Avigayil Damm

Written by Fanny, an Indonesian woman married to a French man.

(Note: Bule is the Indonesian term referring to white-skinned foreigner)
Recently I was involved in a discussion on the scandalous Miss Indonesia 2009, Karenina Halim, who will represent Indonesia in Miss World 2009 without speaking fluent Indonesian. Someone pointed out that the juries – like many Indonesians – ‘worship’ white and half-white looking people, and call them beauty. Another person mentioned that the worshipping is the product of “the mentality of a colonized nation” referring to the 350 year-long Dutch colonization in the country that ended in 1942.
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I am blessed to have been born in a country with such diversity, especially when it comes to food. From the sweet Javanese food (think gudeg Jawa) to the rich flavored Padang food (think rendang, gulai, etc.) to the fresh and spicy Manado food (think dabu-dabu, Woku belanga, etc), you name it, we have it! (more…)

Yes, it’s the fourth time that I am actually writing about Gourmet Garage. It’s obviously a place that my hubby and I like going to, not only because they are the only place (or the only one we know of so far) that sells prime beef (wagyu), but also because so far, the food we had there at their restaurant had been to our satisfaction. It’s only natural that we come back to the place we like, isn’t it? (more…)

Last Thursday, we had to stop by at a hyper mart to buy a big bin for our household waste. Due to the typical traffic in Jakarta, we arrived at Pejaten Village a wee bit late, so we were hungry by the time we got out of the car. So we decided to have our dinner there and then. (more…)

Although I love cooking, and don’t really mind spending some extra time in the kitchen if the recipe so calls for it, there also comes a time when I don’t feel like spending too much time in the kitchen. In this case, I turn to my trusty Indofood instant spices collection. Last Saturday was one of those nights, because we came back a little bit late from our monthly grocery shopping.

This time, I used Indofood’s gulai (oriental curry) spice package to cook boneless chicken thighs in. Although the package says it already contains all sorts of spices including coconut milk, I still added some real coconut milk (or as real as UHT processed coconut milk can be). I first fried the chicken to brown them slightly so it does not look too pale, and when it was browned, I added the spice package and stirred it until fragrant. Then, I added some 400 ml of water, really gradually to give some time for the chicken to absorb the spices. When all water was poured and it came to a boil, I added about two tablespoons of the ready made coconut milk and stirred often for a few minutes to prevent it from breaking. In no time, a delicious dinner is served!