Saving Our Heritage | Ullen Sentalu

A place that has been recommended by a friend of mine to visit, and finally on my last trip to Jogjakarta I decided to spare times to pay this place a visit. Located in Kaliurang, Yogyakarta, this museum shouldn't be hard to find. Just ask your tour guide or the locals they will show you the way to this pretty exotic museum. Ullen Sentalu itself is actually an acronym of "ULating bLENcong SEjatiNe TAtaraning LUmaku" which means that the light of blencong *a lamp that is used in wayang kulit performance* is a guide for humans to run their life. By now you can tell, that yes.. this museum is preserving the Javanese cultural heritage.

Run by a private foundation, you will find this museum very well taken care of. You can't go inside the museum freely and have to wait for the guides to go in there. It is no wonder, because I assume you might get lost if you decided to roam around by yourself as it has mazelike architecture. The Museum is built in accordance with the Kaliurang landscape. That's why you'll find the building antique, exotic, and jungle like at the same time. Well I couldn't explain it any better, and I have no pictures to show you either since it is forbidden to take pictures inside the Museum *we could take pictures in the garden though, and it is just as beautiful*. By the way I think this is a nice place to do a pre-wed photo shoot.
Speaking of the collection, you could actually learn ancient Javanese tradition and way of life. This is shown through series of potraits, sculptures and paintings of the Kraton *Kasultanan, Mangkunegaran, Pakualaman, and Kasunanan* family members. Along with the visit you'll find some detail facts like why the Kraton family members don't wear ring on their middle fingers, or which batik design is used by who and in which occassion, or the symbolic meanings in a bride's makeup *you know like the west culture believe in wearing something old something blue stuff on their wedding day*. At the end of the tour you will be taken to try a traditional jamu recipe*a drink made from spices* that is believed will make you stay young.
For only 25.000 IDR (15.000 IDR for local students) this is the place that worth your visit. Especially with this nationalism sentiment to preserve the Indonesian culture, why not start by visiting this cultural sites and learn more about it. For more information you could visit the Ullen Sentalu official website.

Let's start with something small, and start learning today. If not us, then who else? If not now, then when? ^^
Note: you'll never know what you have until you lose it.

Santay men!!

Woohoo.. tampaknya pengikut sekte fioritura fiori sudah mulai merindukan saya. Terbukti dengan adanya pesan2 *padahal cuma satu pesan* singkat yang mulai masuk ke inbox, wall FB, dan sms saya *narsis hiperbolis* untuk segera mengupdate blog yang sudah dua minggu lebih terebengkalai ini. Bagaimana lagi bukan hanya karena saya akhir2 ini sibuk *reportase mengenai tempat2 menarik dan ciamik akan segera menyusul pada postingan2 berikutnya* tapi memang lagi mengalami writers block sesaat. Mungkin karena so much to think and to do in so little time and capabilities.
Setelah bulan Agustus yang cukup hectic, akhirnya saya bisa menikmati sisa satu minggu liburan trimester saya di awal September ini. Dan mari kita mula semuanya dengan ber-santay men!! hahaha..
Karena temanya adalah bersantay, maka saya pun males mikir. Cukup copy paste lah salah satu maen tag2an notes di FB *saya yakin Bung Temon akan mencak2 baca postingan saya kali ini*. Tapi jangan kuatir, in about two or three days saya akan memberikan selayang pandang tentang cerita dari Ujung Kulon dan Kaliurang. It's another worth a visit place in Indonesia. ^^

1. What time did you get up this morning?
Suppose to wake up at 4am for sahur. I did, but then sleep again till noon..

2. How do you like your steak?
empuk, hangat, matang, berasa di lidah namun tidak di kantong

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Merah Putih *a disappointment, I was expecting something like band of brothers or tae guk gi, but the scenario and historical details are just blah.. the effect is good though since they're using some hollywood guy to do it*

4. What is your favorite TV show?
mmmm.... take him out?? wkwkwkwkwkw..XD
nah.. my favorite TV show would be CSI, give me LVPD, Miami DADE, NYPD, I'll take all of them

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
I always love Greece and Venice *never been there though..*

6. What did you have for breakfast?
soto kudus dan telur kecap

7. What is your favorite cuisine?
I'm an omnivore, I eat almost everything. and my taste buds are not that sensitive to distinguish a home made chicken and a chef made chicken

8. What foods do you dislike?
oyong *tau oyong?? itu.. sayur paling gak enak sedunia, even pete is more bearable*

9. Favorite Place to Eat?
mm.. this one is hard.. i can't pick my favorites..

10. Favorite dressing?
Dressing up games??

11. What kind of vehicle do you drive?
my yaris. and it's the only car that I can drive. don't give me another car

12. What are your favorite clothes?
comfortable jeans and tees

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance?
sudah jelas kan?!?! Greece or Venice

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?
*this is a trick question isn't it??*

15. Where would you want to retire?
gotta keep yourself busy..hehe..^^

16. Favorite time of day?
when i can play hard and sleep well

17. Where were you born?
Jakarta..

18. What is your favorite sport to watch?
iceskating, gymnastics, and cheer competition!! haha..

19. Who do you think will not tag you back?
i'm not tagging anybody, so nobody is gonna tag me back. duh..

20. Person you expect to tag you back first?
idem no. 19

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this?
idem no. 19

22. Bird watcher?
watching bird hurt my eyes

23. Are you a morning person or a night person?
morning or night, I'm the same person. I don't change my name

24. Do you have any pets?
Jeko!! my hyper dachsund

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share?
yes I have and please refer to next posts from me after this one

26. What did you want to be when you were little?
Pramugari

27. What is your best childhood memory?
eating yosan bubble gums and drinking sprite. a treat from my grand daddy after taking piano lessons

28. Are you a cat or dog person?
both

29. Are you married?
not yet and someday I will.. *amien...amien....amien...wkwkwkwk..*

30. Always wear your seat belt?
tentu saja.. tidak aman menyetir tanpa menggunakan seat belt. nanti ditilang polisi!!

31. Been in a car accident?
minor accidents, scrape my car and all *itu termasuk kecelakaan gak ya??*

32. Any pet peeves?
miara kecoak??

33. Favorite Pizza Toppings?
anything with mushrooms and lots of cheese

34. Favorite Flower?
bank flower

35. Favorite Ice Cream?
lately.. I go crazy over green tea

36. Favorite fast food restaurant?
KFC. deket rumah. tinggal nyebrang juga nyampe

37. How many times did you fail your drivers test?
teehee.. pake Hanulia gak mungkin gagal. wkwkwk.. * I did pass the theory test though*

38. From whom did you get your last email?
Lina Jobstreet. *immediately deleted.. not interested..*

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
smart consumer don't go on debt to go shopping

40. Do anything spontaneous lately?
meledek orang2 secara spontan

41. Like your job?
love studying. but it doesn't make money *at least for now*

42. Favorite veggie?
selada & cherry tomatoes

Sushi Crazy @ Sakura Jakarta

I am not a big fan of going into the kitchen. For me all there is to cook is an instant noodle with egg and water *I'm good at popping things into the microwave and making instant sandwiches though*. Gods must be crazy when I decided to attend a cooking class. What can I say, making sushi tutorial is an offer I just couldn't turn down.

So I went to Sakura early morning yesterday (9.30AM on a weekend is early morning) and with the guidance of Chef Roy and Chef Kus of Sakura, brought home 4 packs of sushi. hahaha.. *right now my burps smells like sushi*.
So the class started with a demo on making Eby Tempura by chef Kus. Since one of the recipe we were going to learn was the eby tempura roll, so I had to be able to cook it first right. The demo was very thorough and I got lots of additional infos on making a perfect eby tempura. The chef also explained on how to make the tempura sauce. I always thought tempura sauce is only that salty kikkoman sauce, in fact it wasn't. My jaw just dropped when I heard that you gotta put this and that and cook this and that to make that sauce. For a kitchen pro, it might be easy, for a kitchen newbie like me?!?! blah..hahaha.. Then, the chef explained how to make the sushi rice, and gave another demo on the sushi recipes we were going to make. At the end of the demo, my stomach just went grrrrr.. Not only it was already lunch time, but the smell of fresh sushi just made me want to devour it at once.
So the Sakura's PR took us to one of the private room there to have lunch. Recharge the energy before doing hard works rolling some sushi . To tell you the truth, the food was great. We also had a chance to taste their tuna sashimi, which they claimed to be the best tuna you could ever get in Jakarta *other restaurant are just serving lower grade tunas*. Sakura also claimed to serve authentic sushi, this could be true since most of their visitors are Japanese expat, so they have to give taste-like-home foods, right. Hmm.. Thinking of asking my mom and dad to go there.
All materials for the sushi making class were provided by Sakura. All we got to do is be there, put things on the makisu, and roll. It was fun mixing those ingredients, being careful to roll, and playing math to get an evenly cut sushi. By the end of the day not only I got packs of sushi *like I've said before* but also five sushi recipes: the california roll, the tuna roll, the eby tempura roll, the crunchy roll, and the java roll. The java roll was a slightly different recipe, it used orek tempe as the filler.
So.. will I be the sushi maker??

Note: Sakura Sushi is located at RA. Kartini St. No. 9, Pondok Pinang Village, Kebayoran Lama District, South Jakarta City, 12310. Apparently they've been opening sushi class lots of times. They will open the class when a minimum of 6 students are going to take it. Want to try it?? Just gather your friends. oh..and you could also visit their FB group page and fan page.

Road to Maturity

So I'm 24 years plus 10 days today. Been wanting to write this, for a long time, but lately I just never got the chance to sit back and enjoy the storming ideas in and out of my brain. Well, today is the day. While waiting for my beauty sleep time, I just turn on my ipod, sit behind my laptopper, piles of pillows on my back, and it flows.

So..again..I'm 24 years plus 10 days today. Just thinking that throughout these years, I only got a chance to say thankyous to everyone only once in my life, through a page in my bachelor thesis called the dedication page. Out of those people I said thank you to, some are still (and will always be) my family, still in touch (and heaven knows we'll always try to be in touch), a bunch just gone with the wind (it's a matter of miles), and a particular person really just got lost in space (er..awkward..). Where ever they are, couldn't agree more that somehow they just leave some foot prints in my so called life. And I just can't never thank them enough.

24 years plus 10 days old today, I never wrote a resolution before, I always thought that everything should just go with the flow. You don't have to draw a straight line for your life, just draw a shade around the line and create a band, therefore when reality doesn't meet expectation you don't have to hit the ground hard.

Probably it's because I see the world perfect the way it is. Hell yeah.. I always got what I want and it has been a pretty life for me. You could say I'm a pro status quo, when in fact life should be more like the Japanese philosophy. The kaizen way a philosophy to focus on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life . Even though sometimes it looks fine the way it is, look around there might be something you might want to change. Because not everything is perfect.

The key factor to the kaizen way is eliminating the three "Mu"s. The first "Mu" would be Muda, in other words activities that doesn't add value and wasteful. Bottom line, everything I do that is unproductive should just go away. Well.. There goes my more-than-10-hours beauty sleep, addiction to Plant vs Zombies *and other PC games, doesn't matter mini or not*, long hours of roaming round the virtual world *okay..this one is just soo hard to give up*, etc..etc..

The second "Mu" would be Mura, which means unevenness or inconsistency. In a production system term, avoiding mura is done through applying the just in time system. So the production process would be supplied with the right part, at the right time, and in the right amount. But in terms of my life, I take it as balancing out my life. I should work hard, play hard, and also rest hard. Eating a lot will be followed by a lot of exercise *okay this is a new resolution.. exercise at least twice a week..*. A lot of stress will be followed by a lot of prayer. Balancing life means living a life to keep myself healthy and happy.

So we arrive to the last "Mu", which is Muri, unreasonableness or impossible works. In life there will come times where the works are really just impossible to do. Most people would say reach for the stars and bla..bla..bla.. I'm not being pessimistic here, but I just thought that even an over bent bamboo will break. So what I should do is put my head up in the sky, and keep my feet firm on the ground. The impossible would be beaten down by preparation and planning. Design your future..

Gah..looks like it's going to be a hard resolution for me. Giving up old habits won't be easy, but some things should be done, since I will turn 25 next year, and you will never want to spend a quarter of your life doing junks. So for a better future, why not..