Trader Joe's

Thanks to this grocer, I get all my cooking done in 30 mins! :D

Almost anything I need to find is here. And most of the items are either washed, peeled, or pre-prepared so I only focus on the cooking and not the prep. Most of the items found are fresh too, so it's free from all those chemicals. The range of food here go as far as the south east asia, so that keeps my options wide and helps me stay creative in this form of art.

Jak food 3

Fried kwe tiaw and Teh botol. What else can I ask for?


Bakso

There was a little more time to saunter the streets of Jakarta this past trip. More time to walk and go deep into the streets to where the locals consider the food good!

I was introduced to bami (beef noodles) and bakso (beef balls). They make really good light meals - allows you uto eat every 3 hours - especially when on a short trip like this! :P What topped off the expeience was the ambience. Dingy coffee shop, very warm noon sun beating down on zinc roof, gas stoves burning, sound of the chopper boards, customers waiting in line, everyone perspiring except the cooks, stall owners and their assistants scrambling behind the scenes to get their piece of art done... No complaints!

Apa Kabar!

Imagine this. It's 11:45pm, way after closing hours in a mall in Jakarta, Indonesia. I stole a chair from an open-concept Starbucks store and am just right outside of the coffee cafe checking emails and posting this blog. :O)

No pictures yet, but let me tell you that the food's great but the traffic's real bad! 60% of my day is spent on the roads... till I post some pictures...

Salam!