03

January
2009

Wedding Anniversary

category: Events, sharing
by Yun, 4 Comments »

Our previous years’ wedding anniversaries were always celebrated in Indonesia together with our families. But this year was very special and unique for us as for the first time, we celebrated our wedding anniversary privately. We spent our anniversary day in Qamea Resort in the beautiful Fiji Islands, where we had a romantic dinner by the beach. The food provided by the resort was superb. The dinner was ended with a surprise anniversary cake (prepared by the chef) and a Fijian anniversary song beautifully performed by a group of local musicians and hotel staffs. How sweet…

Shrimp with sweet and spicy sauce and pan fried reef fish

Grilled lobster and dessert


25

December
2008

Season Greetings from Qamea

category: travelling
by Yun, 8 Comments »

BULA! It means “hello”, “cheers”, or “welcome” in Fijian.

I’m wishing you all a Merry Christmas. May the peace of the born Jesus be with you and your family.

This year is the first time for us to celebrate Christmas alone two together after our four-year marriage. We are currently in the beautiful Fiji, a tropical archipelago country in South Pacific. A and I celebrated this year’s Christmas time in Taveuni, the Garden Island of Fiji, with friendly Fijian people. After finishing our day activities on the day before Christmas, we had a fabulous dinner in the Matei Point area of Taveuni. The dinner was started with a Christmas Carol, beautifully performed by local people from nearby villages. After dinner, we then went to a local church for an evening Christmas mass. The pristine white sand beaches, the rugged volcanic mountains, the friendliness of the local people, the simplicity of Fijian life, the tremendous songs of the choir, as well as the stunningly gorgeous underwater marine life, made our Christmas celebration very unique and memorable.

Here are some sneak peeks of our Fiji pictures.

 


14

December
2008

Bali’s Cuisine

category: restaurants
by Yun, 3 Comments »

Bali Island has a lot of different kinds of food to offer. This includes Italian, French, Indian, Japanese, or American food. However, for me, visiting Bali Island is not complete without tasting their local food. Below are some of my favorite restaurants and warung (street vendors) I visited during my Bali trip last September:

MENEGA CAFÉ

This café was one of the direct targets of terrorist Bali bomb blasts in 2005. Its location at Jimbaran Bay enables you to enjoy the beautiful sunset while dining in the restaurant. Watching sunset from Jimbaran Bay won’t be as spectacular as from Uluwatu or Tanah Lot. However, having fresh grilled seafood on the beach with a beautiful sunset scenery will absolutely be one of your most authentic experiences in Bali. What I love most from this café is their fresh grilled seafood, ranging from fish, crabs, squids, prawns and mussels.  Their sauce is just a perfect combination of all barbeque spices. I think they use the same sauce for all their grilled seafood and it goes perfectly with the green lipid mussels. Menega is one of “must-visit” places each time I go to Bali. We even visited Menega twice during our last visit to Bali.

NAUGHTY NURI’S

In early 2006, I visited Bali with some friends. There was one day when we went to Ubud area and what we did was only to visit restaurants. Seriously, I am not exaggerating my story… We just hopped into the car in the purpose of going from one restaurant to another one.  Our driver was baffled and asked us, “Did you still have space in your stomach? You’ve just visited many restaurants since you left hotel.” Then we explained to the driver that it was our culinary trip in Bali. Haha… After that, we went to Naughty Nuri’s, located at Ubud. I knew this restaurant from my best friend’s recommendation. We ordered half slab of ribs for each of us. And it was unbelievably good… All I can say is their BBQ ribs are truly a killer. The meat is just so tender that it can slip from the bone easily as you devour it through the sweetly succulent spare ribs. If you are a martini’s lover, keep in mind that Nuri’s is also well known for the finest Martini bar in the island.

NASI AYAM KADEWATAN

Nasi Ayam Kadewatan is another famous warung also located at West Ubud. They recently opened a new branch at Petingenget area, which is more accesible from Kuta. There is only one menu at this warung. It is nasi ayam, that is, steam rice with pindang egg, shredded chicken, betutu chicken (Balinese style cooking), fried peanuts, urap (vegetable), and all other parts of chicken such as: skins, livers and intestines. I believe that this is one of the most authentic Balinese food you must savor on the island.

NASI PEDAS IBU ANDIKA

If you like hot and spicy food, you can’t go wrong eating at this warung. They have a wide variety of meals you can choose: beef, chicken, tofu, tempe, vegetables, fried noodle, and egg balado. Almost all their meals are spicy. If you want spicier, you even can order more chili on the side. My top suggestion is their chicken skin, which is my favorite food at this warung. Note that this place is a real warung, not a fancy restaurant.

BUMBU BALI

Bumbu Bali is the first up-market restaurant specializing in authentic Balinese delicacies. Heinz von Holzen, previously worked at Grand Hyatt and Ritz Carlton-Bali, and his Balinese wife, Puji, opened their own restaurant, called Bumbu Bali. Heinz is the author and photographer of “The Food of Bali” and “The Food of Indonesia”. He also hosts Balinese cooking lesson at Bumbu Bali as a continuation of writing his books. All dishes served at Bumbu Bali were well prepared and presented. The ambiance is also very nice and relaxing, just a perfect place for couples or families who want to treasure their holiday time.

To my friends that already have a plan for visiting Bali in the end of this year, I really wish you have a very memorable experience in Bali. Have a safe trip and have a good holiday time with your family!

MENEGA CAFÉ
Jln Four Seasons Hotel
Muaya Beach, Jimbaran - Bali

NAUGHTY NURI’S
Jl. Raya Sanggingan
Across the road from Neka Museum
Down the Road from Uma Hotel
Up the Road from Nacho Mama’s
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Open from 8am - 10pm

NASI AYAM KADEWATAN
Kadewatan village, West of Ubud, across Kadewatan temple
Jl.Kayujati 12, Seminyak(in front of Villa Bora Bora)

NASI PEDAS IBU ANDIKA
Jl. Raya Tuban 118 (Across SuperNova supermaket), Kuta, Bali

BUMBU BALI
Jalan Pratama, Tanjung Benoa, Bali
62.361.774502


11

December
2008

Two Favorite Korean Restaurants at Chicago

category: restaurants
by Yun, 6 Comments »

Chicago offers so many restaurants with excellent food, and it’s impossible to name it one by one. My two most favorite Korean restaurants at Chicago are Cho Sun Ok and Boo Il Galbi. Before we went to Chicago two weeks ago, I created a list of restaurants that we planned to visit. I knew for sure that I wanted to eat Korean, but which one of the two restaurants should we pick? It’s hard for me to decide which one is better than the other, because each has its own unique signature menu.

A surely wouldn’t mind to eat Korean twice in a row in two nights. But how about my friend who also joined our Chicago trip? I bet if I told him about my plan to eat at both Korean restaurants, he would think that I was crazy about Korean food that much. Fortunately, he didn’t mind to experience two different Korean restaurants as long as both were good. Hmm… Good for me, isn’t it? Hehehe…

On the first night, we had a dinner at Cho Sun Ok. My Korean friend highly recommended this restaurant to me two years ago when I spent the entire summer living in Chicago. Since then, A and I became die-hard fans of Cho Sun Ok. When you first enter this restaurant, look around and you will notice that almost every table orders Chadol-gui, which is very-thinly-sliced unmarinated beef cooked over a stone pan. You cook the beef by yourself at your table. They give very generous portions of panchan (Korean side dishes). So far, we always had around ten panchan as an appetizer. Other than panchan, we were given garlics, jalapenos marinated in soy sauce, seasoned sliced green onions, and sesame oil mixed with salt and pepper, all to be eaten with the Chadol-gui beef later on.

After finish eating the Chadol-gui beef, the fun part begins. Waitress will come to your table and throw all your panchan leftover to the stone pan together with additional kim chi and white rice, to make fried rice out of them. A lot of people love the fried rice, especially when it is a bit overcooked as the rice become crispy and stick to the surface of the stone pan. I always try to cleanly collect all the crispy rice. Mmm… yummy. Unfortunately, a friend of mine that joined our trip this time couldn’t really enjoy the fried rice, as he thought that it tasted funny.

On the second night, we went to the other Korean restaurant, Boo Il Galbi, specialized at charcoal BBQ. You have to order at least two BBQ orders if you want to grill them on your own table. Otherwise, if it’s only one BBQ order, they will grill inside their kitchen and bring it to your table. Don’t worry about having too much food because two orders are just enough for two people. Their galbi is really really good. It’s probably one of the best galbi I’ve ever had. The meat is tender, juicy, and marinated well to perfection. One of the reasons I love galbi at Boo Il because they still use charcoal. It gives extra flavors to the beef after you grill it over charcoal. I love both the smell, as well as the taste. Please don’t flip galbi over too often since doing so can make it less juicy. Just let the galbi be cooked on one side and flip it once to the other side, and then wait until it’s cooked before consuming.

They also give you tons of panchan, including steamed egg and soups. A lot of lettuce and sliced green onions are also provided. The traditionally Korean way to eat galbi is to wrap it in lettuce with a little rice, garlics, sliced seasoned green onions, and a bit of ssamjang (fermented bean paste).

The fact that both Korean restaurants are still very traditional makes your eating experience very interesting. The places are not fancy (both kind of old buildings) and some waitresses cannot even speak English very well. Don’t come there if you look for a good service or a comfortable ambiance. But for the food, you certainly won’t complain. Also, be prepared that your clothes will smell BBQ badly after eating at these restaurants. So, keep your fancy clothes at home, and just wear clothes that are ready for laundry.

Cho Sun Ok

4200 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
773 . 549 . 5555

Boo-il Galbi

3346 West Bryn Mawr Avenue
Chicago, IL 60659
773 . 588 . 3112


03

December
2008

Joy Yee’s Noodle

category: restaurants
by Yun, 5 Comments »

I always can’t have enough of mangos. In my home country, Indonesia, a wide variety of tropical fruits including mango are abundantly available. However, mangos sold here in US are overpriced. Can you imagine that with the price of one piece of mango in US I can get more than two pounds of mangos in Indonesia (about five to six mangos of the same size)? It is expensive to enjoy tropical fruits in a non tropical country like US. So, I’m very happy that I already find a bubble tea place in Chicago that sells yummy smoothies made from fresh fruits, including mangos.

Joy Yee’s Noodle restaurant in Chicago’s Chinatown offers more than fifty different kinds of mixed fruits (also known as bubble tea). One signature of Joy Yee’s is that they use real fruits for almost all of their drinks. This implies that they use fresh mangos too! They put a lot of fruits and less water in their drinks, just an ideal ratio between fruit and ice. Their tapioca is very fresh and cooked rightly to a perfect chewiness. My most favorite drink at Joy Yee’s is Mango Lychee with Tapioca, whereas A’s favorite drinks are Green Tea Freeze with Tapioca and Taro Freeze with Tapioca. Also, you can optionally customize your drink by mixing different fruit selections, with additional toppings of your choice. So, how your new drink creation tastes is going to be a surprise. I’m pretty sure that you will love it! But, please be ready for experiencing a long line in front of Joy Yee’s. This restaurant is always crowded.

I never get bored drinking their bubble tea. I’ve tried many other drink flavors in Joy Yee’s, but my heart always sticks to Mango Lychee Tapioca. Why? It is probably because I’m a mango lover. When I spent the entire summer of 2006 in Chicago, I had a cup of Mango Lychee Tapioca almost everyday, probably six times a week. A few times I even went to Joy Yee’s twice a day just to order their delicious Mango Lychee Tapioca. It did make me broke. Hahaha…

Joy Yee’s also has an extensive food menu which includes food pictures, giving customers clear depictions of the food. For me personally, their food is just so-so. I usually prefer to eat at another restaurant in Chicago’s Chinatown, and then buy bubble tea at Joy Yee’s. I cannot say NO to Joy Yee’s Mango Lychee Tapioca. Even now as I’m writing this blog, I’m craving for their Mango Lychee Tapioca. Too bad that it requires six hours driving from Columbus to Chicago, to have such a mouth-watering drink at Joy Yee’s. *sigh*

I recall my past conversation with my friends on our trip to Chicago last year. As we almost arrived at Chicago, all of us were very excited and we started talking about Joy Yee’s. One of my friends, C, who at that time had never been to Joy Yee’s before, was perplexed to listen to our fervent conversation about Joy Yee’s bubble tea. He asked, “What is Joy Yee’s? Why you guys keep talking about it?” Then a good friend of mine, O, answered, “That is the place where you can have the BEST drink in the entire United States!” Ow… That statement is very agreeable to me. Till now, I haven’t been able to find a bubble tea place better than Joy Yee’s. Therefore, if you know a bubble tea place better than Joy Yee’s, please drop me a line. I would love to try it someday.

Joy Yee’s Noodle

2159 S China Pl
Chicago, IL 60616
312 . 328 . 0001

 



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