Everybody loves weekends. Well, most of us (I believe 99% of us) love weekends! And on every weekends, I tend to have a full-on-Saturday and a slowing-down-Sunday. Well it depends but I can say I spend most of my Sundays just relaxing. Just going to the church and grocery shopping then relax at home. Well this Sunday, I spent the morning wandering around at the Design Market (look at my previous post). Then after lunch, I went to the mass. After treating myself (well I treat myself too much actually this week ;p) with Mrs. Fields cookies, I decided to walk back home. I knew that if I spent my time outside, I would start shopping again haha Plus, I've got lots of things in my mind that I need to spill out.
So, as you can see in the picture above, here is how I spent my afternoon: updating my blog accompanied by a pot of good Chamomile Rose and Lavender tea plus my good old friend (Mrs. Fields) and drawing my ideas into my "just-put-everything-there" book.
I feel like I need more Sundays now! How do you spend your Sunday afternoon?
I love going to Design Market. It always brings me happiness. So when a friend of mine told me that there would be a design market at Federation Square this Sunday, I immediately say YES to go there!
This is what I bought from the market. I've seen it before at somewhere else and been eyeing it.
So this is the story. Friday nite after Lia's College Valedictory, we went back home as it was raining. We were still deciding whether to have dinner outside or just stayed at home. Well Lia's happy to stay at home while I was still in the mood of spending the nite outside despite of the rain. However we kept thinking on where to have dinner, kind of to celebrate Lia finishing college. From Movida (a funky Tapas place) to Mekong (a casual Vietnamese food place), Lia came with one random selection: Mamasita. We looked at the website, checking the menu and the opening hours and there we went.
We've been craving to try that restaurant since last year. We did go there last time with our friend, Nadia, but we were told that it's going to take around 1 hour or so to get our table. Last time we arrived there around 7.20 and was phoned around 8.45PM (and was informed that the table was ready soon). We skipped Mamasita that time and went to Izakaya Chuji.
And so we decided to try our luck at Mamasita. That place is always full and my friends told me that the food is really good. We were not too hungry (fortunately) that time so when we were queuing and told that it's gonna be 45-50 minutes, we were happy to wait.
Then it's our turn, first one in the line. We were told to get our drinks from bar while waiting for table. I got myself a Guayaba (sparkling guava) while Lia ordered Mojito Granita. Then 2 chairs at the bar were empty and the waiter asked whether we didn't mind to eat at the bar. Been waiting for quite a`while and since it's only two of us, I told him that we were happy to eat at the bar. Since we've been given the menu while still in queue, we knew what to order. And this bartender, a man with beautiful blue eyes, asked us what to order. Oh he was the one who served us for the drinks too. As we've seen the website before we came, I remember that it's suggested: 2 to 3 smaller food items and one main per couple should be sufficient. And so we ordered:
-Tostaditas de Cangrejo (4 per serve)
-1 Tacos de Camarones
-1 Tacos al Pastor
-1 Quesadillas de Huitlacoche
-1 Ensalada de Quinoa
Basically like 3 entree, 1 salad and 1 Quesadillas (later on we reckon it can be counted as a main). I asked the bartender whether they should be enough. He said they were good to start but we might want to add later on. And so I replied, good then we might order more later.
The first one that served is the Tostaditas. It's 4 per serve but they are small. And you know what, they are REALLY BEAUTIFUL!!!!! The Crab meat, the mayo plus the tamarind flavour that makes it light. The taste is really beautiful! Looking at the size and tasting the first dish, I was immediately tempted to order more. The first dish really gave me good impression and increased my appetite. We decided to wait for our tacos. And so the tacos were served and they are great!!! Especially the prawns, they are grilled perfectly!! And so Lia and me were thinking whether to order more tacos or 1 main.
As I asked that bartender-with-beautiful-blue-eyes how big is the main, he replied it's designed to share so it's big enough. And so we decided to try the main. And we ordered Cerdo en Nogada plus potato for the side (as we were suggested by him).
After we ordered the main, the quesadillas was served along with the salad. They are equally great. That was my first time trying Quinoa and I can tell you, it is not as strange as the name. As we were trying to finish these 2 dishes, the waiter brought out the main and the potato. By that time, Lia and me were 80% full already hahahaha We were wondering whether we could finish it! The pork fillet is beautiful as it's tender. The pomegranate sort of cleanse your mouth so you don't feel too meaty after eating the pork. The potato is fried well and the green chillies help to add the flavour and kick your tooth to keep chewing :p
And in the end we finished all the pork fillet. There were still a bit of salad left and quite plenty of potato though. And there came the highlights of our dinner: that bartender who didn't chat to us through our dinner, clapped his hands. I got not really good impression of him before as he did chat with the others but not with Lia and me. It's only when he took our order or when we asked him for something in the menu. I admit I also didn't make an effort to make a conversation with him. But at the end of our dinner, he kind of giving us applause. He said: "well done, guys! I feel like taking picture of you guys and put it at the bar." while smiling to us. And I replied:"with all the plates??" and he replied back: "yeah, good idea".
And so Lia and me were giggling, we were 2 girls but we were ordering foods for probably a group of 4 people. We feel so embarrassed but oh well, we were all happy with the dinner, weren't we?
As he took our plates away I told him: "the food are really beautiful! I enjoyed it very much". He said: "that's great! and those pork fillet, they taste great,don't they?"
And in the end, he still teased us: "desserts time?? Time for desserts now". So I replied as I was asking for the bill: "we have to skip desserts this time". He replied: "Fair enough, ladies" hahahahahaha
And so there was one unforgettable Friday nite. Quality time with my sister in one funky place with great foods and an applause from bartender with beautiful blue eyes.
Oh, here is their website: www.mamasita.com.au
Definitely worth the wait! And definitely there will be next visit to Mamasita, and I promise I will order more wisely. You treat us well, Mama : )
Lagi bosen di kantor hahaha kemaren sibuk, besok juga sibuk. Semua kerjaan yang buat besok uda dicicil tadi pagi. Mari kita bermain. Awalnya gara-gara tadi email temen tentang rencana Sabtu ini. Jadinya iseng kepikiran mecah-mecahin kata:
Saturday = sat ur day
Sunday = sun day
Ballarat = ball a rat
Actually = act u ally
Manually = man u ally
Invoice = in voice
Hesitate = he sit ate
Yak..lagi lunch break di kantor sempet2 celoteh. Facebook and Twitter di banned, jadi ngeblog aja hehehe
Waktu kecil, saya sempat bercita-cita jadi pramugari soalnya bisa terbang keliling dunia. Uda gede-an, since pake kacamata, saya ganti cita-citanya jadi Tour guide, dengan alasan yg sama.
Apa boleh buat, papi saya gak setuju pas saya mau ambil Hospitality and Tourism. Alasannya: nanti lapangan kerjanya kecil, kalo ambil accounting, masih tetep bisa kerja di lingkungan hotel/tour. Betul juga. Make sense.
Nah mimpi saya yg bakal saya sharing kali ini bukan tentang saya yang jd tour guide lg. Again, mimpi ini terpengaruh dari pengalaman travelling saya. Beberapa tahun lalu, papi saya membawa kita sekeluarga to travel to Vietnam and Cambodia. As kita perginya private tour (alias cuma ber4), kita lebih punya kesempatan buat ngobrol-ngobrol sama tour guidenya. Kita pergi ke around 5 towns, dengan 4 tour guides yg berbeda. To cut the story short, salah satu kota yg kita kunjungi tuh Siam Reap (yg ada Angkor Wat-nya itu lho). Tour guide-nya cowok, masi around 26 yrs old sepertinya. Pake name tag. Inggrisnya a bit kurang jelas pronounciation-nya tapi lumayan lancar. Kita lumayan ngobrol-ngobrol sama dia. Dari obrolan itu kita tau, ternyata kalo di Siam Reap, tour guides itu mesti terdaftar. Mau dari travel agents apapun, tour guidesnya harus terdaftar dan punya ijin khusus, makanya mereka punya name tags khusus. Name tag ini harus dipakai saat bertugas. Uda gitu, mereka diberi training khusus. Generally those registered tour guides can speak,read and write English well (ya walopun kadang susah ngedengerin pronounciationsnya). Selain Inggris, ada juga yg dilatih bahasa-bahasa lain. Dan memang terbukti pas saya mengunjungi Angkor Wat and temple2 lainnya, tour guidesnya semua pake name tags and lancar cas cis cus bahasa Perancis lah, jerman lah, Jepang, Belanda (tapi belum ketemu yg bisa bahasa Indonesia hehehe). Mereka jg tentunya dibekali sejarah2 Cambodia, pengetahuan umum (spt jumlah penduduk, kota terbesar, dll).
Saya jd bermimpi: coba di Indonesia bs begitu. Tertib, terorganised. Jadi turis asing juga ga takut ketipu (as bnyk yg takut ditipu oleh local tour). Mungkin bisa dimulai dari Jogja dan sekitarnya as di situ ada Borobudur and Prambanan. Bali dgn tanah lot, pura besakih, uluwatu, dll. Kalo aja tiap kota punya badan pelatihan tour guides and termasuk mesti ngeregister tuh tour guides. Semuanya (ideally) di bawah Departemen Pariwisata.
Tentunya pariwisata Indonesia bakal lebih maju lagi. And bisa jadi salah satu sumber penghasilan terbesar buat ekonomi Indonesia. Sumbernya uda banyak, sayang managementnya kurang bijak.
Sembari nungguin si bulat (adik saya) siap2, mending saya celoteh (hopefully) bentar. Saya tuh demen banget mimpi dan berkhayal, well siapa jg yg ga demen? hahaha Tukang day dreaming. Macem2 lah khayalan saya, mulai dari tentang enaknya kalo uda punya rumah sendiri and nata2, tentang gimana ya kalo ganti profesi, tentang gimana ya kalo pindah ke Europe and tinggal di sana, gimana yah kalo bisa jalan2 keliling dunia. Macem-macem deh. Ehhhhh adek saya uda siap..... nanti malam saya lanjutkan ;p
9:16PM
Baiklah mari kita lanjutkan. Naahhh berhubung saya suka ngehayal and suka travelling, tiap kali abis travelling or pas lg travelling saya ya ngehayal hehehe Waktu kecil, believe it or not, saya ikut extrakurikulernya nari. Dari TK-SD. Nari nya bukan ala hip hop or yg keren-keren jungkir balik. Saya ikutannya nari daerah. Bukan nari Bali lho (kan yg terkenal nge-trend waktu jaman SD dulu saya tuh belajar tari bali). Saya jg ga inget lg sih nari-nya gimana tp saya inget pake lagu and baju daerah. Yg terakhir pas 6 SD tuh tarian ala Melayu gitu. Uda gitu pas SMA belajar Seudati and Saman. Buat saya belajar nari itu seru. Kayak misalnya nari Saman, mesti tepat beat-nya, mesti kompak, mesti inget gerakan (ya semua tarian jg mesti gitu yah) hehehe Nontonnya aja seru! Kebayang dong pas narinya? Seru abis!
Pas lagi kuliah di Malay, ada international students nite. Nah di situ saya sempet bantuin nari saman, belajar gerakan yg lain (as Saman itu banyak gerakannya) and ngajarin beberp pola gerakan. Nah saya tuh saat itu sempet ngehayal, seru jg yah kalo saya bisa belajarin tarian-tarian Indo (yang ada ribuan kali!) and diajarin ke orang-orang.
Uda gitu, beberapa tahun terakhir ini tuh saya traveling di Asia. I'm grateful that I have a father who loves traveling. And sepertinya menurun ke saya. Seperti kata pepatah, buah jatuh tidak jauh dari pohonnya. Tiap christmas, almost always we as a family spent time together and traveling together. Quality time sekaligus refreshing sekaligus jalan-jalan deh. Nah dari sejak 2002 lah, kita travelling rata-rata di asian countries. Ya China, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and terakhir ini Taiwan. As tipikal tourist indo, kita explorenya sebatas yg tourism sites. And almost always ada acara nonton cultural show, ya yg nari-nari, akrobat, and main musik. Papi saya tuh seneng banget, bahkan kadang beli dvd-nya lg after nonton. Saya ya seneng-seneng aja nonton-nya. Kalo dilihat-lihat, benernya model tarian, jenis lagunya or even kadang kostumnya tuh mirip-mirip lho. Mirip sama Indo juga. Ya emang dasarnya dari 1 sumber jg sih yah, and dulu kan kerajaan sriwijaya sampe kemana-mana. Yang saya pikirin, balik lagi: duhhh coba saya bisa bikin model cultural/art centre kayak gini di Indo. Jenis tariannya lebih banyak. Kostumnya juga cantik-cantik. Musiknya lebih beragam. Kayaknya sayang banget gitu lho. Di negara-negara Asia yg laen, mereka bener-bener bisa bikin neh traditional dance and music tetep hidup. And bisa jd sumber penghidupan mereka.
Orang-orang kalo pas nanya ke saya, di Jakarta ada apa? Saya cuma bisa blg ada Monas, ada museum gajah (yang menurut saya bagus banget. Kalo ada yg blm pernah ke sana, it's a must!), ada museum fatahillah yang bagus banget jg koleksinya. Ada TMII (tapi pas terakhir saya ke sana yg uda ga inget kpn jg, kok sedikit menyedihkan ya), ada Ancol and Dufan. Tapi kok kayaknya gitu-gitu aja yah. Jd kalo uda kehabisan bahan promosi ya: ada Mangga Dua, ada Mall ini, ada Mall itu, ada Plaza ini dan Plaza itu. Nah kalo ada art and cultural centre kan bagus tuh! Sembari juga kan katanya Jakarta tuh capitol city-nya Indonesia, jd tmpt yg mempersatukan semua kebudayaan Indonesia.
Jd di khayalan saya, art centre ini dikelola satu organisasi/yayasan yang memang merekrut dan mendidik orang-orang untuk belajar tarian-tarian and alat-alat musik traditional Indo. Nah ada regular show, targetnya jadinya bukan cuma turis asing. Turis lokal juga harusnya nonton neh show biar bisa pada ngelihat: tarian2 and lagu2 Indo tuh keren-keren lho! Kalo bisa sih dipromosikan ke kedutaan-kedutaan asing, jadi kalo pas ada tamu-tamu negara and misalnya pebisnis2 asing yang lagi berkunjung ke Jakarta, bisa nonton nih pergelaran seni juga. Alangkah baiknya juga kalo sekolah-sekolah ngebawa murid-muridnya untuk nonton nih show juga, lebih fun juga buat murid-muridnya lho daripada cuma ngapalin tarian apa dari mana hehehe Uda gitu jual dvd juga, and merchandise. Nah kan bisa jadi lahan pekerjaan buat banyak orang juga akhirnya. Ya mulai dari bapak penjaga gedung, bagian bersih-bersih, mas dan mbak jual tiket, yang jaga toko, yang ngajar nari, penarinya, yang ngajar musik, pemusiknya, satpam, yang supply barang ke toko, yang ngatur lampu and sound system, stage manager, ushers, make-up artists, penjahit buat bikin kostum, kafe, bagian admin, bagian accounting, bagian promosi and marketing, dan lain-lain.
Orang-orang asing aja banyak yang cinta sama kebudayaan Indonesia, sampai pada belajar gamelan lah, jaipong lah, tari kecak lah. Lah kita??
Yihaaaa...di saat2 mau tidur tiba2 otak saya aktif lagi pengen nulis. Dooeennnggg, bahaya iki. Bisa terancam serangan zombie (pass my bed time then end up ga bs tidur, alhasil di kantor pas paginya akan berubah menjadi Zombie).
Nah sekalian dalam rangka anniversary pindahnya saya dari Sydney ke Melbourne, saya mau ngoceh-ngoceh sedikit. By the way, emang sih "keluar" dari Sydneynya tgl 10 May 2010, tapi the real adventure baru began 01 June 2010. Tetep aja, ibarat travelling, dicap di pasportnya ya tanggal 10 May'10 hehehe
Hmmm lbh baik I make it as short as possible aja kali ya, uda mau jam 11PM huhu
Intinya, setelah sekian lama (well few months) bermukim di Melbourne dan lumayan terbiasa dengan service dan orang-orangnya yg ramah-ramah (well at least dibandingin sama Sydney ya), saya kaget juga pas terakhir ke Sydney. Pertengahan Maret'11 lalu saya berweekend ria ke Sydney. As pas dulu tinggal di sana saya gak gitu cobain cafe2 and coffeenya, dari pas di Melbourne saya uda research tempat2 coffee yg bole dicoba.
Nah pas sabtu pagi after arriving at Sydney, saya dan ketiga cewek cantik lainnya langsung ke Hong Ha buat sarapan. Di jadwal saya, setelah Hong Ha kita bakal cobain 1 cafe yang lumayan bagus rekomendasinya sekalian ketemu temen kita yg laen. Apa daya ternyata tuh cafe uda tutup! Jadilah kita ke cafe laen yg pas gak jauh dari situ (and ada di to-try-list saya). Nama cafenya mirip merk coklat indo, B*ng ba*g hahahaha
Kita awalnya minta meja buat ber 5. Kita disuruh nunggu, ktnya around 30 minutes as rata2 mejanya buat ber 2 or 4, and yg di big table tuh baru dtg makanannya. Lalu teman saya blg ke waiternya, itu ada meja kosong yg buat ber 4, bole ga di situ dulu and nanti pas temen kita dtg ya kita dont mind desek2an. And around that time ada beberapa meja di luar yg mulai kosong jg as orang2nya uda kelar makan. Hence ya kita mah adem ayem aja, thinking ya uda semua yg antri kebagian tempat toh. Nah karena kita seblmnya baru makan Vietnamese bread roll (yg karena rakusnya seorang satu), kita tadinya decide to just get the coffee. Tapi since kita jg penasaran, akhirnya kita pesen 2 meals: 1 banana bread and 1 meal yg gw lupa namanya tp termasuk big meal. We ordered our coffees and meal to a waitress.
Then a waiter dateng bawain coffee kita sambil sort of bilang: oh kalian cm pesen 1 meal for sharing ya? Tau gitu I wouldn't give this table to u, soalnya banyak orang yg di luar masi antri for table and they are going to have meals. But ya sudahlah.
Gw yg uda terbiasa dgn service yg ramah-ramah di Melbourne, mau di cafe besar or kecil, rame or sepi, bener-bener shock and mau ngamuk. Gak professional banget ga sih? Tadinya mau gw timpalin: oh I thought this is a cafe, not a restaurant. A cafe suppose to mainly sell the coffee, doesn't it? and I thought you are registered as espresso bar?
Kebetulan di pintunya ada disablon Registered name-nya and emang ada tulisan espresso bar-nya.
But I didn't want to ruin my day by arguing with someone. Toh lagian the faster we finish the coffee and later the meals, the faster we got out from that cafe hahahaha
Tapi asli, it's shocking! Kurang etik aja rasanya ngomong itu ke tamu. And awalnya kita gak ditanyain dulu: "are you guys just having coffees or any meal?" before they gave the table to us.
Oh well, yang penting uda cobain tuh cafe. Coffeenya kurang sesuai dgn selera saya, too weak, mungkin krn emang karakteristik roaster-nya. Makanannya: boleh lah, and kalo baca2 rekomendasi lumayan ok. Service: BIG NO!
Jadi next time kalo emangnya saya perlu ke sana lg, mungkin saya cuma pergi sendiri or berdua deh, biar mejanya gak ngerepotin hahahaha biar sama2 enak yah mas-yg-katanya-jualan-coffee ;p
udah ah, tuh kan uda mau 11.30PM jg ujungnya. Wish me luck so I can sleep tight!
