Random pics...

Got caught in a Monday morning traffic jam. There I was in my nice, comfy air conditioned car. Having a nice little picnic breakfast... When I looked out and saw this bus ahead. Made me feel very spoilt and over indulgent. This is Jakarta for you.






A scrapbook I made for my friends the Cs'. It contained photos of our holiday together in Sambolo. A lovely beach resort about 4 hours away from Jakarta (with traffic). Unfortunately, you have to lug everything, including microwave and ovenette, along.



A 'clip' board inspired by the 'handmade' magazine that I borrow from my friend and fellow crafter L. Kiddo has many, many clips. But barely uses most of them as they are chucked into a drawer. So she always uses the same 5. This way, she can see all of them and match them with her clothes too! Asked her what words she wanted on the board. Reply, 'Clippy things, of course!'. Hmmm, yes, of course... Duh...



The trampoline in the apartment complex. Kiddo is the one with her legs in the air. The other 2 kids belong to the Cs'. Lovely, sweet kids...



A little accordion photo holder I made for my friend's birthday commemorating her first year in Jakarta.

No more penguins! Yay!

That's it! The end of the whole penguin issue! For those who were not previously aware, kiddo has spent the last 6 weeks rehearsing for a preschool oratorical competition. I know, I know... My first reaction was to burst out laughing and to tell the teacher that there was no way on this green earth that MY kid would ever agree to go up and speak on stage. Nope. Not happening. But Daddy and I thought, well, it's a good opportunity, she should be given the chance and not stopped because of her parent's hang ups... In the end, I'm glad I did.

We rehearsed at home till she was confident, then she practiced a bit in school. But it wasn't till yesterday that I found out that she wasn't doing any of the actions at school because she felt too self-conscious. Oh well, too late to do anything and my kid definitely isn't the performing type anyway. So we spent all yesterday repeating 'Don't forget your actions...!' till I felt like a broken record. All to no avail...

Today's event was organised by the Singapore International School in Kebon Jeruk, just out of central Jakarta. Except we got lost, and spent an hour going around that area. Not nice. Still, we got there on time, and kiddo was quite happily chatting to her friends. Although there WAS a little moment when she spotted the stage and I thought she was going to balk right there and then and demand to go home.

Kiddo was 3rd on the list. Her friends were 1 and 2. Talk about pressure! She was a great little trouper. Delivered her spiel flawlessly. But... NO ACTIONS!!! ARRGHHHH! I could've ripped my hair out! Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic that she did it let alone so smoothly, but she (and we) had been working on it for 6 weeks! For her to suddenly omit it was sooo disappointing... Anyway... What's done is done. The kids who won were very, very good. Regular little show people. Although, I'm convinced that if she did her actions, she would have won *wink*.

In any case, there is much more to life than this. At least now she (and we) know that she is definitely capable of speaking in public. Performing though, is a whole different ball game.

Well done Kiddo! Daddy and Mummy are SUPER proud of you.

Shrink film is the bees knees!!

Yesterday afternoon, I tried out shrink film for the 1st time. I have decided that I love the stuff! In fact, I like the little medallion I made yesterday so much, that I made another today to wear as a pendant. This time, I took blow by blow photos. The shrinking is unbelievable! If you look at the photo, the large circle with flower on the right is the original size. The little one on the left is the finished size.




Step 1 : Cut and stamp. I used a 3 3/4 inch circle die with prepunched hole and a Stampin' up flower stamp from the fifth avenue floral series. The ink was reflective interference ink in sterling frost from the Tsukineko Opalite range. The instructions suggest sanding the film 1st, but I decided to just give it a go with and see what happens... It's pretty slippery, so stamp with steady hands!







Step 2 : Shrink! I used my heat tool instead of the oven although the product sheet says you can do both. I figured I would get better control with my heat gun. Just run the heat tool over the cut and stamped film and watch the show! Try not to get too caught up in the theatrics of it and keep moving the tool around, or your film will look like something out of Picasso's dreams. Not to worry even if it happens though, just flip it occasionally from back to front and it will sort itself out. After that, squash it in between 2 books while it's still a little wobbly, give it a few seconds, and you're done!























Step 3 : I decided to go on and emboss it with some glitter (cause I LIKE sparkly things. No better reason than that...). So I just lightly pressed it on my embossing pad and sprinkled some Tsukineko sparkly embossing powder over it. Don't ask me what colour it is. The only words in English on the bottle are emboss and Tsukineko. Everything else is Japanese. Heat it again like you would embossing paper, and...

Voila!! You're done. Easy peasy lemon squeezy...

Bottom pics are the finished product before and after it became a necklace.

Points to note... Make sure the surface you're heating it on is not going to melt and warp while you're in the middle of your masterpiece. I suggest tweezers 'cause that bit of film can BURN! I found out the hard way.

Fun day with the ladies

Yesterday was a morning of indulgence for me. I packed the kid off to school accompanied by the maid and stayed home to await the arrival of my crafty ladies, L and A.

L is a friend from church who makes the loveliest cards. Check out her blog on . Long story short, we both realised that we like crafting and, well, birds of a feather and all that. Ever so often we troop off to each others homes to oo and aa. She has lots of embellishments, I have a lot's books; she's a traditionally creative cardmaker, I'm an experimenter. Lots of dramatic disasters using my way... but it's fun.

So, the morning was spent with the 3 of us gabbing away like magpies. Not to forget L's yummy food. She has an amazing cook, PakM, and we had otak, siu mai and pound cake. Talk about fusion! L is ALWAYS feeding me. It's embarrassing, but I can't resist it. Isn't that worse!?

A, the other lady who came, is a born entrepreneur. She has, I don't know how many different projects ongoing for various yayasans (charitable foundations). She also sells dried mangos. Very yummy. Apparently, according to a friend in the US embassy, agricultural wastage in Indonesia is around 40%. In the US, it's a rounding error. So A's husband has a friend who taught some local farmers to dry their surplus stock. So far it looks like it's working really well...

After a couple of hours of my showing off all the bits and pieces I've acquired over time from Pasar Mayestik (a fantastic fabric, craft, food and pretty much everything market) which is just around the corner, we decided to head over there anyway. Might as well, since L lives pretty far away and goodness knows when she might next get a chance to head this way.

There we were, 11am and browsing through Toko Maju, the best stocked, messiest, dustiest, most incredible craft shop in town. It's been at least a month since I've been back, and they had new things in. Oooo... ribbons, buttons, clips bases... Lets put it this way, I left a little poorer but very satisfied.

L and A eventually left for home at 2pm. I'm going to head back to play with my 'new toys'... Craft time!!

Parents-teacher conference again

That time of the year again. The quarterly PTC. I was grousing to the man about having to do a round trip of 1.5 hours to spend a total of 20 minutes with Kiddo's teachers, but in retrospect, I'm extremely pleased with the 2 discussions I had.

Kiddo is creeping up to 5 and a half. I'm not hugely concerned about the various subjects, but am interested in whether her behavior is consistent at home and school. After all, to my mind, any problems will cause behavioral mismatches between home and school. In any case, I was reassured by the teacher that she is just as chatty and frustrating to pin down at school as I feel at home. Heh.

The most amazing thing about the PTC though, was how the teachers were sooooo good at presenting further educational plans. I admit, I think my kid is a great one for language (I know, I know, proud mom!!). Her reading ability is at least 12, although when we were in the airport once, she ran out of books and read Bill Bryson's 'Down Under'. Having said that, I have no idea if she understood it. Anyway, the teachers agreed with me that she reads well, but instead of leaving it at that, they told me what additional tasks they were setting for her to improve her assimilation of what she reads. Horizontal learning, they call it.

So, for her homeroom teacher Ms.M, instead of reading her daily book and my signing off, she has to go to school and tell the teacher the story line and characters. Admittedly, 'This is snow, snow is white, snow is cold, I like snow' is not remotely challenging, but they made it slightly more detailed and she refused to do the verbal summary (GRRRR!! Come on Brat!! You witter on and on about whatever princess book you're reading at that point but refuse to tell the teacher about a 10 page book??). Well, the Kiddo does not like to do anything that she might not be 'perfect' at. So Ms.M decided to emphasize effort rather than perfection. Also, Kiddo's writing is appalling. Truly pathetic (I blame Daddy, his is no better. Just smaller...). So Ms.M is going to help her by assigning work on multiple lines instead of on a blank sheet of paper.

Her English teacher, the other Ms.M also agreed that she had no concerns about her reading. Also emphasized understanding. So from her, Kiddo is now being asked to write summaries of books she is assigned. Also, she is being asked to write little compositions that are longer than just 'I went to the beach'. Ms.M challenged her by asking her to include the who, what, when, why's (Light bulb moment! THAT's why she was chanting it non stop last week...). She will also ask for special permission for Kiddo to move away from the kindy section in the library to the grade school section.

Ultimately, I'm delighted with the school. The teachers appear to really know the kids and are tailoring the course work to fit them. Even in kindy. I really hope we stay for a significant part of Kiddo's education. I doubt we'd easily find such a good fit for her... Go ACS!!

Update on the new place

We've been in our new apartment for a month now. I LOVE it!! Wish we had moved in right from the start. Having said that, I may not then have gone on a 3 month shopping tour of Jakarta and found all the shops I did. Nor picked up the various hobbies I have... On the other hand, there are good friends living here that I wished I had met earlier. Still, regrets are pointless. I enjoyed our 2 years in Kemang, and it certainly allowed me to fully appreciate what we now have here.

The complex holds free exercise classes ranging from pilates and yoga to step and cardio. The instructors are good and the classes tend to be full. I have to admit, having the classes right below me makes it very easy to pop down. One of the problems I've always had with exercise classes in the past is the effort involved in getting there. More often than not, I just give up.

If those classes are not enough, then there are also additional classes that one can pay for. Lots of language classes, then taekwondo, ballet etc etc. The choices are endless. Kiddo elected to take additional swimming and piano classes. Maybe I'll take violin classes... never got around to it in the past. Hmmm...

All in all, this place is the bees knees. Everything is so convenient. Unfortunately, it's still subject to the vagaries of Jakarta traffic. Took me 1.5hours to get home today. Reason? Maybe because it's a Monday... Maybe the wind blew wrong...

Werner- the culinary maestro

Back in KL, in an old rehabbed alleyway (Changkat Tung Shin) that used to house dilapidated old buildings (and incidentally, my Dad's old family home), sit 4 of the most amazing European restaurants to be found. There's a wine cellar too, but that's not open yet. They are : El Cerdo (the piggy place), El Cerdito (the Tapas place), Lavaca (the beef place) and Piza (the pizza place (duh), which is the site of my Dad's old family house in the days when Pudu was considered suburban). Actually there's a little sign that says 'Werner's on Changkat Bukit Bintang'. Not sure what it's referring to, but it's very apt since it looks like he might be gradually taking over the whole street. I have but one thing to say... Bring it on Werner! I'll be there! (And so will my Dad, and cousins, and a whole host of other people who think Werner is a genius with food!)

Every time we go back on holiday, it's at least 1 if not 2 trips to El Cerdo. Werner must have started it about 5 years back. Possibly less. But the first I remember of it is my Dad taking me and a very little kiddo there for lunch when we happened to go by his clinic one day. In those days, it was a little, narrow, cubbyhole of a restaurant and honestly, we had our doubts that an upmarket (as opposed to your regular char siew stalls or family Chinese restaurants) piggy restaurant would survive long in a Muslim country. Especially since it was tucked away in a rather awkward place. In those days, there were only a couple of dingy looking pubs there and the parking was impossible. Werner and his nephew Andreas were there all the time, and the place was near deserted the afternoon we went. They were lovely towards kiddo (always a big plus), supplying her with colouring pencils and a piggy picture to colour in even though she was too little to do any of that. Since it was so quiet, the waitresses even came by and helped her do the colouring!! That's service for you... The food was AMAZING!!! The Jamon Serrano with rock melon even better than I remembered having in Spain. They even specially boiled pasta and brocolli for kiddo who, as expected, wouldn't touch anything on the menu.

Fast forward a few years to December 2009. Werner now has the 4 places up and running, countless renovations under his belt, and to hear my Dad describe it, is well on his way to monopolizing that street. There is also ample parking. Yay! And the dingy pubs are no longer dingy. Quite 'happening' now. Dad has got to know Werner quite well, and when Lavaca opened, was given a complimentary table to invite his friends! Wow... Stuff like that NEVER happens to me. According to Dad, Werner has worked all over the world, from Spain to Brazil. Ask him where he's from, and he'll say all over. Never got the details right since I'm usually too busy stuffing my face to pay attention to the 'grown ups' (go home, and I revert to being a kid again!) talk, but I think Werner is either German or Austrian. Hmm... Maybe Swiss... Ok, I'll stop now before I get more off mark.

I am delighted to say that over the past few years, the standards of his offerings have not dropped in the slightest. He's going from strength to strength and I VERY eagerly await what he's going to do next.

Last Saturday though, was truly something to write about... We (The Man, kiddo and I) had been to the new beef place with the Monkey family on the 26th and had a fabulous time. But The Man wanted the roasted suckling pig at ElCerdo, and I wanted MORE beef. After listening to us bicker about it for a while (a very SHORT while, it's my Dad after all, patience of a 2 year old except when it comes to his princess. That's the kiddo folks, not me, I'm just her PA :)... Just KIDDING Dad!!!), he suddenly whipped out his phone and called the ever capable Monica, Werner's right-hand-woman. Next thing you know, he arranged for dinner party of 16(!!) at ElCerdo, with beef coming over from Lavaca! They were willing to do him a favour 'cause he regularly does things like host dinners for 20 I guess. In any case, moos could go to the oink place but not the other way.

All I can says is, I salivate just remembering the food. I also remember that at one point I seriously thought that what the Romans used to do at banquets was very sensible (google it if you haven't got what I mean). The menu was as follows :
Starters - Jamon Serrano from Spain (RM38,~$10), Cesar's Salad (RM26), 4 different mini Sausages with sauerkraut and mash (RM24.50), Prawn cocktail (lost track for a bit while stuffing my face, so didn't get the price for this), Pork shoulder steak with foie gras (a New Year special, no price as not on the main menu- supremely yummy)
Mains - Wagyu rump (RM78- the MOST amazingly tender bum of a cow I've ever had the pleasure of sinking my teeth into *slurp*), Rib Eye (RM108), Slow cooked tender ribs (RM65), Roasted suckling pig (1/2 for 2 RM118, 1 for 4 RM219).
Dessert - Churros dipped in chocolate, apple crumble with ice cream (by now I was in NO shape to even look at the menu, so no prices. Sorry)

Like I said, not cheap, but worth EVERY SINGLE PENNY!!! When the roasted suckling pig is served, they offer you a plate to cut it with as proof of how tender it is. Word to the wise, unless you want to eat piggy chips, go ahead and make the first cut like they want you to, then give it over to the pros... You then have to smash the plate in a bucket. By putting your hands at certain points on the plate, you wish for love or money... Leave it to you to decide if if works. Werner allowed kiddo to smash an extra plate after she had so much fun with the first, thus forever ensuring a loyal customer in her.

They have a great selection of booze. But if you bring your own, be warned that corkage is steep. RM80 for wines and RM130 for hard liquor. They will provide the decanters if needed as well as water/ soda for mixing though.

All in all, Werner's restaurants are not to be missed. Can't wait for March when I go back again...

Back to reality

It's been an amazing Christmas holiday for us. But we're finally back to real life here in Jakarta. One could argue, though, that we are definitely not living in 'reality'. After all, how real can it be when I expect to be picked up and dropped off right at my doorstep? Or, I get annoyed that I have to carry the kid's bags to the car myself? Sure, if one were a billionaire it would be second nature, but we're just normal people... Hard to imagine just a few days ago I was loading and unloading shopping trolleys at carrefour all by myself, and driving around KL looking for parking spaces.

Anyway... We're back to our usual routine, and I shall remind myself that it's totally normal if clothes don't reappear in the closet the day after I chuck them in the wash basket.

Yesterday was kiddo's first day of school. Why a Wednesday? No idea. Except it gave me an extra day in KL, which is always welcome. Waking up was a real chore. Bleary eyes, incoherent speech, uncoordinated limbs... That was me, by the way. The kiddo was so excited with her new alarm clock that she practically leaped out of bed when it rang. Oh, to be young again and actually look forward to alarm clocks!

She also signed up for extra swim classes at the apartment we live in. 'But it's soooo much fun mom!' and also piano classes. 'I looovvveeee the piano!' Yes, we seem to have entered the age of exclamations...

I've come back to my crafty little haven. 3 weeks with no supplies and I was definitely suffering withdrawal symptoms. Eventually made a paper mache bowl just for something to do. Pathetic. At least now I'm back to having a whole bunch of new things to fiddle with. Thanks to finding supplies in the most unexpected places. Craft-haven on the 1Utama 2nd floor promenade would count as a big find this trip home. Together with the online store scrap-n-crop... Who says if you can't do, teach? If you can't do, SHOP! Hee.

Things I need to get on with now... Blog about Werner, restauranteur extraordinaire; finish my crochet projects before the japan trip; photograph my crafty things BEFORE giving them away, penguins...