Sweet Perfection

Versi Manis

Jadi, begini.

Banyak orang mencari resep chocolate chips cookies yang sempurna seperti yang dibuat Pepperidge Farm, Mrs. Fields, St. Michael, Famous Amos, atau mungkin kafe mungil di pedesaan Liverpool atau Tuscany. Termasuk saya. Terutama jenis soft baked: berukuran besar, dipanggang setengah matang, empuk agak liat (chewy), berjibun isi, aroma butter dan vanilla, keping cokelat premium, dan.. keriput yang sempurna!

Sepertinya hanya di dunia arkeologi dan kuliner keriput dimaknai sedemikian tinggi :)

Pengembaraan dari resep ke resep, trial demi trial, membawa saya kepada satu kesimpulan. Chocolate Chips Cookies yang sempurna itu mensyaratkan penggunaan banyak bahan yang tidak ingin saya konsumsi. Bahan-bahan non-halal, trans fat, gula berlebihan, penguat rasa, pewarna, pengembang dan pengemulsi. Hampir mustahil bisa dibuat di dapur rumahan dengan pemakaian bahan artificial dan trans fat seminim mungkin.

Meski tabah dan ikhlas menerima kenyataan ini, ada 2 resep yang cukup menawan hati, paling mirip dengan gambaran kukis sempurna. Resep milik Nigella yang sudah saya post di sini, dan resep milik Ashley, salah satu foodblogger favorite saya yang pasti akan segera jadi favorite anda juga.  Kedua resep ini mirip-mirip saja, namun entah kenapa resep Ashley menghasilkan tekstur dan keriput yang lebih cantik. Atau mungkin hanya perasaan saya saja menjelang bulan purnama *eh*.

Sneak Peak and a Gratitude

It's been awhile.

Here I just need to share some photos I took for the next two books by NCC. Some kind of sneak peek, you may say.

Often times I was asked how to capture whole cakes, especially decorated cakes where the decoration must be captured as accurate as possible, without making the photos boring. Here I share some pictures from the upcoming book, they are all whole cakes, all decorated as the book suggested, hoping you can learn from them, same things I learned through one year trying to capture the beauty of 101 minicakes and cupcakes. If there are things you still want to ask, please do ask me, I will be more than happy to assist.

To me now, the previous long process of food photo session becomes much simpler and shorter. And easier, too. Good for my sanity. For one day session containing 5-20 food items to shoot, I used only 1-2 styling theme. So it was similar styling for 5 to 10 items, with small alterations here an there. Not only this strategy simplifies the work significantly, it also makes it easier for our editor and graphic designer to put them all together in one solid design concept. So, everybody's happy, and I hope our readers will be, too.

Oleh-Oleh IJE 2013

- Ketika Silaturahim Dirayakan untuk Masa Depan

Gerimis belum berhenti waktu kaki saya menjejak pelataran JIExpo Hall A, Ahad 22 Desember kemarin. Jam "leyeh-leyeh" hari ini saya ikhlaskan untuk memenuhi undangan seorang teman, menghadiri Indonesia Japan Expo 2013, sebuah event yang diselenggarakan untuk merayakan 55 tahun kerjasama diplomatik dan persahabatan Indonesia dengan negeri matahari terbit ini. Digagas oleh Perhimpunan Persahabatan Indonesia-Jepang, expo ini menyajikan pengetahuan dan hiburan secara menyeluruh tentang segala aspek yang berkaitan dengan kerjasama Indonesia  dan Jepang selama 55 tahun. So, expect anything about Japan, for sure everything will be here.

Sejak dari luar gedung, saya sudah disuguhi pemandangan budaya yang menarik, sebuah fusion antara tradisional dan modern. Pertunjukan Taiko (bedug Jepang) di panggung terbuka, ditingkahi seliweran para remaja mengenakan kostum komik (cosplay) aneka rupa. Ooh, I can feel the cultural energy bursting in the air..

Japan Halal Food Project

Ya, ya, dari sekian banyak hal menarik yang bertebaran sejak pintu masuk, mudah ditebak, makanan adalah yang pertama kali saya tuju, terutama Halal Food Project yang diusung oleh perhelatan besar ini. Sebagai fans berat makanan Jepang, mendengar nama projectnya cukup membuat mata saya berbinar-binar dan perut saya bernyanyi riang, hihihi..

Pepaya Kalimantan

I'm sorry, it was gone before I knew it. Couldn't help myself.

In Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, I came across this pepaya, or papaya as you may know, brought by my dear friend Rina Ahdalina. They call it Pepaya Hawaii. But I don't think it was the same as Pepaya Hawaii I once found being sold at Total Buah. This pepaya was smaller, way smaller, and way sweeter.

In between baking cookies for the next day seminar, we enjoyed spooning these babies and gulping its succulent burning orange meat like monkeys :D

I brought back some of them --so did Nadrah --, and yeah, you can see they're gone very fast.

Indonesian fruits are amazing. I always prefer our local grown fruits from the fake-fresh imported ones. Unfortunately not many of them make it to Jakarta. In many cases they are directly sent overseas to importer countries, usually the best variants in the bunch. And the locals were left with limited stock, only enough for them to eat, not enough crops to be sold to other parts of Indonesia --and Indonesia is indeed a big country.

Sagon Sembur

Oh, how food can be so nostalgic. It takes you to the time and place where your heart is. Is it that romantic or is it just me?
I was born the youngest of seven children and we had a dearest nanny we considered as our second mother. I mean, seriously. I remember everytime she had to go mudik, my sister and me, as the last youngsters under her caretaking- yes, she took care all seven of us since we were newborn babies- my sister and me would cry unstoppably, scream, kick, temper tantrum all the way, didn't wanna let her go, couldn't handle her going away. I still remember the feeling. It was like half of your soul was forcefully taken away from you, hurt and dying. She was wonderful to us. She loved us dearly and genuinely just like her own children, no fakeness, no politics. Unconditionally, just like my Mom did. And she remained our closest "family" until the day she died at a very old age, possibly more than a hundred.