MAKING A DIFFERENCE

I was invited yesterday on behalf of Yayasan Usaha Mulia (YUM) to give a presentation about YUM to 200+ students attending the Global Issues Network Indonesia (GINDO) Conference organized by Jakarta International School and Sinarmas World Academy. 

I find it really inspiring to be among students who are aware of the global issues in the world and want to make a difference. I wish I had a forum like this one when I was in high school. 

Today reminded me about a workshop I attended a couple of months ago with teachers from several international schools. The focus was on Service Learning and how to implement service within the student curriculum. Again, it's great what's happening in schools these days. To be able to learn and at the same time give back to the community gives each student a sense of belonging.

Before the workshop, we were split in groups and sent to various NGOs working with the Jakarta International School. I happened to be in the group heading towards projects by Habitat for Humanity who builds houses for very poor people, including the beautiful old lady below. The houses were in the Sentul area and we walked around and found a workshop where they were in the preparation stage of making flour out of singkong (cassava). 

Just thought I'd share these with you :)

GIFT WRAPPING IDEAS

Ok, today I wanna share with you a really nice idea I had for gift wrapping presents. Last month when my aunt and uncle came for Christmas, I wanted for them to bring back some gifts for my cousins in France. However, I thought if I gift wrapped them with paper, it would be completely destroyed in their suitcase. So I remembered seeing at the MUJI store some cheap small-size tote bags. They only cost around Rp. 10,000 to 13,000 so honestly, I think you can't get cheaper than that for a small bag :)

Now, since it was really bland, I thought why not ask Amal to draw something on it and he decided on monsters (of course!). What's really funny is that, not only did he name all the monsters, but he gave a label to the bag! So he decided his trademark label would be ALMBLA. Go figure what that means but this little kid actually has entrepreneurial skills....hahahha...

So, all you need are the bags from MUJI (which you can find in Plaza Indonesia and Pondok Indah Mall I) and a marker special for clothing (which you can buy at Gramedia or other stationery stores). Et voila!

THE PLACE I CALL HOME

Now, I think I posted some photos of my parents' beautiful home before and humbleness aside, I think this house is absolutely splendid! :)

I love being here, just cozying up on the sofa, in bed, playing scrabble on the terrace, watching a movie, entertaining guests... My parents did a fantastic job designing it (with an architect of course), then decorating it. You can imagine a collection of 30 years of decoration items and furniture and having to decide what to keep and what to throw away (it couldn't all fit in the new house). There was plenty of spring cleaning to do.... Luckily YUM was having a garage sale so the stuff went to good use :)

By the way, if you think these photos are awesome, it's because they were taken by my sis-in-law, Sissy.

PARIS MUSEUM PASS

Just spent quite some time today with my cousin Sandri who will be going to Europe at the end of the month and wanted some tips about where to go, what to eat and what to see in Paris. Where do you start, right? Needless to say, I was obsessively talking about all the small streets, cafes and shops I used to go to and the day passed by really quick :)

I, of course, recommended her to go to my favorite museum, eat quiche and pies in a bohemian setting and drink the best hot chocolate in the world, and maybe try to learn a bit of French by seeing this short video.

However, as much as I gave her all the information she needed, she was the one who hooked me up with this video below about a card called Paris Museum Pass, a pass card to all the museums in Paris. The video is amazing, and makes me even more envious of her going. But as they say in France: "chaque chose en son temps" (one thing at a time)... Right now, my focus is elsewhere and hopefully one day, my focus will go towards traveling again :)

By the way, have you read my other posts about things to do, see and eat in Paris? If you haven't, here's the link --> PARIS!

EASY, QUICK DESSERT: LYCHEE JELLY WITH RASPBERRIES

Ok, so this recipe has to be the easiest of them all! There's practically no cooking required, just a little stirring, yet it's super awesome :) 

taken from A cookbook a month

LYCHEE JELLY WITH RASPBERRIES


1/2 bag of frozen raspberries (use the ones from "All Season")
3 packets of Nutrijell lychee taste


Basically, you follow exactly what the Nutrijell packet tells you to do. 
In small bowls, put a couple of raspberries (depending on the size of the bowl). Pour in the Nutrijell mixture.
Let cool before refrigerating.


Eat cold. Yum!

EASY, QUICK DESSERT: TIRAMISU

So this is another one of my great finds during the holiday: quick and easy tiramisu. It started out with me wanting to make my usual tiramisu and then thinking about raw eggs and salmonella, so I tried to find another recipe that didn't include raw eggs and found this. Well, trust me, done and tried and it's a keeper!

The video shows you how to make it, but not the exact ingredients so here they are:

QUICK TIRAMISU

(from Gordon Ramsay's recipe)

Ingredients:

6 tbsp icing sugar

250g mascarpone (you can also replace this with cream cheese)

1 tsp vanilla extract

150ml double cream (or whipping cream)

150ml string coffee, cooled to room temperature

20 lady fingers (savoiardi - you can find these at Titan on Jl. Fatmawati)

Cocoa powder to dust

Optional: 3 tbsp Marsala, brandy or Tia Maria

Method:
1. Whisk the mascarpone with the vanilla (and Marsala), until everything is thoroughly mixed together. Whisk the cream with the icing sugar until smooth, then fold the mascarpone mix.
2. Pour the coffee into a bowl (sweeten with more icing sugar if you like. Take one sponge finger at a time and dip it gently in to the coffee. Set it in a serving dish or glass and continue with the remaining biscuits.
3. Spoon half the mascarpone mix in until you reach half the dish or glass, then put another layer of biscuits and the remaining mascarpone mix. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow the flavors to infuse.
4. Remove the tiramisu from the fridge. Dust with sifted cocoa powder to serve.

EASY, QUICK DESSERT: ETON MESS

Believe it or not: this is one of the easiest dessert to make! I don't think anyone could fail making this because it's just a question of whipping things up and mixing them together and it should look something like this:

photo from bakedbree.com

Now, don't underestimate the power of whipping and mixing because this dessert is also one of the yummiest around. If you are salivating right now and want to know the recipe, here it is:

ETON MESS

Makes about 5 portions

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries (buy the ones called "All Season" at Ranch Market, cheap and good)

1 tray of strawberries (or more if you prefer)

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup thick Greek yoghurt

2 tbsp sugar

15-20 small meringues (you can also find this at Ranch)

Method:

Place raspberries and sugar in a saucepan over very low heat for 5 minutes until the raspberries become liquid ("coulis" in french). Leave to cool and pass through a sieve (saringan in Indonesian). Cut the strawberries in quarters.

Whip the whipping cream and Greek yoghurt together so they become thick. Crumble the meringues into the mixture and gently mix together.

Put the cream and meringue mixture in a small bowl or glass, top with strawberries and the sprinkle some raspberry coulis on top.

Et voila!

**PS: in other recipes, they only use cream. However, I really think the Greek yoghurt gives it a sour yet smooth texture so I highly recommend you try this recipe :)

**PPS: you can add other berries like blackberries or even peaches would be good I think.

BALI: SAYAN VIEW

Sayan is one of my most favorite places in Bali because of the incredible view - rice paddies, mountains, coconut trees. My uncle, who came from France, is an avid photographer and so we had to take him here. Sayan is about 30 minutes drive from Ubud and besides huge expensive hotels like the Four Seasons and Amandari, you have beautifully designed small cozy hotels like Sayan Terrace and Taman Bebek. My parents and late grandparents both stayed in these places and absolutely loved it. Taman Bebek was designed by Made Wijaya, an australian born landscape artist and writer who has lived in Bali for more than 30 years.

View from Sayan Terrace

Sayan Terrace

The pool at Taman Bebek

BALI: BELLA BEDUGUL

Bedugul is one place I haven't really been to, but my aunt and uncle highly recommended the botanical gardens there, and so we went on the 25th of December....and realized many balinese wanted to do the same so it took us ages to get there :)

But but but... it was highly worth the trip! On our way there, we stopped at a restaurant called Saranam, which is also an eco-resort, and found the most amazing view! It was really breathtaking! The resort also looked one-of-a-kind and I wished we could have spent a night there.

The Bedugul Botanical Gardens were also unbelievably beautiful. We went up to a part where we could see the Bedugul lake, then went to see the Bali Treetop Adventure Park which has some outbound games for children and adults. Unfortunately, since we weren't the only ones there, it was already full and so all we could do was walk around the forest and take pictures. Amal had a blast with the iPhone and took tons of pictures :)

View from the Saranam restaurant

The Saranam eco-resort

Another view from the restaurant

The Bedugul lake

Bedugul Botanical Gardens

Amal and Papi Guy taking pictures in the forest

BALI: KOU CUISINE

As you know, I am a hand-made freak. I love everything that wasn't made in a factory. So this little store in Ubud really caught my eye while I was going up Monkey Forest Road, especially because the packaging was really well designed: simple yet classy (and yes, very French you can add). In this small store, they sold several types of jams and also sea salt. The jams looked marvelous, like mango, grape and buni, milk caramel, passionfruit and tangerine, etc. Right at the entrance of the store, you have a long table with the jams to taste so how can you resist? 

So next time you're in Ubud, check out Kou Cuisine, Jl. Monkey Forest. I couldn't find a website for them, but they're situated not far from the Ubud market, almost at the end of Jl. Monkey Forest.

BALI: PANTAI GEGER

It's holiday season and this year we had a 3 and a half days holidays in Bali, essentially to meet my uncle and aunt who are visiting from France and spend some time away from Jakarta. 

Our first day in Bali, we decided to go to Pantai Geger which is in the Nusa Dua area. My dad had spent a day there a few weeks ago with friends and thought it would be the ideal place for Amal to play with the sand and enjoy the beach. And he was right; the beach was calm and there were not many people there so Amal could run around freely. Unfortunately, it had rained on the way to the beach so it wasn't the sunny weather that we had expected. But as you can see, Amal had lots of fun anyway... 

We had lunch in one of the small restaurants in front of the beach and it was honestly good food, especially the grilled fish with the balinese "sambal matah". I don't remember the name of the restaurant but it was the closest to the beach.

catching seaweed to make a statue

seaweed statues of mama and amal

In the afternoon, I met with a good friend who I haven't met for the past 10 years and who now lives and works in Bali as a fashion designer. Love her collection, which you can see here: The Story Of