remember what he said. The bottom line, when the pizza came, I was dissapointed not because it was not good but it was a scary all cheese pizza and I can't eat anything dairy! Then the Katsutti came and again it has those dairy smell on the spaghetti, so I end up not touching both and my poor friend was forced to finish both, while on our way to Plaza Indonesia, she just told me that she was on diet. Hahaha



To ensure that I didn't ordering anything dairy again, I chose Good old american fried chicken (58k). It was a very standard fried chicken with rice and fries, nothing compare to my favorite junks, Colonel Sander's KFC. In my opinion, the only acceptable two things were the Bully iced tea (35k), an Iced tea with blueberry jam that very refreshing and unique. Another acceptable thing was the good service from the friendly waiter. Apart from that, I don't think the PlayGround was as enjoyable as the name. =) However, my friend who was a cheese lover said that the pizza was nice. 


Bully Iced Tea
Home Made Root Beer Float
Oh yes, I forgot to took picture of the interior. :( 

The PlayGround
Plaza Indonesia Extension 4th flr
Jl. MH Thamrin Kav. 28-30
Jakarta

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Preview Lemon's CLOSET 5


It had been a sweet struggle for this CLOSET 5. Due to my lack of focus, I accidentally booked wrong return date which was 1 day earlier, so it was a shorten trip compare to my usual which forced us to be very punctual on the shopping schedule. Waking up earlier, days of rounding the shops without proper rest. And Bangkok was raining most of the time when we were there, unfavorable weather added with non proper rest resulting me not feeling well. In addition, which I have mentioned on my earlier post, our return flight was delayed for an hour due to heavy rain. It was my most unfavorable trips but the closet's collection turns out to be my favorite one so far. 

I hope the collections will be loved as much as I do. Will coming your way tomorrow, Oct 20th at 6pm only at: 

Stay tune! =)

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Kado ++

Even that I had resigned for quite some time, I am still coming to my work place once a month to assist on a regular event they had. Last week was my second time coming there as an ex-employee and the feeling was mutual with the first time. Cranky having to get up from bed so early, even crankier having to drove on that stupid traffic which I swear was getting worse and worse, but... having a blast catching up with old colleagues and distributors. 


After the event ended, me and couple of colleagues went for a dinner at Kado which recently just opened at Grand Indonesia. The feeling I had when I first saw and walked in was that the ambiance and how they decorated the place more like an Italian rather than Japanese. They designed it with light wood and brick to make it feel spacious and minimalistic with an open kitchen in the center. 




Their earlier outlet was at Intercontinental Mid Plaza and I heard one of their specialty was Kushiyaki. In some restaurants they called it Yakitori. To my knowledge, the term of Yakitori can be used to refer to any skewer food in general, while the term of Kushiyaki encompasses more on both poultry or non poultry items. Both mean the same actually, so the terms are use interchangeably in the Japanese society. 

The 3 of us decided to order 3 cups of Chawan Musi (22k) and shared a plate of Mix Moriawase (95k) 7pcs of Kushyiyaki, Original takoyaki (32k), and Yaki Onigiri (22k). Onigiri or known as rice ball was made from white japanese rice formed into triangular shapes filled with mostly salty or sour ingredients. It was a very popular food in Japan. We chose the one filled with salmon and dried bonito (fish flakes).

Chawan Musi
Original takoyaki
Mix Moriawase
Yaki Onigiri
The chawan musi came first and in my opinion, it was one of the unpleasant chawan musi I ever had. It was too small to start to, the egg was not soft like it was supposed to be and the condiments inside were cheap. The takoyaki was nice, the fish flake was generous and I like it how the filling just burst out when I chewed it and wasn't floury. Our yaki onigiri came, they actually have 2 kinds of Onigiri, original or yaki (grilled), we chose yaki one. The onigiri wasn't nice, the rice was too stern, I was not sure was it because it was grilled too long or it was supposed to be that stern, bottom line it was not good and same like the chawan musi, they were cheap on the filling. 
The kushiyaki came last in 7 pcs consisted of: 
Momo: leg meat
Tebasaki: wing
Gyu Karubi: beef belly
Gyutan: beef tongue
Salmon
Ikada: green onion
Ninniku: garlic
The beef tongue and wings were nice, but the rest were very standard. 

Overall, to me the dinner was enjoyable only because of the nice chat I have with my colleagues, not so much on the food.

Kado++
Grand Indonesia Shopping Town 
West mall level 3A
Jl. MH Thamrin No. 1A
Jakarta
Ph. +6221 23581871

Monday, October 17, 2011

Bakpao Boldy


The first time I heard about Bakpao Boldy was from a site that offers discount promo in vouchers, Deal Keren. Originally it was from Malang since the early 50s and they recently open up a branch in Jakarta at Pluit area. I bought 2 vouchers with special discount of IDR 27k only for 6pcs of bakpao to take away (original price was 54k for 6pcs). In the voucher was stated that we need to make 1 day reservation in advance, so yesterday I called Bakpao Boldy for clearer details. The person picked up my phone explained to me that the reason of 1 day reservation in advance was necessary because the bakpao was made daily fresh without using any preservative, unlike some frozen bakpao in general. So if we make a booking in advance, we were ensured that the variant we want will be ready.

This morning I went there to picked up my orders. It was located at the culinary street, Pluit Sakti beside Apotek Putri. The owner was very friendly informing me about their daily fresh Bakpao and how they just opened for 2 months in Jakarta. They have 7 variants from babi cincang, babi kecap, ayam cincang, ayam kecap, tausa, kacang tanah and kacang hijau, where the most recommended were babi cincang, tausa and kacang tanah.


I just ate their babi cincang's and tausa, both were delicious. The buns were very soft and the filling were delicious. Oh yes, they put written mark below each Bakpao for us to identify each and every kinds. 


Bakpao Boldy 
Jl. Pluit Sakti Raya No. 117
North Jakarta
Ph. +6221 60626539

Monday, October 10, 2011

Ice Cream Durian Bang Didi


This was a post when I went to Bogor couple weeks ago. Every time we go there, our first stop is always at this Durian ice cream stall. This stall really serves the best durian ice cream. At least, until now I haven't found any others who can beat Bang Didi's. He was very generous in using the real durian fruit, unlike other vendors who used ice cream more than the fruit itself. It was a little heaven melted in mouth. Definitely recommended. 

They have 2 size of glass, small one was 8k and big one was 15k. To me the small one was more than enough, but I saw many people preferred the big one.

 
Guidance: From freeway exit Bogor, took left to Tajur and you will see a big supermarket on your left side. I cannot remember was it Hero or Giant. Beside it, you will see an alley, turn left and on your left you will see a stall beside the road named "Ice Cream Durian Bang Didi". You will find it for sure, the queuing line was too hard to missed.  


Ice Cream Durian Bang Didi
Alley next to Hero or Giant Supermarket
Tajur - Bogor 
Ph. +62813 87092696

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Luna Negra


One day before my buying trip, I managed to squeeze a lunch date with a friend of mine, Merry. We decided to meet at Luna Negra. I haven't been here although the place had opened for quite some time and promptly becoming a must visit dining in town. It was Saturday afternoon and I have made reservation earlier as I heard all the sayings that Luna was always full booked, but when we reached there, the place was almost empty although I did see quite names on the reservation list, and yes the place start too filled up while we were eating. 

Entering Luna, there's a wine cellar on the left side and passing through the bar, we were guided to the dining tables. The place was nicely decorated, with bricks and dark woods where they put two big plastic trees in the center and there were big silver balls hanging between the trees. I loved the ambiance and how they design it. It immediately took place in my heart. 

Source: www.jakarta100bars.com

Like all Italian bistro, we were given complimentary bread while we ordering. Luna served cuisine from Italian, Asian to Western, however the waiter told us that their specialty was Italian. We decided to have Pizza Calzone (92k) and a Tiramisu (48k) to shared. I ordered their Luna iced tea (25k). It was a homemade ice tea, black tea, black grass jelly with fresh mint leaf. I didn't like it, it was typical ice tea and the grass jelly was too thick to be drank using the straw only. However, I loved both the pizza and tiramisu. The value of the presentation and taste was equally balanced... in a positive way. Pizza calzone was a clam shapped pizza with the stuffing inside consisted of smoked beef, sauted mushroom, tomato sauce and mozzarella. The pizza dough was baked perfectly, not too thick, not too thin with a perfect seasoned for the stuffing. The mushrooms were delicious. While the tiramisu was a very smooth melted in your mouth type of dessert. 




In my opinion, Luna surely earned the right to be one of the must visit dining place. 

 
Luna Negra 
Plaza Bapindo, Citibank tower, GF 
Jl. Sudirman Kav. 54-55 
Jakarta
Ph. +6221 29950077

Friday, October 7, 2011

Lemon on DRESSCODE Magz


Lemon goes public on DRESSCODE magz October's edition. For more of our advertisement, pls go to this link:
http://facebook.com/Lemon goes public

HOME

I'm back!

Every time I went on traveling, no matter where, no matter how fun was it. Still, no place beats home. The feeling popped every time I step in to home after going abroad was the best. As much excited I was for each buying trip I had, didn't hide the fact that I hate flying. I never like plane, I am not phobia of height but I just always get nauseous if I am in plane. I can't stand the inflight meal smells, I can't stand to sit in the middle seat, so I always took the aisle seat, I can't stand the long hours. When I was a kid, Doraemon was one of my regular show, and up until now I am still wishing if I could have his "pintu kemana aja". The imagination if I could go anywhere abroad without taking a plane. 

My former boss is a Singaporean, as a Regional Country Manager, he's in charge on branches in several countries which requires him to travel frequently. He once told me he travels around 120+ times in a year! Gosh, I can't imagine if I was in his shoes.  

This last buying trip, we took a red eye for our return flight and it was delayed for an hour due to heavy rain. After they decided that it was ok to fly, during the flight, the plane was having major turbulence. It was not a minor only a minute turbulence, it was big! and keep on coming every second in about half an hour, and when I looked at the window, there were thunders. I was freaking out. There was a pregnant stewardess on the plane, working. She was 6 months pregnant and I kept on looking at her during the turbulence, yet she was so calm... that also calms me down a bit. I was so relief we landed safely.

Anyway, I haven't unpacked. I was not feeling quite well during my buying trip. I guess I was too exhausted before and during the trip.So I will be hibernating first for a day before start the photo shoot for CLOSET 5. Stay tune! =)

Saturday, October 1, 2011

October's Buying Trip

The past few days really make me realized that as a human, we can plan but it is up to Him whether the plan can be delivered or not. Last week I have been very busy. I just launched Lemon's CLOSET 4 and bless me that it was well responded. After the week, I thought that I will have couple of relaxing days before my buying trip. I have planned two lunch dates with couple friends of mine, a manicure pedicure session and a relaxing back massage. But as I said, we can plan but it's all up to Him. Something came up, got me so occupied that all those plans above sadly need to be cancelled. 

So now here I am, Saturday night... less than 24 hours before my flight, haven't packed, tense shoulders with a 3 weeks old pedicure. What a mess!

Anyway, enough writings. Start packing. Hopefully tomorrow I can still have a nice brunch before rushing to airport. I'll be off until the 6th, back with tons of great stuffs for Lemon *finger crossed*. Wait for my CLOSET 5 soon to be launched at http://www.facebook.com/lemon.onlineshop.

Cheers and Gud nite!