There's an interesting news on The Fiji Times Online, outlining Chef Lance Seeto's recent finding on the increase of Indonesian people interest upon Fiji as a holiday destination. In the past times, due to its geographical location, and availability of direct flight, Fiji attracts mostly the holiday maker and tourists from Australia, New Zealand, and USA.

Upon further research on the subject, Chef Seeto even reach to the possibility that Indonesian and Fiji shares similar ancestral and genetic link, instead of a mere similarity in its cooking style.

Please find the full article at the link below:

"The Indonesia connection" by Chef Lance Seeto
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=198577

(byms)

Image from http://golowesstamps.com/

I took this picture upon encountering it nearby where I lives. It's a roadside seller on mobile cart we called gerobak, the most common ways how Sate Madura (Maduranese Satay) are sold in Indonesia.

Curious with the speed of their service, and the many customers awaiting their turns, I asked them how many sate are sold on each nights? And they tried to be modest by saying that sales are going up and down throughout the whole week. However on regular they sells about 1,200 skewers of chicken satay, and that doesn't count the sales of goat satay, or the goat gulai. That's about 120 portion of satay with 10 skewers each sold on most nights, quite impressive considering this is not even a main road in Denpasar.

For you who's not quite familiar with Indonesian food, or south eastern Asia food in general, gulai or gule (pronounced goo lay) is a kind of brownish thin curry soup with taste leaned towards sweet and creamy. Roadside Sate Madura sellers usually couples satay with gulai on their menu.

The satay itself by the way is good, while chicken slices tend to be tiny but its marinating sauce penetrates deep, making it a delicious nocturnal treat, or even a dinner.

Sate Madura perhaps is the most commonly sold satay version in Indonesia. Its savory sweet taste are coming from the combination of peanut and spices mixed in the sauce, and Indonesian sweet soy sauce which are both used to marinates and serves the satay. Sate Madura is best paired with lontong, the cylindrical compressed rice cake, though it fits well with rice as well.

As with its commonness, Sate Madura sits at the top list of most common dish you will encounter in Indonesia, along with Nasi Padang.

By convention, Sate Madura is always sold on afternoon up until the wee hours, with the exception of those that sells from a permanent shop which might opens from lunch. It is never however, sold as a breakfast.

Coming from a strong Islamic cultural background of Madura people, the original Sate Madura uses chicken or goat's meat, sometimes beef, but never pork. (byms)

posted from Bloggeroid

Something different happened late last month with my beloved Picky Eater:

"Aa, koq aku pengen Sushi ya?" ("Dear, why do I want a Sushi?")

And I was like stunned on my seat surprised... after more than 6 years of patiently introducing her into this kind of food, it finally worked: she has an urge she never felt before, a Sushi crave! And already she announced that her favourite Maki (Sushi rolls) is the Salmon with Avocado, while her Sashimi favourite is Butterfish. As with the Butterfish itself, I think it's not the infamous Escolar but a White Marlin (Shirokajiki).

No more sushi-shy means now we can both enjoy a good sushi dinner without me feeling of having to drag her into a sushi parlour against her will.

Speaking about fear of food, do you happen to have food you used to hate, but come to like after some while? For me it's quite a lot. When I was way younger, I didn't even want to eat a chicken if it's not a white meat, and I have a high dislike for Carp, even though it's the major kind of fish people eat in Jawa Barat where I came from. As with beef, it has to be tenderloin and nothing else! Sambal? Spicy? A big no no...

Back to the sushi-shy; now comes the part which I have to bear the disadvantage of my achievement, just like when I successfully converted my family back in the 80s to like Pizza... Now I have to share... (byms).

To view this picture and others alike on Instagram, click here.

Ever since the news about Instagram is making its way into Android devices, its like having a new hobby and excitement all over again. Though there are some wonderful Android apps with similar functions in retouching and stylizing pictures, Instagram differs in its community building. It's a blend of Flickr (photo sharing), Twitter (tagging ability), and cool photo retouch all in one place, and it's mobile based so its User Experience is done with mobility and sharing in mind.

For you who's already in Instagram, look for #Epicurina tag, or find us at Statigram. (byms)