Day 3! We managed to finish the sugar cookie and we let them dry, then we left it and went to the bookstore. We came across this small stall where they sell donuts made from potatoes and Indonesian croquettes. My best friend bought some so that I can taste them.

Potato donuts tastes like regular donuts, they are dusted with powdered sugar as well. While the Risoles, were potato croquettes with fillings of cheese, hotdogs and chili sauce. If you’re bold enough you can also add bird’s eye chili and eat it together.

Risoles

I also got to try a Grape flavored Milk tea. I never heard of it until then so I decided to try it. It was surprisingly good and I was able to finish it quickly.

Grape flavored Milk Tea

At first I thought it would be like the Mentos’ grape flavor, but it wasn’t it has grape and milk tea taste, when you think about it, it sounds weird but when you start to sip it, all your doubts will be thrown out. It was pretty addicting.

Serba Lezat’s Side Dishes

During dinner, my best friend’s dad, her older sister, sofia, my best friend and me went to this restaurant to eat dinner together. The restaurant’s name is Serba Lezat. The picture above are the side dishes, the middle one are like chips in hot sauce, if you know Matahari, Indonesian Deli here in Manila you must know their Vegetable Chips, that’s exactly what it is minus the sweet factor, these are plain raw chips, but Sofia said it’s not made of vegetables, it’s still a bit bitter like the ones in Matahari. One similar dish that we also have here in Manila are Kangkong (left, beside the chips) and Langka (Jackfruit) cooked in Coconut Milk (far right corner, from the chips). These side dishes, when you didn’t touch or eat them you can return them back, just put them aside and tell them that you didn’t eat them, there’s no additional charge, you’ll only pay the side dishes you’ve eaten.

One thing that surprised me was Indonesians also eat with their hands. I thought only Filipinos do that, when my best friend’s dad asked me if I can eat with my bare hands, they were also surprised when I said I do. They couldn’t believe it too, according to them, it’s a tradition to eat the foods served by hand. I guess being our countries are neighbors we have a lot of similarities. I thought it was only the language, but also some traits are similar as well.

Dalandan Juice

Gurami Bakar (Barbecued Fish, below) with Red and Green Chilies (Sambal, top)

I ate Gurami Bakar twice, one was during lunch time, my best friend’s mom bought it for lunch and one during dinner. I think I liked the best. It’s so good with the chilies and rice. Although you have to be careful with the bones, but it’s soft and buttery texture. I don’t know what kind of fish they used though. It’s in Indonesian but they don’t know how we call it in English.

Her dad also ordered fried chicken for us as well, it was good but I liked the fish more since I’ve been eating chicken since forever before I left Manila.

They asked me which was the best food I’ve tasted so far, this is definitely the one. Haha, I think this fish dish is the one that you shouldn’t miss when you drop by Pekanbaru.

Serba Lezat is located at Jl. Ahmad Yani No. 59, Pekanbaru Riau.

Matahari Indonesian Deli has stalls in SM Megamall, TriNoMa, SM North Edsa and other malls located in Manila.

Day 2 in Pekanbaru, my best friend brought me to Sinar Harapan, a noodle restaurant in Pekanbaru. The interiors is quite similar to Binondo’s (Manila’s Chinatown District) noodle shops, very old, yet has a homey feeling. I think I ate in this restaurant twice or thrice, and I really loved the noodles, especially when you add hot sauce in it. Mie Pangsit consists of egg noodles, chicken (yes, the red ones are chickens, similar to Sio Ma here in Manila, it doesn’t taste the same though), diced mushrooms, toasted garlic, and green onions.

Condiments and Iced Tea

Their iced tea is made from real tea and added with tablespoons (I have no idea how many) of sugar to sweeten it. It’s pretty refreshing after a meal.

After eating breakfast we decided to continue making some royal icing toppers for the sugar cookies and bake the cookies as well, then at lunch we went out to eat at Koki Sunda with Sofia. Koki Sunda serves Sundanese cuisine.

Koki Sunda’s Interiors

When we got there they asked me where I want to sit, I decided to seat on the floor (right picture).

Fruit Rojak – Pineapples, Green Mangoes, Jicamas (Benkoang in Indonesia), Cucumbers with Rojak dressing

For appetizers, you can get this in a booth, it’s an all you can eat appetizer. There’s a vegetable Rojak and a fruit Rojak option. I chose to get the fruits, the dressing has this sweet-spicy taste, the flavors compliment really well. In my opinion, the dressing is well-paired with pineapples.

According to Wikipedia, the dressing is made out of shrimp paste (bagoong alamang in the Philippines), sugar, lime juice, chili and water. I really liked the sauce, lol. Maybe I should try and make them here, since we also have shrimp paste here.

Our Drinks

I deeply apologize that I wasn’t able to list what our drinks are. But if some of you readers know, kindly give me a message so I can re-write this. From left I think it’s dalandan juice, the middle one is sweet, it’s a dessert actually like the third one from right. There’s condensed milk, shaved ice, jelly(?), I think flan (creme caramel) as well, the third from right is all fruits, dragon fruit, papaya, melon in a sweet juice. I find it to sweet for my liking, but I liked that they really serve fresh fruits.

Nasi Timbel – consists of plain rice, fried chicken, dried fish, fish crackers, fried chicken, green and red chili pastes and salad in peanut sauce paired with soup

For our main entree, It’s Nasi Timbel, the rice is wrapped in a banana leaf, it’s like a complete set of meal so after you ate everything you’re really full.

They also serve soup together with this meal, and I was too full to finish everything.

The soup tastes like our local Sinigang, the taste is sour with vegetables, the only difference is it has corn in it.

I get to eat to this restaurant again at dinnertime after my godson’s birthday party. I get to eat Sate Ayam meal, but I didn’t get the chance to picture it since my camera ran out of battery at the same time my phone’s battery died as well.

I really had fun tasting authentic Indonesian cuisines, it’s like a new thing for me. Basically the places they’ve brought me has really good food. If I go back in Pekanbaru with my friends here in Manila, I would definitely like them to try these restaurants.

After our lunch, we headed back to my best friend’s parents house and re-did the toppers as well at cleaning up. At dinner, ate another home-cooked meal by my best friend’s mom.

I don’t know, but I really like their home-cooked meals, it makes you feel like home even though I’m home away from home.

Sinar Harapan is located at Jl. Insinyur Haji Juanda, Pekanbaru, Riau

Koki Sunda is locared at Jl. Jend. Sudirman No.247, Pekanbaru, Riau.

Credits to: Wikipedia

I’ve been out of the country for 9 days. I went to Indonesia to visit my best friend whom I’ve met 5 years ago when I studied in San Francisco. It was pretty funny because I clearly remembered we made a promise to each other that we’ll meet again in 5 years study again. But then, a lot of things changed. She got married and already have a son who just celebrated his 1st Birthday last January 15th. It was pretty all of a sudden, with all of the ruckus of credit cards not working and such. Pretty crazy, but fortunately I was able to book a flight and visit her.

My first stop was Singapore, there’s no direct flight from Manila to Pekanbaru, so I have to stay in Singapore then fly from there to her hometown. I stayed there for a day (in her family’s condominium) I arrived at her place around 3 in the afternoon, it’s a 10 minute ride from the airport to her place by cab, then I met her youngest sister for the first time and met her younger again whom I met back in SF 5 years ago. Anyway, me and her sister went to Parkway Parade and she treated me with Laksa,a Singaporean noodle soup made with curry, coconut milk and chicken broth, sliced egg (yes, the egg in the picture is sliced), shredded chicken, bean sprouts, chili, coriander and fish cake are added in the soup.

It’s my first time eating it and I pretty much enjoyed the soup (because I’m a curry fan), I was pretty full after I ate them. Then she bought me a can of green tea which is refreshing after eating a spicy soup.

Heaven and Earth’s Jasmine Green Tea

I really like the taste of this canned drink, if I’m correct it is made of real tea, because I can still feel some bits of tea twigs (correct me if I’m wrong) in this drink. There’s also a lot of variety, there’s Apple, Lemon, Passionfruit (?), Chrysanthemum and Original Green Tea flavored drinks.

Scoopz! Ice Cream (Rum and Raisin and Mint Chocolate Chip)

For dessert, we stopped by in this Ice Cream Shop, it’s all handmade and it’s amazing. The texture is like Gelato, but this one’s gooey and chooey, a different texture but I really liked it. My best friend’s sister ordered their famous Rum and Raisin flavor while I stuck on my ever favorite Mint Chocolate Chip.

After that we walked around the mall and headed home. The next day, we left early, the brought me to the airport, left Singapore, the flight was really fast though, it only took us 35 minutes from Singapore to Pekanbaru. It was pretty funny though, everything felt surreal I was happy that I saw my best friend but I’m still feeling in a kind of daze, so she thought I wasn’t happy to be there, but I really am happy.

Unfinished Birthday Cake

The theme for my godson’s birthday party was Precious Moments, so the colors should play around light, pastel colors, we decided to use blue and white. Make it simple, yet elegant for the first birthday party. We did the first 3 layers which are all dummies, then the last layer was a real cake (will post picture in one of the next entries).

My first day consists of eating home-cooked Indonesian food. Which was really yummy. I loved the fact that they also use, soy sauce (sweetened), vinegar and chilies or Indonesian hot sauce for dipping. I loved the fermented beancurd, it was sweet (because of the caramelized sugar).

 J.Co Donut dusted in powdered sugar (given for free) and Plain Yogurt with Blueberries, Strawberries and Honey Stars

I knew J.Co will be opening in Metro Manila soon, so when my friend brought me here she told me that it originated in Indonesia. I tasted their donut and it was really good! It has just enough sweetness unlike Krispy Kreme which is overly sweet, really loved it. The yogurt is also really good as well, it’s like Red Mango and White Hat mixed together. The blue Precious Moment paper you see on the back of the donut will be used to cover the chocolate for my godson’s birthday.

There will be more posts to come on my adventure in Pekanbaru. I will be posting a lot of food pictures on the coming posts.

Scoopz! Ice Cream is located at: 80 Marine Parade Road, #B1-154 Parkway Parade, Singapore, 449269 and Upper Thomson 222 Upper Thomson Road Singapore, 574354.

J.Co Donuts and Coffee has branches in several parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Shanghai, China and soon to open in Manila, Philippines. Here’s their website: http://jcodonuts.com/

]]> http://azeined.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/singapore-indonesia-trip-part-1/feed/ 2 azeined IMG-20120110-00833 IMG-20120110-00834 IMG-20120110-00835 DSC_0631 DSC_0629 http://azeined.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/goodbye-2011/ http://azeined.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/goodbye-2011/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:44:34 +0000 azeined http://azeined.wordpress.com/?p=1058 ]]> Before 2011 ends, let me make this last post.

During the 1st quarter of the year, it’s been a bit hard. But the rest of the months past by, I’ve definitely been blessed.

Some people I knew, a relative and a friend passed away this year. I even dreamt of them. I’m just happy that they’re up there and I know they’re happy and have been looking out for me.

My online business has been successful. I thank God for all the blessing he has given me. I’m looking forward to 2012 and start something new. I’m on search for new products to sell and I hope everything goes well.

I get to watch,my favorite boyband, Westlife live (for the first and last time) when they visited Manila (for a one-day concert) before they disband this coming year.

I’m blessed that with all the hard work I’ve done, good reviews were given. A lot of memorable challenges has been given to me, like making a 3-tier cake, Barney and friends cake, etc.

Thankful for everything even though my life has been like a roller coaster ride these past few years.

Thankful for friends, who’s been there thru my ups and downs since high school. My best friends who’s willing to listen thru my rants, problems, etc. Friends who I’ve met this year, I’m really happy to you guys.

Thankful for my family, there’s a lot to do, but I know if we stick together we can do whatever we want.

Some of my wishlist came true! Haha.

My dad bought a camera that we can use whenever. Finally! Hahaha. Camera is essential, I guess. Lol.

Westlife concert was awesome, but there’s one thing that still bothers me though, the one on our back are clueless on boy bands I guess. Her friend asked her what songs the band released and she told her friend Quit Playing Games with my Heart — wrong concert girls and you got the guts to get mad when you can’t see the performers. I’ve been wanting to watch their concerts before but, I haven’t got the time to watch it.

Get to try new restaurants.

New printer, I kind of have to purchase one since the one my mom bought was.. well not good plus the fact that she installed the ink refills it became more of a headache. -_-

I get to get in touch with my friends overseas, thru BBM. Haha.

There’s a lot of things that I’m thankful for. I may not write it here but whatever.

Have a blessed new year guys! Keep moving forward! A few hours to go before 2012 begins!

Me and my family celebrated Christmas together and this is what we ate. I made the Pasta, and made it spicy by adding Chili flakes, and my family loved it.

CrabsBarbecue

Fruit and Cheese Platter

Coffee Jellies

This was the new product that my Ku-kong (my Grandmother’s older brother) made for their company. I looked good at this picture I took it the night before, but I had 3 jellies to spare and my sisters and I ate it last night, the jelly shrunk, and there’s water around the jellies. Even it’s my relative’s product, I have to consider this a fail. I followed the instructions thoroughly, but the jelly is not stable, just as what I’ve predicted.

Fruit Salad

It’s kind of sad though, only a few people light some fireworks, I miss those days where even if it’s Christmas you can see a lot of pretty fireworks. I miss those days.

I had fun, I was so full that I ended up sleeping around 3 am. Lol. And have to wake up around 8 am to catch a movie, since we reserved tickets, we have to be at the mall early to claim it. Lol. Tiring but fun. I can’t wait on New Year’s eve!

Merry Christmas and enjoy the last week of 2011!

Merry Christmas! Sorry for the late post. Been busy during Christmas week and weeks before that.

A classmate back in High School contacted me a few months and asked me to do a cake and giveaways for his son’s first birthday last December 18. I asked him the theme and he said basketball, and gave me the invitation card. From there, I started to think of designs what can I do with the cake. I ended up following some of the designs from the cake, I saw some scoreboard decoration and bought it. I feel contented with the end product. I’m happy that my friend liked it as well. I don’t want to put a lot of elements in the cake since the basketball on top of the cake is a decor itself (the dome shape was made from styro).

I managed to stick those two using the pearl green balls, adding a little Tylose glue to secure it.

Basketball theme Sugar Cookies

He also ordered 150 pcs. of Sugar Cookies, (first from 100 pcs. then changed 130 pcs. and last minute changes 150 pcs.) I thank God that you don’t have to put a lot of designs in a basketball themed cookie, just make it look like a basketball, but it also took me a lot of time (2 days, to be exact, but with all the errands I’ve been doing, I have no choice but to divide my workload).

Aside from these projects, I’ve been doing other orders as well. It’s been a stressful week but I had fun over the weekend, I was able to find time for my friends and had an overnight party at a hotel somewhere in the city. Although some of the people weren’t able to spend the night with us and some actually didn’t come over, I still had fun. It’s nice to leave my stressed life for a while and have fun.

My mom’s best friend asked me to do a Disney Fondant Cake….. I was kind of hesitant, knowing you cannot copy Disney characters really well. Anyway I told my aunt that I cannot guarantee her that it will look like the real Disney Princesses.

It was a rush order so I have to do it as quickly as I can. So I started with the cake and then the toppers.

I did a doll-like figurine for the princesses. It turned out to be okay in my opinion. It was HARD, but very challenging! I had fun doing it that’s why I accepted the order. Lol.  :)

It’s perfect partner for my Disney Princess Sugar cookies too!

So an old client messaged me a month ago and told me she’ll order 2 cakes and cupcakes for her daughter and son’s birthday. One was Angry birds themed cake and cupcakes and the other one is Yo Gabba Gabba themed cake and cupcakes.

I was fine with Angry Birds since I’ve been doing it for months now. But Yo Gabba Gabba …. that was the first time I heard the name. I wasn’t that updated with kid-oriented shows today so I was dumbfounded. I searched the internet and it turned out that they are 5 alien-like creatures. It’s like Sesame Street/Teletubbies show. Anyway, my printer was broken that time, so I drew it on a piece of scratch paper, wrote all the colors and then made it.

It was pretty easy, I thought that it would be hard. But it was easy, unlike Angry Birds where there are a lot of elements in a single bird.

As far as the Angry Birds theme, I had to do 25 pieces of the 6 characters I’ve included in the cake. So there’s a total of 150 birds to do. I did it beforehand otherwise I won’t have time to do other stuff, I will definitely ran out of time.

Angry Birds Fondant Cakes

I made everything differently on 3 cakes so that it won’t look so redundant. Anyway, I got tired of making them. LOL. Almost every week this month I had Angry Birds themed stuffs to do. Aside from these cakes there are also cupcakes as well.

Yo Gabba Gabba Cupcakes

Angry Birds Cupcakes

I had fun doing the Yo Gabba Gabba project, it’s like a breath of fresh air. Away from Angry Birds.

I was asked by a client to make some Vampire themed cookies for her daughter’s 9th birthday.

Her daughter wanted it to be scary….. I was thinking…. uh…… how to make it scary? :\

Anyway, I managed to pull it off, I made a few samples of the vampire and her daughter liked it, thankfully.

Vampire Sugar Cookies

The Vampire face from my point of view is not as scary as it looks. But what can I do, I can’t draw! The made some sketch and stuff on a paper then piped it on the sugar cookies.

And coincidentally, it’s Vampire week since Breaking Dawn movie was released on the 18th. But the movie is not related to this Vampire themed post!

I just made this afternoon, the Barbie doll was brought by my client so that I can place it on top of the cake.

If I’m correct, this is the latest Barbie movie, Barbie Princess Charm School.

The Cake is Chocolate Butter Cake and the frosting is Chocolate Buttercream.

I mananged to make it look Barbie-ish by mixing light pink, barbie pink, purple and yellow colors.

Oh and I added a big bow behind Barbie to add more element.

I taped a stick inside Barbie’s dress so that it will hold still and won’t fall down.

It’s really pretty and I am happy with the result. It didn’t take me a long time to do this.

I’m also happy that you can now bend Barbie’s knees… or it’s for this doll only? Hahaha. I’m a Barbie fan before when I was a kid. I remember that most of my Birthdays and Christmas gifts were all Barbie the dolls, the cars, everything. It was weird hahaha. I’m not so much of a pink fan, but I love Barbie!

I had fun doing this, it brings me back to the good old days when I used to play Barbie a lot! Ah nostalgia…