My 2013 Review

My 2013
End of the year! It's time to contemplate of what I have achieved this year and also time to make a list of resolutions for the upcoming new year 2014!

As far as I can remember, I don't think I actually made a list of resolution for 2013 *oh how I wish I had*. So, I will just share on what I have achieved this year - with no planning:

GOT MY AUSYTRALIAN PARTNER PROVISIONAL VISA (TR)
Finally I'm eligible to stay indefinitely in the land of kangaroos and koalas! This means I'm allowed to find a full time job too, alhamdulillah!

APPOINTED AS MENTOR FOR TEENS HALAQAH
I never thought I'd ever receive an offer to be a mentor. This is absolutely a huge responsibility! But with the help of my mentor and support from my husband, this has become a learning opportunity for me too in becoming a better servant to Allah.

GOT MY FIRST AUSTRALIAN JOB
I was offered a role in the same company and department that I have worked for in the past (for their Sydney office) after 3 months of intense job seeking and after 4 unsuccessful interviews. In this event, God's hand played a huge role. Because looking at my experience and current state, there is no way I would have landed a job without His miracle and also the du'a of my closest people. So, this is my greatest miracle, story, and achievement this year.

EARNED MY FIRST AUD!
Alhamdulillah my first official job pays well. The first time I got my salary transferred to my account, I was in shock. I've never earned that much money in a month! Let alone working in only four days a week. Even saving up my allowance money and seeing it reach $1000, seems like already a lot for me *terharu*.

FLYING SOLO
This doesn't mean that I went on a solo flight or a solo adventure :P. Flying solo here means that I'm trying to be independent financially by having my own little business. I opened a small shop at Etsy, selling my calligraphy artworks. Alhamdulillah I've sold two of my works so far. Unfortunately, due to the increasing busy-ness, I haven't had time to update the shop (I turned off the ad campaigns) and has been progressing very slowly in coming up with new designs. For 2014, I have to be more productive in making artworks so I can really keep my business going.

LEARNED NEW COMPUTER PROGRAMS

• Adobe Illustrator - Essential for my calligraphy business :)
• R (statistics software) - Learnt this while I was still looking for a job. I tried to enhance my skills in my area of expertise, which is market research and data acquisition, so I took classes related to statistical methodology, computation, data analysis, and marketing.
• Easiquest (questionnaire design software) - Learnt this in office as a part of my role.
• Unix (systems) - Learnt this in office as a part of my role.

I CAN FINALLY SEW! 
Finally, after abandoning my sewing machine for some time due to my fear of failing in sewing, I gathered the courage to actually start! I tried to make a skirt, but foolishly cut short the front side of it after realising that the front part and the back part of the skirt don't actually align. But I succeeded in making curtain covers for my shelves :D.

I have prepared a new list for 2014. It is quite ambitious. I'm not even sure if I can tick all of them by the end of next year, but at least I know what I want to achieve :).

InshaaAllah me and hubby will be spending our New Year's Eve at Bradfield Park, Milson's Point to see one of the best fireworks in the world. So excited!

*reposted from my old blog

Black Forest Cake

On Eid Adha, my husband's pengajian held a family gathering. I was assigned to bring cake (as usual; I got a nickname "bakery" from my pengajian). And some of the wives requested something chocolatey like a blackforest cake or a mud cake. There's actually a mud cake that I've been really wanting to try from The Great Australian Bake-off book, but since a mud cake look too plain, I went for a blackforest cake instead (even tho I'm not that fond of blackforest). 

I used a recipe from Allrecipes.com. I got soooo many compliments with the cake. My friends said the cake is not too sweet or too milky-tasting. And when I shared the recipe, another friend of mine said, "it looks really easy to make". Indeed! You don't need to cream butter and sugar, which is a lot of time saving.

INGREDIENTS:

Cake:

• 2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence/extract

Cherry filling:

• 2 (450 gr) cans pitted cherries
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp vanilla essence/extract

Frosting:

• 3 cups whipping cream
• 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans (I used square pans).
2. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla essence/extract and beat until well blended. Pour the batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool cake in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes.
4. Drain cherries, reserve 3/4 cup juice. Combine 1/4 cup of the reserve juice, cherries, and sugar in a saucepan. Combine the other 1/4 cup of reserved juice and mix with cornstarch. Heat the saucepan and stir just until the sugar dissolves. Then add the cornstarch mix and cook until it thickens (use high heat if you don't want most of your cherries to break apart). Turn off the heat, then add vanilla essence/extract.
5. Combine whipping cream and confectioner's sugar in a chilled bowl. Beat with mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form.
6. Assembling: Split the cakes into halves. Crumb one of the halved layer for decorating the sides (I didn't do this, I just saved the layer to make a mini blackforest, as pictured in this post). Brush the layers with the last 1/4 cup of reserved cherries juice to moisten the cake. Spread 1 cup frosting on a layer and top with cherry topping. Repeat process for the second layer. Top with third cake layer and frost sides and top of the cake. Shave some dark cooking chocolate, sprinkle it around and on top of the cake and decorate the cake with the remaining frosting.

Source (with small changes in directions).

Bubur Ayam (Chicken Porridge)

The bubur ayam (chicken porridge) idea came when I had leftover cakwe that I had bought from an Asian grocery. Turned out that cakwe from Asian grocery is not like what I had expected. The appearance is the same with cakwe Medan, but the taste is totally different, meh. 

The bubur ayam recipe does look like a long list, but it's worth the work. Especially if you're badly craving for it, hehehe.

INGREDIENTS:

Porridge:

• 300 gr of jasmine rice
• 2 litres of water
• 3 cm ginger (or about 2 tsp crushed ginger)
• 2 sticks of lemongrass

Chicken:

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 5 garlic cloves
• 3 cm ginger
• 1 whole chicken
• 1 1/2 litres water
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp white  pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, for frying the chicken

Soy sauce:

• 1 1/2 tbsp kikkoman sauce
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp anchovy sauce
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil

Serving:

• Finely chopped celery
• Fried red onion
• Pickled radish
• Sliced cakwe

DIRECTIONS:

1. Porridge: Mix all the ingredients together and cook it in your multi cooker / rice cooker according to the direction. If the porridge came out too dry, you can dilute hot water and stir until you get the porridge consistency that you want.
2. Heat vegetable oil and sesame oil in a pan. Saute 5 sliced garlic cloves.
3. Boil water, add in chicken, ginger, and sautéed garlic. Cook until chicken becomes tender. Drain the chicken and cut into dice pieces. You can save the broth in the freezer for cooking later.
4. Saute 3 finely chopped garlic cloves, add the diced chikcen, add white pepper and salt.
5. Soy sauce: Stir well all of the ingredients together.
6. Serving: ladle the porridge into a bowl, sprinkle cakwe, chicken, and pickled radish on top. Garnish with finely chopped celery and fried onion. When you're about to eat, add 2-3 tsp of soy sauce and mix all the porridge. If you find it not salty enough, you can add more soy sauce.  

Crepes

Eating crepes always makes me happy. This recipe is often my go-to whenever I crave for some light snacks. It's very easy to make and so yummy as well! I found this recipe from Beth La Manach from "Entertaining with Beth" in Youtube. I definitely recommend you to try, as I have been making this over and over again.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups milk
• 4 tbsp melted butter

DIRECTIONS:

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt.
2. Mix in the milk to the dry ingredients and whisk until the batter is smooth.
3. Add the well beaten eggs, mix to combine.
4. Sprinkle the melted butter. Mix well.
5. Heat non-stick pan and dab with bit of oil.
6. Pour the batter and quickly spread around the batter in the pan by rotating the pan.
7. When the sides begin to turn golden, scrape the sides. Then turn it over on top of cutting board and tap hard on it to get the crepes to come off of the pan. 
8. Spread your favourite filling onto the crepes and fold into quarter circle.
9. Dust some powdered sugar on top.

NOTES: I upgraded the sugar amount to 2tbsp for a tad sweeter crepes.

Source

Mexican Rice

OMG, I can't believe it has been more than two months since I last posted something here *shame on me*. When I was about to post this recipe, suddenly the card reader refused to read my SDHC *darn-all of the pretty pictures were in there*. It took me quite a while (too long) to get a new card reader. Also, I've been busy prepping for my store opening at Etsy, inshaaAllah, and taking some free online courses to refresh my brain. So, that pretty much sums up why I haven't been able to post anything here. But I did, though, tried some new recipes; but it wasn't worth the upload... so... meh.

Anyway, I will just post what I had already drafted last month before the card reader incident happened. So, here it is:

On the 29th night of Ramadhan I pushed myself to do the last i'tikaf while I was having a severe sore throat. And the next day, I succeeded in losing my voice. Since then my throat hasn't gotten better. I didn't prepare anything festive and special for Eid. I just went around from one open house to another, hehe. I did manage to make opor ayam (by hubby's request) on the 10th of August, tho, but I was still feeling unwell so I didn't have the chance to take serious pictures and blog it.

Oh ya, this Ramadhan I participated in Indonesian Foodblogger cooking challenge (view my entry here) with the theme "noodles". I submitted my mie Aceh recipe and alhamdulillah it made it to the top 10! I didn't win eventually, but at least getting a place in the top 10 in my first attempt (out of 30 participants) is pretty impressive :). I can't wait to try other people's noodle recipes because they all look so yummo!

Today I want to share a Mexican rice recipe. I was browsing the internet yesterday and came across the word "Mexican rice". Hmm... I got curious and searched for a recipe. After reading the ingredients, I said to myself, "This is easy! I can make use of my quite-old-but-never-used cast iron pan as well". I called my husband in the last minute to get me a bunch of coriander leaves (how I wish I have a herb garden!). I adjusted the recipe with what I had in the kitchen. If you want to check out the original recipe, scroll down until the end of this post!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 medium onion
• 3 green chillies
• 2 cups of jasmine rice
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 4 minced garlic cloves
• 2 cups of chicken broth
• Salt
• 1/2 cup of coriander leaves, minced
• Lime

DIRECTIONS:

1. Process tomato and onion in blender until smooth. Measure and reserve exactly 2 cups (I forgot to measure it and just dunked in the whole thing into the pan). Discard excess.
2. Remove seeds from 2 green chillies. Mince flesh and set aside. Mince the remaining green chillies for later.
3. Wash rice thoroughly with cold water and rinse. Do this around 2-3 times.
4. Heat oil in oven-safe pan with tight fitting lid (I used cast iron pan) over low-medium heat. Drop a few rice grains, if they sizzle then it's ready. Add rice and stir fry until rice is light golden and translucent, about 6-8 minutes.
5. Add garlic and 2 minced green chillies; stir constantly until fragrant.
6. Stir in broth, pureed mixture, and salt. Increase heat and bring to boil.
7. Cover pan and transfer pan to oven. Bake in 190 degrees Celsius for 30-35 minutes. Stir well after 5 minutes.
8. Stir in the minced coriander leaves and the remaining minced green chillies.

This Mexican rice taste very nice. It is like some sort of tomato rice and the coriander leaves gave it that extra fragrance and unique taste. Hubby liked it and gave a thumbs up! We ate it with accompanying fried egg.

NOTES:

• The green chillies flavour didn't really come out, to be honest, so it's a bit missing that "chilli" (not hot) taste. Maybe using real jalapenos is best or maybe adding green bell pepper can work too.
• I used 1 block of chicken bullion in 2 cups of water. Just use accordingly to your chicken bullion instruction and adjust it to the recipe's chicken stock measurement.
• Don't be afraid to mix in a lot of coriander leaves! Because it really makes this rice taste sooo good. I was a bit afraid of mixing in the whole 1/2 cups of minced coriander leaves, but regretted it at the end that I had not put more!
• I don't really know how to properly serve Mexican rice, but having it side-to-side with grilled chicken or fried egg would be really nice!

Source

My First IDFB Challenge Entry!: Mie Aceh

I'm so excited to be writing my first IDFB Challenge entry! Setelah beberapa bulan jadi anggota pasif IDFB (Indonesian Foodblogger) yang hanya bisa mupeng lihat kreasi mbak-mbak yang super duper mouthwatering, akhirnya saya memberanikan diri ikutan IDFB Challenge #11 yang bertemakan Mie/Noodles.

Saya selalu suka makanan berbahan mie. Whether it's mie ayam gerobak, bakmi Gajah Mada, mie kocok, ifumie, mie Jawa, atau mie-mie-an yang lain. Tapi ada satu mie yang menurutku yang sangat menantang untuk lidahku. Rasanya pedas, dengan kuah kental, dan kaya akan rempah. Yah, kalau boleh dibilang sih setipe sama makanan India gitu, hehehe. Ayooo coba tebak!? Yep, it's mie Aceh!

Beberapa waktu lalu saya sedang pingiiinnn sekali makan mie Aceh. Tapi apa daya, di Australia ga ada yang jual. Yang bisa saya lakukan hanya ubek-ubek resep di internet. Pengalaman pertama kali membuat mie Aceh, saya menggunakan resep dari salah satu majalah memasak ternama di Jakarta dan saya kecewa berat dengan hasilnya. Rasanya jauh dari yang pernah dulu saya rasakan di rumah makan Aceh. Alhasil saya gunakan tips yang pernah diberikan oleh teman saya yang sesama orang rantau disini and came up with my own recipe. Oya, saking ga sabarnya bikin, sampai ga pakai kerupuk emping!

BAHAN:

• 6 bawang merah
• 4 bawang putih
• 150 gr udang kupas
• 150 gr daging sapi
• 1 sdt cuka
• 1 batang daun bawang
• 900 ml kaldu sapi
• 1-1/2 sdm kecap manis
• 300 gr hokkien noodles (atau mie kuning basah bulet)
• 2 sdm seledri, cincang halus
• 1 tomat
• Taoge
• Kol
• Garam sesuai selera

Haluskan bahan-bahan berikut:

• 8 bawang merah
• 4 bawang putih
• 4 cabai merah besar
• 1/2 sdm jinten
• 4 kapulaga
• 1 sdt kunyit bubuk
• 1 sdt lada
• 1 sdm bubuk kari (optional)

CARA MEMBUAT:

1. Haluskan semua bumbu halus dengan diuleg atau diblender.
2. Tumis bawang merah, bawang putih, dan bumbu halus.
3. Masukkan daging sapi dan udang. Masak hingga berubah warna.
4. Masukkan tomat, taoge, dan kol yang sudah dipotong tipis. Masak hingga sayuran layu.
5. Masukkan kaldu sapi, cuka, seledri cincang, dan kecap manis. Masak hingga air berkurang dan mengental. Tambahkan garam sesuai selera.
6. Masukkan mie dan daun bawang yang sudah dicincang, aduk rata. Masak 1-2 menit.
7. Hidangkan di piring dengan pelengkap kerupuk emping, timun, dan bawang goreng.

How to Plan Your Ramadan Meals

Hello readers! How is your fasting going up to now? Can't believe that 1/3 of the Ramadhan month has passed us. So sad, isn't it? Since we only get to encounter it once a year. Anyhow, due to the month of Ramadhan, I might not be posting up recipes because I'm doing less cooking, but I will share with you some tips that I got from my halaqah to make the most time for your ibadah in Ramadhan.

COOK LESS

Who loves to cook and spend hours in the kitchen? I'm one of them, hehe. Well, in the fasting month, every minute is so precious that it is even too precious to be wasted just for cooking. So, in the fasting month, try to spend less time in the kitchen. If you usually cook for almost 2 hours (or more) and even had the time to bake cakes or cookies, please hold the urge. Try to cook less than an hour and only bake cakes and cookies when you are on your period.

PLAN AHEAD

This is very important in order to achieve efficient cooking and effective grocery shopping. I know how painful it is if you have to think what to cook every other day. Save your time and pain by planning ahead your menu; what you would like to cook during Ramadhan. So you will have more time to concentrate on your ibadah and not flipping cooking books nor browsing for recipes. It helps you to spend less time for grocery shopping as well, and you know when to restock.

STOCK UP AND PREPARE YOUR SPICE MIX BEFOREHAND

If you can't cook from scratch in less than an hour, stock up some ready made pasta sauces or instant spices (such as soto, rawon, balado, etc). By stocking up, you're saving your time from grocery shopping! If you love your own recipe, you can whip up a big batch of blended spices and freeze them in one-time-cooking portions. When you need them, just take them out of the freezer.

SOUPY FOOD

A member of my halaqah said that in Ramadhan her husband likes to eat soup-y stuff. When I thought about it, I think that's a great idea because it helps your throat to swallow the food (especially for sahur). So, during this Ramadhan, the menu I have planned is all soup based.

ORDER YOUR LEBARAN COOKIES 

My friend say to just order Lebaran cookies from your favorite shop. But if no one makes the same good cookies as you, you can still make your own cookies but NOT in the last 10 days of Ramadhan. The last ten days is the time when we should make the best of our time, the best of our prayers. So, while there is still time left, hurry make the cookies now! :)

Rosewater Meringue Kisses

This cute meringue kisses is definitely a less guilt snack. The ingredients are very simple as well. Kids will definitely love this, because it looks really cute, the color is just oh-so pretty, and it taste yummy melt-in-your-mouth. I had kept one jar full of this kisses and when my husband was having his halaqah at our place, two kids ate almost all of the meringue kisses that I have!

In the real recipe, the kisses are supposed to be sandwiched with cream (or jam?) in the middle. But I didn't bother myself making the cream so I was just happy with the meringues itself :D. Hope you enjoy making this pretty-little-cute meringue kisses!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1 tsp rosewater extract
• Few drops of pink food colouring

DIRECTIONS:

1. Beat all of the ingredients for about 15 minutes with electric mixer until sugar is dissolved.
2. Spoon mixture into piping bag. Using star tube, pipe about 4cm stars onto trays 2 cm apart.

NOTES:

• Bake all the meringues in one go, because if you leave the mixture too long in open air, it will lose  its fluffiness.

Salt & Chilli Prawns

This salt & chilli prawns recipe is very easy to prepare and make. Suitable for those busy working women or lazy housewife (like me, ahahaha). This dish is meant to be eaten with steamed rice, because  after all it's an Indo-kind-of-dish (even though it's heavily influenced by Chinese cooking as well).

Ingredients:

• 500 gr prawns
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 3-4 tbsp corn starch
• 1 lime
• 2 red chillies, minced
• 1 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp spring onion
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

How to make:

1. Mix prawns with juice from 1 lime, leave for 10 minutes. Add in 1/4 tsp of salt, white pepper, and corn starch; mix well.
2. Deep fry prawns in hot cooking oil until golden brown; then set aside.
3. Heat 1 tbsp of the remaining oil from frying the prawns. Saute minced garlic clove and red chillies until the oil almost dries up. Add in chopped spring onions, salt, fried prawns, and sprinkle with black pepper. Mix all together until prawns are evenly coated with the other ingredients.

Source: "Menu Sehari-hari & Akhir Pekan" Vol.1, Yasa Boga

Australia Partner Migration Visa

Alhamdulillah, so grateful that now I officially have indefinite stay permit in Australia on a Partner Provisional visa. No more waiting, no more uncertainty (at least for now). I picked up the official letter at AVAC on Monday (two weeks ago), even though the permit has been issued since January.



I am married to an Indonesian who is an Australian permanent resident. In order to be able to live with my husband in Australia I needed a visa. The appropriate visa to apply for in when you are already married is a Partner Migration Visa (if you are just about to get married, you can apply for a Fiancee or Prospective Marriage visa). When you apply for a PMV, you are actually applying for two Subclass visa at the same time: 309 & 100. Subclass 309 is for the provisional visa (2 years probation), and subclass 100 for the permanent visa (permanent residency). You can apply for this visa onshore (in Australia) or offshore. I had to submit offshore because I had a "no further stay" condition on my passport. The expected waiting time for a decision on this visa takes about 6 months - 1 year. You can submit the application alone or with an agent. But I recommend doing it by yourself, it's cheaper. Offshore applications are submitted at Australian Visa Application Center at Plaza Asia (Jl. Jend. Sudirman).

The Australian embassy has a checklist of what documents that needs to be included in application. You can check it out here. I will review some of them below:
Birth certificate, marriage certificate, family card: I had these translated by a sworn translator. I used Business Advisory Indonesia service at Mayapada Tower fl. 11 (simply because I used to work at fl. 15). You can give them a call regarding price inquiries. List of other sworn translator from the Australian Embassy here
Evidence of relationship and communications: I submitted Facetime logs, phone logs, Skype logs (I forgot what program that I used), Facebook message print-out, selected emails, around 20 pictures of us from my trip to Australia in January 2012, our wedding, and night out with my friends. The evidence contributed half to two-thirds of my application's thickness.
Statement Declaration: Each of us made our own story of how we met. So, there should be two versions: from you and your spouse. But make sure both of your stories add up!
Statement from friends and relatives who know you both as a couple: We only submitted two stat decs from my husband's friends whom I met in January 2012. To my understanding, it is better if you can get minimum 2 Australian citizens or permanent residents to verify your relationship. And don't forget to attach certified copy of their ID or passport (and visa) on the stat decs.
You don't need to submit a health check result along with your application. Later on you will get a letter to do your health check at selected institutions.
Because there are soooo many forms to fill in, please take your time... be patient and careful when filling it. It will be worthwhile.
I recommend reading the information book before you go fill in the forms, to give you better understanding in preparing the application.

After you submit your application, you will get a notification email that the embassy has received your application. You will get a case file number and notification letter to do the health check up. Once you get a case file number, you can apply for a visitor visa to be able to stay with your spouse in Australia while your case is being processed in Indonesia.

Health check up can be done either in Indonesia or Australia. I did mine in Australia because when I was about to do health check in Indonesia I was on my period and my flight was exactly a week after (you can't go for a health check if you're on period, that's what the nurse said).

In some cases, interview is needed to further check whether your relationship is genuine. But alhamdulillah, in my case, interview wasn't needed.

Case officer should be assigned to you the latest 3 months after you apply. If by then you haven't heard anything from the embassy, just send them an email and they will definitely reply. My case officer never contacted me, until I got panicked on my 4-5 months of waiting time and finally sent them an email. About 3 days later I got a reply from my case officer saying that my my case is ready for finalization and needed me to be outside of Australia. After that, my waiting time is over. Lots and lots of thanks to my Lord.

So, here's my application timeline:
07-08-2012 > Application received by the embassy
31-08-2012 > Health check up at Medibank Parramatta, Sydney
02-01-2013 > Case officer notified that my case is ready for finalization (my case officer's first email to me, hadeehhh)
28-01-2013 > I arrived in Jakarta
29-01-2013 > Notified my case officer that I am already in Jakarta
30-01-2013 > Received email for my Partner visa grant

Good luck for those of you who are or will be going through this process! Should you need any help, you can send me email to dita.augyst@gmail.com.

*reposted from my old blog

Colourfully Ladurèe!

Last Friday, me and my friend spent an afternoon at the City. We initially wanted to visit the Sydney Library, but unfortunately someone was caught in ZARA sale and it took her quite long in the shop (that's me!). Anyway, we made it to Laduree in Westfield Sydney instead. I was soooooo excited! You don't know how bad I wanted to try Laduree's macaroons! I always dream coming to Paris just to try these little sweethearts.

The menu book

I forgot how and where I get to know Laduree. But one thing I remember, Laduree invented the round colorful macaroons that we know of today and that they have the best macaroons in the world. 

When macaroons were so "in" in Jakarta, I read from a lot of reviews that Bakerzin produced the yummiest macaroons around in Jakarta. It was quite expensive for average Indonesians. But I'm one of those person who would pay more just to get that once in a lifetime experience (if I don't intend to repurchase). So, after I got married, I asked my husband to try a couple of Bakerzin's macaroons. Well, sorry to say, it doesn't have the nicest taste and feel in my mouth. Since then, I really wanted to know how a REAL macaroon supposed to taste like. Just like sushi, you will know how "good" sushi should taste like when you have tasted the "good" one. It's like teaching your tongue to differentiate.

Our orders

I am one heck of a lucky girl! I somehow ended up in Sydney. And a few months ago, I found out from Instagram that Laduree just opened its shop in Sydney. I was extremely excited! Because I get to taste the best macaroons in the world without actually having to fly all over to Paris! (I just found out a couple of hours ago that they have opened stores in Japan as well). Another lucky thing, I have a friend to experience it together as first-timers ;).

Rose-flavored mini mac

I just blabbered too much, didn't I? Okay, so, me and my friend arrived at Laduree's chic small open cafe. Each of us ordered two macaroons and a pot of tea (makes 5 cups). I tried the Rose and Pistachio flavor macaroons and was suggested The Melange Special Laduree (a blend of citrus fruit, rose, vanilla, and cinnamon tea) by the waiter. The macaroons were pricey ($4 a piece for dine in! -- $3.20 for takeaway), but it was all worth it! The taste was amazing and the texture was perfect. As far as I know, the macaroons were flown from Switzerland where they were stored. I was like, "Oh, so this is how the best macaroons taste like." The tea is also very delightful. All of the flavors were present and they were like flying around tickling my taste buds.

The Melange Special Laduree

This place is definitely recommended! But I suggest you wouldn't want to come here too often, hehe. They have cute packaging as well and takeaways come with a chic gift/shopping bag. All worth the price! Seriously.

Christmas Break at the Entrance

On 25th December, Sydney was celebrating Christmas, obviously. Suddenly Sydney become somewhat of a ghostly town, a bit, because almost every restaurants, shopping centres, and supermarkets are closed except for areas where mostly Muslim resides. Never seen anything like that ever. Unlike Indonesia ya, even though it's lebaran, malls are still open, even though it opens just a bit late! Hahaha...

On that day, Sydney was greeted by unfortunate weather. It was raining all day, everywhere. Sydney, Wollongong, The Entrance... All was in raining mode with precipitation above 50% when I checked the weather forecast the morning before we went to The Entrance.


Me holding I-don't-know-what plant that floats around, so cute!

We spent the Christmas day going to The Entrance with my hubby's friend and his wife. I thought The Entrance would be boring as other New South Wales tourist sites which mostly consists of beaches, beaches, and bitches (kidding!). Well, I was wrong. Turned out it was great! The weather wasn't that friendly, but at least I don't need to worry about getting tanned. Me and Honey were soooo excited seeing all of these living things like algae and water creatures. We were so rame together because I was soo norak as usual. I wish I had brought a transparent food container so I can bring home some of the sand, salt water, algae, and snail and make my own aquarium at home!

Unfortunately, we only get to play there for about half an hour because then the rain was pouring down! Well, I wouldn't be so surprised because I already checked the weather forecast over and over again. Sadly, we must go home. When we got back home, I said to Honey, "Let's go to The Entrance again later on! Next time don't forget to bring food container so I can make an mini aquarium at home, hehehe..."

*repost from my old blog