28 March, 2011

The tragedy of first position



Suddenly I want a daughter :)).

Poor adorable little girl, her knees just ain't right for ballet.

20 March, 2011

Girl by Jamaica Kincaid

Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry; don't walk barehead in the hot sun; cook pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil; soak your little cloths right after you take them off; when buying cotton to make yourself a nice blouse, be sure that it doesn't have gum on it, because that way it won't hold up well after a wash; soak salt fish overnight before you cook it; is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?; always eat your food in such a way that it won't turn someone else's stomach; on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming; don't sing benna in Sunday school; you mustn't speak to wharf–rat boys, not even to give directions; don't eat fruits on the street—flies will follow you; but I don't sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school; this is how to sew on a button; this is how to make a button–hole for the button you have just sewed on; this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming; this is how you iron your father's khaki shirt so that it doesn't have a crease; this is how you iron your father's khaki pants so that they don't have a crease; this is how you grow okra—far from the house, because okra tree harbors red ants; when you are growing dasheen, make sure it gets plenty of water or else it makes your throat itch when you are eating it; this is how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard; this is how you smile to someone you don't like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don't like at all; this is how you smile to someone you like completely; this is how you set a table for tea; this is how you set a table for dinner; this is how you set a table for dinner with an important guest; this is how you set a table for lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast; this is how to behave in the presence of men who don't know you very well, and this way they won't recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming; be sure to wash every day, even if it is with your own spit; don't squat down to play marbles—you are not a boy, you know; don't pick people's flowers—you might catch something; don't throw stones at blackbirds, because it might not be a blackbird at all; this is how to make a bread pudding; this is how to make doukona; this is how to make pepper pot; this is how to make a good medicine for a cold; this is how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child; this is how to catch a fish; this is how to throw back a fish you don't like, and that way something bad won't fall on you; this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man; and if this doesn't work there are other ways, and if they don't work don't feel too bad about giving up; this is how to spit up in the air if you feel like it, and this is how to move quick so that it doesn't fall on you; this is how to make ends meet; always squeeze bread to make sure it's fresh; but what if the baker won't let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won't let near the bread?

19 March, 2011

An Eastern Ballad by Allen Ginsberg

I speak of love that comes to mind:
The moon is faithful, although blind;
She moves in thought she cannot speak.
Perfect care has made her bleak.

I never dreamed the sea so deep,
The earth so dark; so long my sleep,
I have become another child.
I wake to see the world go wild.

13 March, 2011

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.


Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.


She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.


Buy her another cup of coffee.


Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.


It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.


She has to give it a shot somehow.


Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.


Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.


Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.


If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.


You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.


You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.


Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.


Or better yet, date a girl who writes.

Taken from: kblitz.tumblr.com

08 March, 2011

Cooking for beginner

Every time I opened my Facebook page, I always found and couldn't help admiring, the cookings that were made and posted on Facebook wall. We must agree that cooking takes time and -the case for cooking Asian food in Europe- money. A beginner in cooking department, I want to share something I have learned about cooking. No one ever told me this, it comes from my own experiences and I would like to share it here for you who never entered the kitchen -like I did- before:
  1. Combine garlic with red onion or large onion with red onion, try to use several kind of onions (or all three of them if available) to enhance the food taste.
  2. You could not afford to short with pepper, specially for cooking meat and seafood.
  3. In almost every Indonesian food, it is necessary to add an exact amount of red onion to make it taste impressive (but if it is TOO MANY, it will makes the food taste bitter).
  4. If the recipe contains ginger, we must careful too. Exact amount will makes the food GREAT. TOO MANY than the food becomes UHUKKKK!
  5. Train yourself to measure the exact amount of salt you need to pour into your cooking (pasta and vegetables needed lots of salt and pepper, eggs only need few salt but more pepper).
  6. Speaking of salt and pepper, my meat cookings have won several praise from my 'friend' & friends who had taste it. My secret (so proud because I had use logic on my first attempt long-long time ago and proved to be right *ohkaaay, cut out the self satisfaction will u!!*) is: I usually save twenty minutes before frying to marinate the meat with salt, pepper, and other spices. I gave them a good massages in those spices before fried the meat in a generous volume of oil. I always cooked my meat even before I made it into Curry, Smoor or even Chicken Cola, because I could not consume meat that is not perfectly cooked. WARNINGG!!! BUT THIS IS STRICLY FOR BONY CHICKEN WINGS/AYAM NEGERI A LIKE, DO NOT WORK FOR BROILER (GOOGLE BUTTERMILK CHICKEN RECIPE FOR THIS ONE)
  7. Either you like seafood, burger meat or while you are short with salt, or when you are too lazy to marinate with spices, pull out the butter from fridge. I got this from watching that Julie & Julia. The handy things of frying with butter is, you don't need to add salt if you are frying in butter. It will be enough salty. Frying with butter also best for fried eggs. Omega 3 from butter plus eggs potentially enhance your memory.
  8. To accompany your Indonesian and pasta cookings, green chili and green pepper taste superb over the red one (except if you are making 'spicy sambal' *ooooh how I miss sambal*).
  9. My new way of cooking fried rice without sambal: heat two spoon of butter, add garlic, add red onion, pour down eggs/shrimp/fish balls, after the eggs start to fries, add chopped green chili (rawit), add rice, add sesame oil. Eat while warm.
  10. Keep tasting. Until it's cook and ready to serve, keep check on the food taste. Cooking is like painting, it is necessary to keep adding final touch here and there until you are satisfied.