THE COOKING PLAYDATE #6

Ever since one of the Cooking Playdate members, Dinda, left for Amsterdam and each one of us also had trips abroad, we haven't found the time to meet up and cook again.  The last time we did a cooking get-together was 31 October of last year!!

Anyway, as we were all back in Jakarta and a long weekend was here, we decided it was high time to cook and eat again, gather the kids to play and spend a whole day eating and chatting. Here's what came out of that day:

These chicken cornflakes balls above were a great hit with the kids (and even the parents!) because they were crunchy on the outside. It's actually very easy to make and healthy because it's baked instead of fried. I found the recipe on this website.

The Enoki Beef Rolls were made by Tarra, who had previously made them at home. It's actually quite simple. First, you sautee in a pan the enoki mushrooms with a bit of olive oil, butter, salt and pepper but careful not to overcook them. Then, marinade your beef sukiyaki slices with Kikkoman and teriyaki sauce (or try oyster sauce and soy sauce if you don't have Kikkoman). Wrap your enoki mushrooms in a slice of beef (see above) and fry in a flat pan with olive oil and a bit of butter. Make sure your beef slices are cooked, but again, don't overcook them.

photo taken from Jamie Oliver's website

The other main course we had was Spaghetti Aglio Olio Tuna and that is really easy to make. Obviously, the photo above is not the result of my cooking, but we were so happy to have this Cooking Playdate after all this time, that we forgot to take pictures :)

You can find the entire recipe for the Spaghetti Aglio Olio Tuna on our Cooking Playdate website (coming soon).

photo taken from Flickr

Last but not least, I had some organic beetroot from the YUM Organic Farm so I decided to mix with canned chickpeas/garbanzo beans and green salad. I cooked the beetroot in water between 20-40 minutes depending on the size, then cut them in small pieces.

My salad dressing was just: olive oil + white wine vinegar + mustard + mayonnaise + salt + pepper + honey.

HOW TO MAKE PESTO

I love food, I love cooking and I love beautiful videos so it's not a surprise that I think this video is worth watching. The team at Tiger in a jar has been doing excellent videos, especially of food, and the "Beet Cake" video is one of my all-time favorite movies. Check it out on the Cooking Playdate blog.

And check out all the videos from Tiger in a jar on Vimeo.

BAKED RASPBERRY PANCAKE

Last weekend, as I was browsing through Pinterest, I came upon a beautiful picture of some sort of cake with raspberries and clicked on the picture. It brought me to this website and I fell in love with the amazing pictures of the food and the different recipes that looked so delicious. So I decided to try the recipe below and I was not disappointed!

The baked pancake turns out like a sort of clafoutis or flan, but the great thing is, if you don't have an oven, you can just make it like a pancake or crepe though don't make it too thin.

Finnish Baked Raspberry Pancake

500 ml milk


2 eggs


1 cup normal flour


1/4 cup melted butter or olive oil


2 tbsp sugar


A pinch of salt


1/2 tsp vanilla essence or powder


Topping: some fresh or frozen raspberry and some sugar

Pre-heat oven to 200-225 C.
Using a wooden spoon or egg whisker, quickly mix everything in a bowl (except the raspberries and sugar for topping) until well combined (about 1 min).
Pour the mixture into a baking dish lined with parchment paper. Make sure it is not too thick.
Sprinkle some raspberry and sugar on top.
Bake for about 20-30 min or until brown.

DIVORCE AND KIDS

** I know I don't talk about my divorce much (or ever?) in this blog but I believe I've been really lucky to have people/family around me who have been more than supportive, not only through their advice but also their presence. Sometimes I get the opportunity to help others when they're going through the same situation or just a hiccup in their marriage, but I generally try to stay neutral.
However, when I read the article below I couldn't resist to share with you because it sort of sums up what I also feel about divorce: it can be a good thing, especially for the children. I'm in no way promoting divorce, but sometimes it is the best way to go if everyone involved is or will be unhappy in the future.

Divorce And Kids: 5 Ways Divorce Benefits Kids

By Dr. Shoshana Bennett for YourTango.com

Contrary to popular belief, divorce isn't always negative for kids -- sometimes it's excellent for kids. Here are five ways that your children can benefit from your divorce:

1. When Mommy and Daddy are happier as individuals, their kids will be too. When there's ugliness between the couple, no one's happy. Once the halves of the couple move on and find their grounding, each one as an individual has the opportunity to be happier than ever. When children have a happy mom and dad, they'll do much better.

2. When the tension dissolves out of the house, kids will be more relaxed.Children are like barometers. You can measure the level of tension in the air by their behavior. Once the split happens and the nasty intensity in the environment fades, watch how the children’s behavior follows. 

3. When you model that you deserve to be in a satisfying and supportive relationship, you model something wonderful to your kids. If you stay in a bad relationship "for the kids," don't fool yourself that the kids will really benefit. Although there will be certainly be an adjustment when you divorce, the end result is positive. You’re showing your children not to settle for an unhealthy marriage.

4. With shared custody, kids have the opportunity to experience each parent as a full and competent parent. Usually when both parents are together, one of them takes on most of the nurturing and/or logistical planning. After a divorce, the children can have each parent completely focusing on them with the time they have together. They can also see each parent fully taking care of home business.

5. There's the potential for your kids to either witness you being happy on your own or finding a better partner, both of which are a good thing.Whether or not you decide to pair up with another mate, your kids can benefit by watching your joyful independence or new positive relationship. Either way, your children will benefit.

So, if you were thinking this article would be about the horrors your children will experience if you divorce, at this point you're either hugely disappointed or greatly relieved. What's most important to remember is your newfound single life after divorce is what you make it -- and your children's attitude and well-being will follow suit.

INSPIRATION #8

A few latest discoveries via Pinterest:

Bright and homey house

A DIY home deodorizer - lemon, rosemary and vanilla

Gives me ideas for an upcoming class photo, via this website

It's so much easier to spoil your kids, let them do whatever they want... but when life bites them in the butt and they won't know how to handle difficulties, then it'll be your fault... so follow what the quote above says

CIPANAS COMMUNITY HEALTH EVENT

I wanted to share some pictures with you of a Community Health Day that Yayasan Usaha Mulia (YUM) did a few weeks ago, on Saturday 21st of April, in Cipanas. YUM worked with the American Women's Association who found some great sponsors to do this particular event where 160 children (babies to 15 yrs old) and 60 mothers would receive:

- medical and dental check-up

- handwashing program to remind children the importance of handwashing

- english conversation classes

- nutritional food supplements for under 5 children (there's about 25% malnourished kids in Cipanas)

- nutrition talk + cooking demo for the moms

- breastfeeding talk for the moms

- creativity and games for kids

...and a puppet show!! Even I was excited about the puppet show! :)

It was an incredible feeling being there on the event date.... I had been preparing this for a few months and seeing it happen was such an amazing feeling! All the YUM staff were cheerful, worked super hard to prepare everything so it would be perfect and it was, it was a great day!!

BANANA CINNAMON CRUMBLE MUFFIN

I fell upon this recipe by accident, but trust me, it's a keeper!

About a week ago, Amal's school organized a bazaar to fundraise so they would have enough money to help a school in the Puncak area which had problems with their water installation. So the kids decided they would cook something and sell it at school the next day. Since all I had at home was bananas, flour, sugar, eggs and muffin tins, I thought I'd browse for a banana muffin recipe and that'll be that. What came out was this delicious banana muffin with a brown sugar-cinnamon crumble topping. Delicious! 

So here you go, I'm sharing the recipe, which I should precise is not my recipe but you have to try it out:

BANANA CINNAMON CRUMBLE MUFFINS

• (makes 9-10 muffins)
  

  
  

  Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas (Sunpride), ripe and mashed
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted (or you can replace with oil)

For the crumble:

• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.