Padthai on Hatyai, Thailand (Contributed Article by Ruben Juliarto)

This posting is contributed by Ruben Juliarto, our beloved friend and regular contributor for Jejak Rasa. Thank you and look forward to hear about your next article contribution bro!

My Thai friends brought me to restaurant for dinner. It was on Hatyai,
Thailand, near Malaysian border (Bukit Hitam). Well I let my Thai
friends decide what to order, and they agreed to order "patthai" or
mee goreng in Malay or fried noddle translated to English.

So let see what the restaurant served for three of us who were hungry
and thirsty. (please see attachment)

• three cups of ice, plus glass bottled mineral water.
• fresh raw vegetables/ salad which were served with ice on it
• patthai or fried noddle.

Mee goreng were served with shrimps. For condiment, we could choose
white sugar, salty soybean sauce, grounded peanuts, pepper, and nampla
or fish sauce. I poured 3/4 spoon of fish sauce, and my Thai friend
said that I dropped too many fish sauce. I didn't regret it because
nampla is not too fishy or salty. I could taste the freshness of fish.

I do hope someday I visit Hatyai once more and eat patthai again.
Aloiii (delicious in Thai language)

The Patthai

The Ice Salad

The Fish Sauce

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Fried Rice Vendor at Sudirman Street, Bandung (Contributed Article by Ruben Juliarto)

This posting is contributed by Ruben Juliarto, our beloved friend and regular contributor for Jejak Rasa. Thank you and look forward to hear about your next article contribution bro!

Three hours bus ride to Bandung made us hungry. It was 10 pm so we decided to visit our usual chinese food hawker at Jl. Sudirman Bandung, which is near Marie Tunggal biscuit and gas/petrol station. The warung stands at left side for Cimahi direction.
We ordered fried rice and kwetiaw thick noodle. After sleeping with growling stomach at the bus ride, the fried rice was truly heavenly joy. 5 minutes later the plate was almost empty plate as you can see the report picture. Always remember our grandma wisdow, don't make any left over rice so we finished all of them with smile. While we were eating, we smell fine aroma of cooked food which made our stomach even fuller. The waiter also served us two glasses of tea, which tasted original Indonesian IMHO.
After it ended, it was costed 20k rupiahs. It will be less than $2 if we convert it to USD. Next time we will visit this nasi goreng warung again.
  

Empty Plate = Happy Customer!

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Banh Dau Xanh Gia Bao

We are excited to find that Ruben, our long (sorta lost) contributor who are taking his 2nd (!) degree in Economy (!!!) in China, has returned home, although just for a while. With that joy (and four boxes of mint Lenovo battery that we have ordered to him. Thanks Ruben ^_^ !), I quickly comes and visit him in his house.

As we chat and catching up. Suddenly he is serving a snack with these words inscribed in the box.



Banh Dau Xanh Gia Bao

...

...

It took me a while to even familiarizing myself with how to read it. Ruben just shrug his shoulders, putting a large smile in his face, and said to me: "No questions! Just eat it. I am sure you will find the taste familiar"

Taken aback with his challenge, as an famous and world class amateur food writer
enthusiast I quickly devoured the squared sized mini snack.

Familiar taste indeed, as it tasted similar to Koya cake, a peanut based cookies in Indonesia. Ruben explained that he bought the snack en route during his travel to the border of China & Vietnam, and it is basically a Koya, but with a twist of green beans that replace the traditional peanut recipe.

Yum!

A quick glance on Google takes me direct to the company website...

...

...

And it still does not shed additional explanation for me. 

Well, as Andrew Zimmern used to say in his famous line: "If it looks good, then eat it!".

Enjoy!

Banh Dau Xanh Gia Bao
Website: http://www.giabao.com.vn/gl003/d2011p/11108/24693/Hop-24-dau.aspx

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Nasi Dagang @LCCT, Malaysia (Contributed Article by Ruben Juliarto)

This posting is contributed by Ruben Juliarto, our beloved friend and regular contributor for Jejak Rasa. Thank you and look forward to hear about your next article contribution bro!

Writing this short article as waiting my today second flight to Indonesia in LCCT KL. After the first flight, I was getting terrible hungry since I insisted not to buy food on-board which I thought the price is unreasonable.
The price for one small on-board meal equals to two meals on the ground. I chose to get meal at Medan Selara or Food Garden as translation says on the direction board.

Got excited for a while because of the chance to taste local culinary, which have been several times reviewed on local blog.

I strolled over all kiosks, see nasi goreng/ fried rice, nasi padang meal, beverages and breads, then stop my step after seeing KFC kiosk. On flight all the time, my mouth already drooling for Malaysian Indian Curry.

I picked nasi dagang, which remind me  of Bandung's nasi uduk. The rice was wrapped with banana leaf, then served with curry fish, pickle in sour sauce, and sambal/ chilly sauce The taste of curry fish was great, the smell of curry's spice teased my nose. the thick curry paste tingled my tongue.

Well, it is hard to describe in words.

Nasi Dagang LCCT

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Fondue Fountain at Hawker Street in Gasibu (Contributed by Ruben Juliarto)

This current publication is contributed by Ruben, one of my close friend at SBM-ITB. Look forward for your other publications in our blog bro!

Sunday morning, I went to Gasibu market walking and shopping. We found unusual seller equipped with fondue fountain behind the glass window. It seems that the machine requires electricity. I saw the chocolate
flowing beautifully. It was very tempting as I couldn't resist not-to-buy anymore. Asking the price, the seller replied Rp 1.000 each. I ordered strawberry and banana, which are stored in Styrofoam cooling box. All fruits were frozen, I guess that the frozen fruits will help the liquid chocolate to solidify. You can observe it in the picture below. By the way this is the last time I buy Sate Buah/ Fruit Satay (seller's brand) since I don't like it very very much. Chocolate tasted plain and frozen fruits are not fresh.

The Chocolate Fountain

The Fruit Fondue

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Smelted Chocolate Fondue (Contributed by Ruben Juliarto)

This current publication is contributed by Ruben, one of my close friend at SBM-ITB. Look forward for your other publications in our blog bro!

I got idea to spend afternoon as much fun as possible, to eat fruits dipped in chocolate fondue. So we went out to nearest supermarket Yogya Griya, buying out ingriedients. So let me list it for you: dark cooking chocolate, whipped cream, and rum. The last item is the most expensive one, more than Rp 50.000 for small 100ml bottle. We opted rum essence Rp 17.000 50 ml bottle. Of course it tastes like rum but I didn't expect rum spirit.

Don't forget to grab fruits and put it on your shopping basket. Sour fruits just taste better than sweet fruit dipped in choco fondue. I gave a shot to dip red grapes, and I don't like it as much as sour fruits. Sweet fruits and sweet chocolate are not good pair.  I picked star fruits, strawberries, Apel Malang- apples originated from Batu Malang. Also I picked red grapes, and I don't recommend this fruits. I do encourage you to try green grapes which tastes more sour than red grapes. Please tell me if you try that, I am still curious about that. Anyway Apel Malang was not good, was not as crunchy as used to be. I regret it so much to buy it.

Homemade Chocolate Fondue #1

Homemade Chocolate Fondue #2

Rushing to home, I couldn't wait to melt to chocolate. I filled pan with water around one-third, then put it on stove to boil it. Made the chocolate into small pieces, and put those small pieces on another metal pot. After waiting to warm up the water, put the metal pot contains small-piece chocolate into the warm pan. Let the chocolate melt as the temperature keep rising. Meanwhile I prepared whipped cream, as I bought cream powder. Add cold water to powder and then stirred it rather fast.  As the chocolate becomes liquid enough, add the whipped cream. Anyway I only use about 125gr chocolate, 60cc whipped cream, and one half spoon of rum essence.

Here the picture I took before I ate all of it. Please forgive I am not sharing the fondue with you. Only sharing the picture. Enjoy!

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My Trip to Malang #3 (Contributed by Ruben Juliarto)

This current publication is contributed by Ruben, one of our close friend at SBM-ITB. This is the third part of his trip to Malang. Enjoy!

Baso Bakar

Sunday, I had to return home from Malang. The time to leave was three o'clock afternoon so I could walk around Malang before the train leaves. The plan for that day was to visit Pecel Kawi and Baso Bakar.

Pecel Kawi place is located at Kawi Road, not far from Ijen Boulevard. Ijen Boulevard was the widest road at Malang, has two opposite-direction lanes, and also provides two wide pedestrian lanes where you can stroll around looking for Old Dutch house. I always thought that there is nothing more relaxing than strolling around at morning times.

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My Trip to Malang #2 (Contributed by Ruben Juliarto)

This current publication is contributed by Ruben, one of our close friend at SBM-ITB. This is the second part of his trip to Malang. Enjoy!

Saturday at Malang, I was tired as hell after the Bromo tour. I saw the sunrise at Penanjakan. From Penanjakan I also saw the fog which covered the sea of sand at the bottom. Next destination was Bromo crater, where I took more than 300 steps of stair to get to the top.

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Bakmi Nongkrong & Mie Tolol

After one of our favorite vendor at BEC food court is closed, we have been in a constant search for a new food spot in that food court. After several visits there, at one time me and Ruben goes there to find something to eat. Then a vendor quickly attracts my attention.

Bakmie Nongkrong with Favorite Menu: Mie Tolol!

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My Trip to Malang (Contributed by Ruben Juliarto)

This current publication is contributed by Ruben, one of my close friend at SBM-ITB. Look forward for your other publications in our blog bro!

I went to Malang last month to attend a conference, so I had the best time to explore this small town. This town is famous for old colonial building, as we can see from the train station as soon as we arrive there. FYI I took the train as my mean transporation to get there, and it took one night from Bandung to Malang.

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