KennethT
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Posts posted by KennethT
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Breakfast was included in our hotel rate, and because the area gets so many domestic tourists, the vast majority of the breakfast buffet were Indonesian items... they did have a small western selection - there was yogurt and muesli for the Europeans and way in the back, secluded in an oft overlooked area was an omelette station and some waffles (no bacon or sausage). But for me, I'd rather have the local stuff anyway and there was a LOT to choose from...
Ayam betutu - chicken stew with chilis and tomato, along with 2 different sambal and shrimp chips...
DIY soto ayam (chicken soup, soto=soup, ayam=chicken) station...
My finished soto:
I am a huge fan of this soup - the broth is flavored with lemongrass, garlic and shallots, and has mung bean noodles, cabbage, chicken, various herbs and fried garlic... I also put a small dose of the nuclear-hot orange sambal in...
Sambal station, from top left going clockwise: kecap manis (sweet soy sauce) with chilis, nuclear orange chili, milder (but not completely mild) red chili, balinese style sambal matah - with lemongrass, chili and shallot, acar = pickles, peanut sambal
There were a few containers of krupuk - these are the shrimp chips, a fave of ours
Gulai ikan (fish curry) and veggies
This is a gorengan (fried stuff) section - they had fried tempe, tofu and seitan and far on the right was a fried noodle and fried rice station.
There were some other stations (the selection was ridiculous) unpictured here... we may come upon them as we go through.
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A little exploring around the hotel... first, their rooftop hydroponic garden
By the time evening came, we were exhausted - we had taken a small nap once we got into our room, but I think we woke up more tired than when we first laid down! We wound up going to bed without eating any dinner - we weren't really hungry anyway....
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3 minutes ago, rotuts said:
nice
on the above
nasi goreng
no Rice ?
Yes Rice... the rice was covered by the fried egg blanket
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We got to the hotel in Jogja with no problems and as part of the check-in process, they brought us to their lounge for a welcome drink and snacks:
Some kind of ginger tea with cardamom, cinnamon and star anise, traditional Bakpia and another snack I didn't know the name of...
The bakpia comes in different flavors, but traditionally is filled with a slightly sweet bean paste and wrapped with a thin dough and dry fried. The cylinder is some kind of palm sugar confection with dried coconut flakes.
Interior shot of the bakpia...
After we had our snacks, our room wasn't ready yet (it was only a little after 1), so we had lunch in the hotel's courtyard...
Various krupuk (cracker-y things - shrimp chips on the left and some kind of vegetable chip on teh right) with peanut sambal
Kampung chicken "Tali Roso" - the tough, scrawny free range chicken with chilis, shallots, dried anchovy, peanuts, some kind of bean and green tomatoes.
Mie Jawa (javanese noodles) in soup - like a chicken broth with lemongrass, lime, and sweet soy sauce.
Various sambal
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The next day we woke up bright and early and had breakfast in the hotel.
Wonton noodle soup (shrimp wontons, chicken and gailan)
To get us in the mood - nasi goreng - translated as fried rice (nasi = rice, goreng= fried) but in true style, nasi goreng is typically served with some sate, shrimp chips, acar (pickles), and this was also served with some chili rubbed fried chicken wings...
We got to the airport with time to spare, so we went wandering...
A small food court (one of several scattered around the terminal)... since it was there, I needed to visit my old friend, Old Chang Kee for fried stuff on a stick...
I was still pretty full from breakfast, but wound up getting some prawn nuggets on a stick (like chicken nuggets, but made from shrimp):
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We got to the region a little different this year - we didn't go by our typical way by EVA airlines connecting through Taipei because it would have required an extra flight as EVA only flies to Jakarta, so we'd have to change planes again to get to Jogja. Instead, we flew by Singapore Airlines direct NY to Singapore, and then flew by Air Asia direct to Jogja. Singapore Air is a great airline and the food was great (shown on the Airline food thread), tons of entertainment options and the staff were warm and very helpful. My only issue is the scheduling - the flight leaves NY at about 10:30AM and gets into Sing. at about 5:30PM the next day. By leaving at 10:30AM, there is basically no chance of sleeping on that flight, except maybe for the last couple hours before landing. Also, by landing so late in the day, it's hard to make any connections, so we stayed in Singapore for 1 night (not really a hardship for us as we love Singapore) and left the next morning. The flight home though leaves at 11:30PM, which leaves plenty of time for a connection from wherever you're coming from, and then we had about 6-7 hours of hanging out in the city...
One final interesting thing about the flight - because of the issues in Middle East right now, it's recommended that airlines avoid flying over the region if possible, so SA's route basically took us straight north out of NY, over the North Pole (or really close to it), then down through eastern Russia, China, Thailand, etc.
Northern edge of Canada (I think)...
Landing in Singapore was as efficient as ever - and we were finished checking into our hotel in the city center about an hour after landing. Since we were really tired, we decided to have dinner in the food court of the mall around the corner from our hotel:
The Ion Center mall...
Entrance to the food court
The food court is set up like an indoor, air conditioned hawker center with tons of options.
We decided on some Prawn Noodles:
and Katong laksa, which was rich with coconut milk and shrimp paste... delicious:
In the corner of the last photo, you'll see our drink of choice in Singapore, lime juice - really a limeaid.
Edit: just found a photo of the lime juice....
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It's that time of year again, after just getting back from our summer vacation. This year, we went to Yogyakarta which is a city in central Java, Indonesia. The title of the topic comes from the fact that most people there call the city Jogjakarta (pronounced jōg-ja-karta), although some people (depending on background) do call it yōg-ya-karta. This is a special place in Indonesia - Indonesia is a mostly Muslim country, however, the region around Jogjakarta was declared a special region as it is also a Sultanate. It was the original home to the ruler of the island of Java, and once democracy came along, the Sultan still lives there and has some kind of power in the region, as well as with the government as a whole... It's confusing - and I would say that I'm still a bit confused, but that's ok. Anyway, all this leads this region to be called the cultural and culinary capital of the island of Java, the most populous island in the archipelago, some of the reason it is extremely popular with domestic tourists - I'd say the vast majority of the tourists there are from other parts of Indonesia, with the balance being mostly Australians, and some Europeans and very few North Americans.
Food-wise, we found Jogja interesting because it is the first Muslim area we have seen in SE Asia, which means (with very few exceptions) no pork. There are tons of chicken dishes - many using what is called kampung chickens, or extremely free range chickens which tend to be relatively scrawny, a little tough but with a lot of flavor. There is also some beef, some mutton/goat and fish. Like a lot of Indonesian food, the use of sambal(s) is key - many times you will have a selection of sambal that you would use to accent or add spiciness to a dish. Some of these sambal are crazy hot...
Another thing interesting thing about being a mostly Muslim area is the seemingly ever-present call to prayer. In the city, typically 5 times a day, the Mosques will have their best singer sing the call to prayer (which lasts about 20 minutes) over the loudspeaker systems. If you are in an area with a few mosques, you will hear 3 different versions all going at the same time. Some of these calls are at inopportune times - like 1:30AM - so most hotels provide ear plugs so you won't be woken up in the middle of the night. Like we do on all our trips, we take Benadryl as a sleep aid to help get us over the jetlag... so we never needed the earplugs as we were sleeping very soundly to say the least!
I think I'll sum this up by talking about how relatively inexpensive this city is. It is probably the cheapest area that we have seen on our travels so far - you can get a luxury hotel room for about $50 per night, and a 40 minute taxi ride across the city doesn't cost more than $3-4, at the current rate of exchange. Local food is really cheap too. I took some photos of menus to show pricing - keep in mind that the current rate of exchange is about IDR14,100 to US$1. What can be much more expensive is some touristy things - foreign tourists are charged a different rate from domestic tourists, and in some cases will have a separate entrance (and usually a much shorter, or non-existent, line).
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1 hour ago, SLB said:
Meanwhile, the petunias are going nicely in my Manhattan Containers.
Speaking of okra -- did I mention that my Mississippi cousin suggested that I plant okra in my windowboxes once, after I complained about how ungodly high the okra is around here when it finally is available? I wonder what my building would make of me planting food in my windowboxes . . . .
ETA: Please ignore the frayed condition of the windowsill. As you can probably guess, I tend to leave the windows open (to varying extents), no matter the weather.
Edited again: I just discovered that there is a whole separate thread devoted to flower gardens. Sorry!
When I had more time, I've grown a decent amount of food in my Manhattan apt... Why should your building care?
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5 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:
Looks similar to Air France transAtlantic business class. Your wine glass much nicer. i have long Quibbled with airlines about their tryying to serve steaks and chops. For food safety reasons, they have to be overcooked (for most people) and even assuming that they start with good meat, the final result is clumsy and disappointing, Why, I've repeatedly asked in letters to management, can't they serve a really good braise that takes well to reheating? Beef or lamb both work well, and the cuts would be cheaper to boot. Another question I've had is why the food is always better flying out of San Francisco than on the return out of Paris. Logic says that the French should be able to "do it better" but we have always had worse meals on the westbound leg. I always attributed it to the difference in exchange rate, i.e., spending the same amount of money per passenger, they had a bigger budget out of the US than out of France. Or something else...
I believe that it doesn't really have much to do with the airline itself. I'm not sure, but I think airlines contract out the food service to companies in each locale they offer service. So, for example, I just flew Singapore Air from NY to Singapore direct - the food was very different on the two flights - so they're not bringing food from Singapore to NY for the return trip, they're getting it from a NY based supplier. Some airlines are better than others probably because they use different service providers or pay a higher price - as in you get what you pay for.
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I almost forgot. We flew Sing Air's regional airline from Yogyakarta (Indonesia) to Singapore - about a 2 hour flight... This was served as breakfast:
Fried rice noodles (in some kind of chili sauce with shrimp paste) with seafood. I was nervous about this, but was extremely surprised - the seafood (calamari and small shrimp) were perfectly cooked. I imagine they were raw before being cooked while the dish heated.
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Also, to give an idea of otgher book the cook offerings, my wife had a decent nasi biryani for dinner...
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2 hours ago, Smithy said:
That all looks good, but I'm still stuck on "peas and crackers" as an item. Why are those paired together? Does anyone here know? Is it English pub mooshy peas that one could scoop onto the crackers without dropping them?
The peas and crackers are actually 2 items.... dried wasabi peas or a package of crackers... why they put them together like that on the menu is anyone's guess...
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Singapore Air: Singapore to New York (Newark) direct. On this leg, they had the "Book the Cook" available. This is an interesting feature that lets you preselect your meals in advance - I selected mine a couple months ago... the nice thing is that this gives you much more choice - there are about 8 choices for dinner and another 8 more for breakfast.
Menu - note that they also have the standard choices for those who didn't bother booking the cook.
@liuzhou may note the dessert in the last photo. I asked for a chicken tikka wrap and they brought me a pudding " just in case"... I didn't try it as my corn aversion is only slightly less than his.
My dinner - hainanese chicken rice complete with chili sauce and sweet soy sauce. Chicken was juicy and tender and rice was great, but the bok choy was overcooked.
Came with:
Roll with lurpack butter and a very tasty chocolate mousse.
My breakfast - dim sum
Before opening, check out the croissant - I've had worse croissants in France - it was also served warm. Check the interior:
The dim sum
Siu nai, har gow, chicken and mushroom and also rice with chicken mushrooms and chestnuts
The aforementioned corn pudfing
The chicken tikka wrap - quite tasty - I had a few of them.
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I flew Emirates once- they just started their direct NY to Milan route and had crazy cheap fares as a promotion. It was several years ago and don't remember the details, but my impression was favorable.
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Dinner with a view...
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What a great story. I'm at a loss for words. Thank you for bringing us along.
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I just saw this now... What a great story! I would have loved to see your mother's expression when she realized what lengths people went through for her. Can't wait to read more...
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There are a lot of topics that go through many methods for making super French fries... If I wasn't traveling and only using a pita cell phone, I'd link a few... Maybe someone else can help?
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In Singapore airport...
Shrimp nuggets on a stick
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9 hours ago, ElsieD said:
@KennethT I daresay you weren't sitting in "the back of the bus". Looks good.
Actually we were in the back of the plane. Thus flight only has biz and prem economy. We were PE and got a great deal about a year ago. It was like $600 each way.
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Singapore Air NY to Singapore non-stop (about 17 hours)... 2 meals, a pizza bread, and various snacks/sandwiches in between...
Pork panang curry
Shrimp in tarragon cream with pretzel roll
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I have no experience with milling flour, but when grinding other materials, it is normal practice to start coarse and progressively grind finer and finer. If you are concerned with heat, you may need to wait between passes for the flour to cool before grinding again.
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2 hours ago, liuzhou said:
Early tomorrow morning, I'm off travelling for about three weeks in
eroticexotic lands where I'll no doubt be eating strange delicacies and worse!Tonight's rather uninspiring dinner was a final fridge and larder clearance effort.
Pork tenderloin medalions, baked spud with blood sausage, Shanghai bok choy.
Hopefully you'll be posting some of those
eroticexotic dishes.... can we get a preview of where you're headed?-
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Jogging around Jogjakarta (aka yogging around Yogyakarta)
in Elsewhere in Asia/Pacific: Dining
Posted
After breakfast, the first order of the day was to try to find some good fruit to keep in the room. This trip, the fruit finding was quite frustrating - I couldn't find any mangosteen until the 2nd to last day before we left for home! We went to so many markets and fruit stands, after a while, it just seemed like they didn't exist here.... and of course, once we finally found a market with some (one vendor had a small amount), I seemed to see them everywhere as we drove along in a taxi... also, for some reason, the variety of mango that is popular here is relatively flavorless compared to some of the ones we've had in Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore... the flesh was much more orange than I was used to seeing, and they were juicy, but just tasteless... disappointing...
Anyway, some first day market shots...
Various fruit - there were tons of oranges everywhere we looked, and apparently, the drink of choice is orange juice on ice - lime juice was barely found anywhere...
Fruit and veggies
Veggies starting to look a little wilty...
palm sugar
various krupuk - most are made either from shrimp, fish or vegetable... although here and there we'd find beef skin cracklins - those were awesome.
After the market, we went back to the room to upgrade our "welcome fruit plate"...
Pre-upgrade....
Post upgrade... while the mangoes were completely flavorless, that pineapple was probably the best pineapple I've ever had in my entire life... it was so sweet and juicy I can hardly describe it.... But, I will say it was a bit of a challenge to peel and deal with the pineapple with a butter knife, but I made do!!!
After dropping off our haul (btw, 3 mangoes and a pineapple cost about IDR 25,000 - or less than $2 and that's without haggling which most people would do at a market... it was so cheap, I didn't bother) we continued our walk. One area of Jogja that is very famous is Malioboro St. - a nice tree lined street made for gouging tourists, I mean, for tourists to wander around and take in the sights.... Most people in the city that we met were very friendly and nice, but there is a huge glut of "becak" or tricycle rickshaws that the drivers were quite agressive and would follow you to get to you take a ride with them. Also, the incessant selling of batik can get overwhelming - especially in tourist heavy areas.... Jogja is a center for batik, and many of the domestic tourists come to get the stuff from its homeland.
Anyway, some shots of Malioboro St., and a market selling tons of batik
The beginning of Malioboro
Becak waiting for customers
The main market area of Malioboro St.
Batik madness....