Avigayil Damm

Since 2005, I have converted from being a Windows user to being a Mac user, although not entirely, as I still use Windows at work. I have been very satisfied with Mac, it has proven itself as more ‘superior’ many times. For example, when I just joined my previous office, as it was still being set up, I did not get a laptop immediately. I had to work using my private laptop (an iBook G4) for a few weeks. When I typed in the wireless network key, not only did it connect to the internet, but it immediately detected every available network printers, and I could print with no problems at all.

My iBook became fuller and fuller (it only had 40GB of hard disk space), as I have accumulated more and more files, pictures and songs (I have up to 8 days of songs at the moment, back then it was probably about 4 days of songs, a total of almost 10GB). I decided to get another one with a larger hard drive space and higher specification (plus, Leopard and Intel-based Macs just came out). What also intrigued me to getting a new one was the fact that I could also install Windows on the Intel-based Mac, because some applications that I do like can unfortunately only run on Windows (a small example being the Windows Live Writer, with which I update my blog or the computer aided translation tool, SDL Trados). So after careful consideration, I got myself an iMac with 300GB hard disk space and 2GB of RAM. That was more than a year ago.

After having bought that iMac, I looked up all sorts of articles, reviews and whatnot about installing Windows as a virtual machine on a Mac, and what application I should use to do this. After careful consideration, I decided to use Parallels Desktop, and I don’t regret it at all! It took me quite a while to actually install this (I bought Parallels Desktop beginning of June) since I had to muster up my courage, but now I am really happy that I finally did it this weekend.

Installing Parallels Desktop on the Mac was of course quite easy, but the installation of Windows and subsequently Office and some other Windows-based application was what worried me. And it turned out that I worried for nothing at all! The setup process was so easy, as easy as one two three. It was just a matter of following the step-by-step guide from Parallels, and voila! Windows was installed, and installing everything else after that is just as easy as installing it on a ‘real’ Windows computer. Here is a screenshot of my desktop now.

When I just arrived in the office yesterday morning, I did my usual routine: unlocking my mobile drawer, plugged in my portable speaker, set up my iPod and pressed ‘start’. The iPod started to play songs, picking up where it left off on my departure yesterday. The first song that came on was ‘Scarborough Fair’ which is one of my favourite songs.

While I set up my laptop, I listened carefully to the song’s lyrics:

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
For once she was a true love of mine

I wondered what the song meant, especially the ‘parsley, sage rosemary and thyme’ part since I thought it looked a bit out of topic.

When I did a Google search on ‘parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme meaning’, many results came up but I liked this explanation the most. According to that article, parsley represents something that takes away the bitterness, sage symbolizes strength, rosemary represents faithfulness, love and remembrance, and thyme symbolizes courage.

So, if something that happened in your past leaves you with bitterness, make some parsley soup. If you are facing some challenges in your life, strengthen yourself with a turkey sage chowder. On your wedding anniversary, whip up some mini rack of lamb with nutty beluga lentils and sauteed garlic spinach (yes there is at least 1 tablespoon of rosemary required to make the dish). And when you must do something which the whole world seems to be against, equip yourself with braised lamb shoulder with carrots and fennel.

In Denmark, as in many western cultured countries, it is quite normal for a woman to adopt the husband’s family name. In Indonesia, this is not the case, mainly because Indonesians rarely have any family name at all to give to their wives. But it so happens that my father inherited my grandfather’s family name, which was actually some sort of a title of honour given to people who have worked for the government during a specific period in the past.

I am quite happy with the name, not only because it’s a title of honour but also because it’s a very unique name which is difficult to spell (especially for foreigners that I work with) which for some strange reason brings a certain funny (and happy) tingle in my stomach. Don’t ask me why, all you need to know is that I am a very unique person (stopping short of saying ‘weirdo’).

Getting my last name acknowledged by the Indonesian government and system was already challenging enough. In 2005, I finally managed to convince the local government to add my last name in my Indonesian ID card (Kartu Tanda Penduduk/KTP) which then helped me change everything else: my frequent flyer card, my credit card, my passport, and my driver’s license.

Then, in 2008, I got married to a Dane. Needless to say, when we wanted to register our intended marriage to the Danish kommune (the municipality), they asked what name I was going to go by once married. Being the typical old-fashioned guy (sorry babe, love you anyway! :*) my hubby insisted that I take his name. And so I did. At least on papers, in Denmark. It’s a totally different story here, as the process of changing a name is not as easy as 1-2-3, proven by the almost long-life struggle to get my own family name registered! But anyway, such is life. I guess I shall try to start the process and see how it goes.

I love spending time at home during weekends, winding down and enjoying myself with my hubby. Today’s dinner was baked lemon chicken, which was an easy version of ayam rica-rica (a Manado specialty which actually is more complicated and uses more spices). It’s taken from Periplus Mini Cookbooks’ Indonesian cooking edition of the “Step-by-Step’ series. Here’s how it’s done:

Ingredients:

• 4 whole chicken thighs
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 red chillies, if you don’t like them hot, remove the seeds
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup peanut oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

Combine onion, chopped chilli, garlic, oil and lemon juice in food processor, blend until smooth and spoon over chicken. Marinade for a few hours, covered, in the fridge.

When ready, place the chicken in a baking dish in a single layer and bake at 180 degrees C for 40 minutes or until cooked and browned.

The taste was not too bad, but what I would do next time is actually fry the chicken because then it would end up crispy.

Later on after dinner and cleaning up in the kitchen, we browsed through the TV channels and found one movie that had just started. The title was Vantage Point and I was thrilled  because I had this on my ‘movies to see’ list as it came with high recommendation from my favourite author, James Patterson. Fortunately for me, before I could get to buy it, it was aired on HBO.

I loved the movie! It had great suspense, and a different way in presenting a story, as if we were watching from different people’s point of view. Although it did not disclose the real motives of the crime that took place (I will not spoil this for you in case you haven’t seen it), but I thought it was still interesting enough, since it seemed to base itself on some sort of a common understanding. It also had a fast story telling style similar to that of ‘24’.

Dennis Quaid was surprisingly decent for an action movie character, and Forest Whitaker was sympathetic as usual. A lot of other good actors that I don’t remember having seen in other movies. Definitely a good enough movie for our lazy Sunday.

I don’t really know what is the big deal about turning older. Lots of my friends dread their birthdays, saying, “Oh I am sooo old!”. For me, it’s a day to remember I have been blessed yet another year.

And that day is today. This day I turned 33 years old. Or maybe I should say. this day I will turn 33 years old, because I was actually born at 23.15 so I am not 33 years old yet. But anyway… today was quite special.

It started with my colleague arriving in the office, carrying a birthday cake for me, which we cut and shared with other colleagues later in the afternoon. Then I went out for lunch with my boss, as we had a lunch meeting to discuss my work and the future. The day ended with dinner with my hubby at Brasserie in Kemang.

The chocolate cake was really good. If I remember correctly, my colleague got it from Dapur Coklat, but let me check with her again and I will update this post. In the afternoon she actually put on a candle on the cake and forced me to make a wish and blow the candles. Good thing she only put one candle on, otherwise the cake would have been on fire.

The lunch with my boss was at Loewy’s went pretty well. We talked about the possibility of an earlier departure since my hubby and I didn’t know when and where his next posting will start. We also talked about many other things, but most importantly (at least in relevance to this blog), the food we (or at least I) ordered was good. Actually from a posh restaurant like that, I expected more but I guess I probably also chose a more down to earth menu: chicken pot pie. So although this time the food was not so impressive, I would give it another shot. Since the dish came covered with puff pastry I took a picture after I have gotten through some of the pastry.

In the evening, as I mentioned before, my hubby took me out to Brasserie, a restaurant we used to frequent quite often when we first met. There was something about this restaurant though, that made us stay away for quite a while (according to the floor manager, we haven’t been seen there for over two years). And come to think of it, the last time we came here I think was on 10 March 2007 which was the first day that I introduced my then boyfriend (my current hubby) to my parents. So yes it has been two years, even more. The reason is, there is always something about the food. Although it won’t ever taste bad, but then the meat would either be not so tender, or there will always be small hiccups that drags them down a notch from being perfect. We must admit though, that they are very good in making chocolate mousse, and so far we have never found any other restaurant serving anything that could beat them in this category.

Since we knew the floor manager a little, she came and chatted a while to us. Somehow our conversation led to my hubby’s birthday and then led to the question on when my birthday was. Being caught in the spot (and I have actually lost the ability to lie), I had to tell her it was today. She congratulated me, and then took our orders and left us in peace. Or so I thought for a while. My hubby ordered fillet mignon, which he said was ok but not special, and I had the lamb chops, which tasted ok but was not so tender. But we enjoyed it nevertheless, and of course we could not leave the place without ordering their delicious chocolate mousse.

Just in the middle of enjoying our dessert, the floor manager came out with the whole staff (even the kitchen and the parking staff) to sing ‘happy birthday’ to me and presented me with a small chocolate cake. Since we were already very full, they were more than happy to put the cake in the box for me to bring home. It was a very nice surprise and quite heart warming.

So that was how my birthday this year went, and I am quite happy with how it turned out to be. And to top it all off, my hubby presented me with a very nice present: a Canon EOS 450D, which I have been eyeing for a while. I will certainly now start to learn more about photography, and put an end to the miserable photos on this website.

Oh and in case you wanted to visit any of the restaurants mentioned here, here are their addresses: