I have vivid memories of the annual dragon boat festival, also called Duan Wu Jie (端午节) or Double Fifth Festival (because it occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the traditional lunar calendar). Most of the time, we watched the dragon boat races (the...
I still crave many dishes from my childhood, like ayam goreng kunyit (turmeric fried chicken), pastel panggang (a shepherd’s pie of sorts), and roti bakso (sweet pork buns). Some, I’ve tried to recreate in my own kitchen and others, I patiently wait for. I do...
I don't know why, but snowy days and cold weather tend to bring on a bout of nostalgia. The temperatures dipped into the teens and about 10 inches of snow fell on Tuesday, unusual for Northern Virginia. As I was curling up on my couch and...
When I was growing up, I ate this dish as often as an American kid might eat spaghetti. It was—and still is--my favorite comfort food. In Indonesia, you’ll find entire restaurants and food stalls dedicated to selling this local specialty. To make it even simpler...
As soon as my mom ascends the stairs and disappears into the guest room, I arrange the mise en place for rolling spring rolls (or lumpia as they're called in Indonesian) on the kitchen table: a stack of wrappers, a bowl of ground pork and bamboo...
Avocado (Photo credit: djwtwo) In the U.S., avocados are most often eaten in savory dishes, sliced to adorn salads or made into guacamole. As a little girl, my mum would make us a very simple snack--she'd halve an avocado, drizzle some palm sugar syrup (made by melting gula...
The snake may not be my favorite animal but I just learned a very interesting factoid about the Year of the Snake which starts this Sunday, February 10, 2013. Just as a snake sheds its skin, this is a good year for making dramatic transformations,...
Two weeks ago, I attended an event to celebrate Singapore’s 47th birthday that fell on August 9th. By some strange turn of events, I was roped in to lead a few songs in the requisite sing-a-long sessions. We sang popular folk songs like "Burung Kakak Tua,"...
A very important person once said, “You can’t argue with taste.” This V.I.P. happens to be my dad. He'd make this declaration while pouring kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce, literally “sweet sauce”) over whatever food was on his plate, be it fried noodles (normal)...
I’m a peanut sauce convert. There I said it. It’s true, I never liked peanut sauce. It probably has to do with the fact that my mom always served peanut sauce with boiled vegetables, i.e. the popular Indonesian dish gado- gado. C’mon, do boiled vegetables sound appetizing...
