No home without good meals: Salmon soup, Baked omelet, Meat in sauce ala Padang

Each of us in the family has different ideas about tasty food.

My husband cannot consider a meal with minimal herbs and spices as appetizing. On the contrary, Ninta enjoys simple but healthy menu very much. Sweet and non-rice meals are more Aqmal's favorites, meanwhile Rania has become a picky eater lately and caused me slight headaches. That makes me the only one in the family who eat everything.

It's especially hard to satisfy everybody during ramadhan (the fasting month). After 12-14 hours of fasting, you want something that tastes perfect in your mouth, not just an ordinary meal.

I've selected three easy-to-make main dishes for a day:

This Salmon soup is for Ninta (and Rania as well):

Ingredients: salmon fillet, 5 pieces of lemongrass, 5 or more lime leaves (tear them up), salt, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil.

How to make:

• boil water in a pan
• Add lemongrass and lime leaves. Keep the water boiled for another 2-3 minutes
• Add fish, salt and sesame oil
• Serve it with warm rice.

For Aqmal: Baked omelet


Ingredients: 6-7 eggs, 250ml plain milk, 5 slices of white bread, 2 tbs sugar, 2 tbs strawberry jam, 100 ml strawberry milk

How to make:

• mix white egg until stiff
• using a mixer blend yellow egg with sugar, then add milk
• cut bread into small cubes
• combine the above ingredients in a shallow pan, then bake in the oven
• strawberry sauce: heat strawberry jam and strawberry milk over low heat until smooth
  
• Pour the sauce over the omelet.

For my husband: daging saus padang (meat in sauce ala Padang) :


Ingredients: 250 gr of sliced meat, 8 pieces of shallot, 4 pieces of garlic, 1 - 2 tbs chili paste (cabe giling), a small portion of ginger, salt, a small portion of tamarind, 2 cups of water and 1 cup of light coconut milk.

How to make:

• mince shallot, garlic and ginger, then saute them.
  
• add water and let it boil
• add meat, chili paste, tamarind, and salt
• cook the meat until it becomes tender
• add water if necessary
• add coconut milk at the very last step of cooking and let it boil
  
• serve meat with warm rice
  

Home learning: Alphabets and numbers

Young children around me whom I know quite well, learn the alphabets and numbers without difficulty. The little girl, who lives across from our house, managed to recognize letters from A to Z while she was still two years old. So did Rania. Special thanks to Ayuta (my nephew).

We inherited a little desk from Ayuta. It has been in our house for 15 years now. Ninta was the first one who inherited it, then we passed it on to Aqmal, and to Rania subsequently.

What's so special about the desk? It's the list of alphabets and numbers on its top surface.

When Rania was about two years old, she always wanted to climb up the desk. Her little fingers would point to each of the characters, then she asked me to spell them. She would do it again and again every day.
A few days later, I tested her. I spelled an alphabet or a number first then asked her to show me which one it was. She passed!!!

Two years afterward, Rania still loves her desk though she never climbs it up anymore. She sits on a chair nicely. I often sit next to her and use the desk together to do our home learning activities:

We color, draw, play, paste stickers ...











or read ...

Preserving our culture: I love Indonesian Products

I love Indonesian products (=Aku cinta buatan Indonesia) and I'm serious!!!

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I always prefer local brands. I still wear imported shoes though, and have an explanation for it.

I only have some locally made sandals, a pair of locally made jogging-shoes and four pairs of high-heel-shoes from a European brand. Two pairs of the high-heel-shoes were bought 10 years ago. The third pair was a gift from my mother in law when she travelled to Singapore five years ago. The fourth pair was bought by my husband a few months ago. You can now see that I'm not a shoe collector. I choose that specific european brand because of it amazing durability, nothing else.

I've seen many people around me showing off their belongings which are imported from abroad: handbags, cosmetics, clothes, furniture, etc. Those imported things are, off course, look very nice and make people, who wear them, look splendid too.

What's wrong with Indonesian products? Many people would say that their quality are not as good as imported ones. I don't agree. In my opinion, those people are just not searching hard enough. I've found excellent and locally made handbags, cosmetics, clothes, furniture, jewelry, various kind of fruit even food supplement and one of my favorite places to shop is UKM Gallery: Preserving the Indonesian Heritage.

April 24th 2009 was Aqmal's 9th birthday. We did not have a birthday cake. Why? It's because of the fact that Indonesia has to import flour continually in order to meet increasing demand on cakes, bread and noodles year to year. What's the alternative? Rice is the best answer, because Indonesia has a surplus in rice production and the government is proudly announcing the we are exporting rice starting this year.

That day, we had a set of traditional meals : a lovely arrangement of nasi kuning (rice cooked with turmeric). As shown in the photo, it consisted of: nasi kuning (for 4-5 servings), gule ayam (chicken curry), empal daging (spiced and fried beef), sate udang bakar (shrimp barbeque), sate daging (beef barbeque), urap (vegetable sprinkled with spiced shredded coconut flesh), thin slices of telur dadar (egg), sambal goreng kentang dan hati (chicken liver and potato in chili gravy), perkedel (fried potato cake), sambal (chili sauce), kerupuk (crackers) and goreng kentang kering (spiced and fried potato). Hhmmm!!!

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I attended another birthday invitation earlier this year. Mrs Mien Soedarpo celebrated her 85th birthday and held a party for relatives and close friend in her house in Jl. Pegangsaan, Jakarta. Besides lunch, guests also enjoyed an exhibition of:

1. Mrs Soedarpo's old collection of batik

2. Her kain songket collection. 3. Paintings and photos of her families

4. Her wedding bed (in Padang style) which has surprisingly been well preserved for so many years.

All showed her great efforts on preserving our culture. I love Indonesian products!!!

Parenting toddler: Tantrum 2

Real life parenting is also about dealing with tantrum. How to avoid young children from developing tantrum?

I have some tips based on personal experiences:

1. Spend much time with your children in order to develop a close attachment with them.
2. Do always speak softly and show attention to them. Never ignore your children.
3. Follow what the children like if necessary. Once, we bought a pair of blue jean trousers for our three year old daughter. She loved it very much and insisted to wear it all the time. One day, she cried out endlessly for hours as she found out that the trousers were being washed. Therefore we bought some more trousers, exactly the same model.
4. However there are also limits. We may not always fulfill what the children want. Communicate well and make plans with them. We might tell them that they could buy another new toy not today, but next month, cause we have to save up some money first.
5. Be creative! Young children always need something fun to play with. Get ideas to entertain them. Try the internet, books and everything else.

Another blog award

Thank you very much Budhe and mbak Fitra for this charming award. The award is being distributed among bloggers with an aim to encourage reading routine in our daily lives.

Ini PR/pertanyaannya :
1. seberapa sering anda membaca?
Reading is one of my hobbies. I read books and spend time to read informative websites every day
2. apa pentingnya membaca menurut anda?
Reading is a very important activity for everybody. It makes people smart.
3. seberapa besar pengaruh membaca buat anda?
I can't live without reading.
4. seberapa luas anda menyebarkan kebiasaan membaca?
I'm making sure that all my children also love to read and let my friends know which books are good for them to read as well.

Parenting toddlers: Home learning

There are two kindergartens not far from my house. The nearest one is right around the corner of the street and the other one is located on the main street. I checked them out a few days ago, as Rania will turn 4 this coming June.

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The nearest kindergarten, Al Kautsar, is an Islamic school as shown by its name. It is extremely affordable. To enter the school you only need to pay levy fee Rp750.000 and monthly tuition fee Rp70.000 (USD1=Rp11.000). What I like from this school is, despite its modest and crowded building, it allocates much time for the pupils to recite Al Quran.

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The other school, Rising Star, is a much bigger, serene and sparkling building, complete with indoor as well as outdoor playing grounds, a swimming pool and a performing stage. The teachers teach in Bahasa Indonesia and provide an English lesson for 45 minutes every day, but unfortunately there's no Al Quran lessons. To enter this school you must pay levy fee Rp5.000.000 and monthly tuition fee Rp550.000.

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So which school do my husband and myself choose for Rania? None.

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I've enlisted lessons that preschollers usually follow in kindergartens and decided to teach Rania my self at home. Those lessons are (please remind me if I miss out anything!):

1. drawing : mountains, trees, animals, people, fruits, cars...
2. coloring
3. singing
4. dancing
5. learning : alphabets, basic shapes (round, triangle, square, rectangle), small numbers, antonyms, our body parts and organs...
6. Tracing aphabets and numbers
7. Physical education
8. Playing various toys
9. English language
10. Reciting short surah of the Al Quran
11. Socializing (thank you mbak Maya for reminding me about this most important subject!)

I've de-cluttered the children's book shelves and put aside the ones needed for Rania. To make it easier on me, Ninta is also willing to do a part of the teaching job: English lesson, which is her favorite subject at school.

Let's get started!

Another blog award

I would like to thank my two new friends for these two lovely awards: mbak Lala and mbak Maya.

Saya masih punya PR mengirim 2 award tersebut ke teman blogger lain, harus mikir dulu beberapa malam nih...sabar yah.

Tugas untuk yang nanti dikasih awards adalah:

1. Pasang logonya di postinganmu. Jangan lupa link ke pemberi award ini.
2. Berikan lagi kepada sepuluh blogger lain (ada syarat tambahan untuk yang triple award, yaitu “who has great attitude and gratitude”).
3. Pasang link ke para penerima award.
4. Tinggalkan komentar untuk mereka.
   
   

Supporting the community, Parenting young children: Respect other people's lives, dignity and belongings

Aqmal always gave me his disagreeable look every time I gently asked him to stop doing certain things…things that young children else where also do when they gather and play together.

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I, of course, felt unhappy seeing that look on his face, nevertheless I still had to keep reminding him. Until that morning…

That morning was as hectic as usual. Aqmal was putting on his socks in a rush and focusing his attention on his milk which was still untouched on the dining table. His school bus would arrive at any minute and I wouldn’t let him go without drinking the milk. Then I stood in front of him and said firmly: “Aqmal stop doing it!”. He was so busy that he didn't respond by giving that nasty expression. Only, his eyes stared sharply at me. I knew that he paid attention to what I said to him very well.

What did I forbid him to do? Quite many actually, but that morning I especially told him not to make fun of his friends’ names.

The other day, one of Aqmal's school friends called him "Aqmal Dilviandrot", instead of his proper name "Aqmal Dilviandri". Aqmal responded by doing the same thing to that boy and also to another boy. Making fun of a friend’s name may sound trivial to some people, but I don't think so. To me, a person's name is a part of his dignity.

I want my children to be able to cherish three things from other people :

1. Their lives
2. Their dignity
3. Their belongings

We all saw the Palestine vs Israel war that went on for about three weeks rom December 2008 until early January 2009 on TV news day and night. About 1.300 people died including civilians and young children. Many more were wounded. What about their belongings? Their houses? Their schools and everything else? So much destruction!

I hope that my children could contribute something for our community and the world as well in order to be a much more peaceful place in the future.

Developing spiritual life, Children's future, Parenting children: What's your life mission?

All cells in our body undergo biological aging process at different rates and - in the end - death is inevitable. Our life spans have limits. The connection between telomerase shortening mechanism, aging process and lifespan limits has been uncovered. Death is not that mysterious anymore.

There are many spiritual books which also tell us that every human being has his own mission in this world. Once the ultimate mission is accomplished, than that person’s life is getting near its end too. That’s why I have to identify my own mission.

Because of the simple life I have now, my most crucial goal is clearer. I have three children to raise and guide to their own future.

Therefore, I’ve set my own lifespan: till the age of 65. That’s plan A and I also have plan B in case my above mission is not accurate and I die sooner.

I picture my three children by the time I reach 65 years old as follows:

1. Ninta (at the age of 35) will most probably already be a wife and working mother
2. Aqmal (30 years old) will already have his own life and career
3. Rania will just have graduated from university and she's my final mission.

That's it. Plan A is not a secret. Ninta and Aqmal know it. They have to understand facts about life and death and I want them to be able to step by step identify their life missions too.

What is plan B?
This blog is a part of it. I've told Ninta to refer to this blog whenever she has a problem in her future life. I hope she will advise Aqmal and Rania the same thing when they have grown bigger.

I use a different approach for Aqmal as he is now still very young. I sometimes talk about dying to him if I fall sick.I rarely become very ill though.
That time in December 2008, Rania had been sick for more than a week and I became sick too, most probably due to lacking of sleep. I had high fever. How did I feel? Did I feel miserable? No, I enjoyed my condition. It's the perfect time to give my son a lesson.
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Aqmal was playing a computer game. I lied down on the bed next to him.
I said : "Aqmal...I'm sick...very sick..."
Aqmal: "Hmmm..."
I replied: "Mal...I think I'm dying..."
Aqmal: "Hmmm..."
I replied: "I'm dying..."
Aqmal: "No, you're not dying...you're just sick, but you're fine..."
I replied: "I'm dying..."
Aqmal: "But you said you'd die at 60's"
I replied: "I'm dying now...Please promise me that you'll take care of Rania and not make her cry anymore..."
Aqmal: "Hmmm..."
I replied: "Aqmal...I'm dying...Will you take care of Rania, if I'm not around?"
Aqmal (finally): "Yap..."

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The high fever lasted for three days and gave me a change to repeat the same dialogues with Aqmal for several times. I needed to make sure that he got my message. I wanted him to be a good brother for Rania...in case I die young...!

Count your blessing: I'm thankful to the children

Happy holidays!!!

I'm thankful to the children for giving me good news to start the holiday:

• Aqmal (as always) comes out as the best student among all third graders in his school.
• Ninta passes the written test and is now preparing for an interview in order to win a full scholarship offered by one of the most prestigious and expensive Senior High Schools in Jakarta. She expresses her gratitude by performing a prayer, then bowing down at my feet. I whisper at her ear: "Ahli surga (=the heir of heaven)".

We're not planning to go anywhere.

Ninta has just bought three novels: Twilight, Eragon and Eldest. She is all over the idea of making a restful and unruffled holiday.

Aqmal has been asking to have a new collection of computer games and films. This holiday is the perfect time to fulfil it.

I have new year resolution too. I'm going to have a more harmonious life in 2009 and have figured out four things to do:

1. Avoid consumptive life. No more overcrowded malls and fashion magazines. I know exactly what I need and where to buy it. I may need new shoes, handbags or clothes once in a while, but I'll stick to my schedule: one set of new cloth a year, a new pair of shoes and a new handbag every two or more years. No need to follow latest fashion. My choice is always simple and classic.
2. Avoid complications. It's nothing wrong if I decide to avoid complicated people. Those complicated people are the kind of people who get upset easily or are overloaded with something (problems, chores or debts) . As a result, they will create awkward relationships. I would only pray for their happiness from now on.
3. Start thinking about a project that I can take on in order to help neighboors cope with the economic crisis.
4. Have a wider circle of friends who also have simple but meaningful lives.

Wishing you all the joy of the holiday season!

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