A friend of mine chose this place for our catch up dinner. Booked a table for 4 but sadly one of our friends had to stay back in the office hence couldn't join us for dinner. The place looks pretty small but they actually have a courtyard seating. We sat inside in a communal table (they have 2 communal tables and some tables for 2 inside, plus one circle table with sofa). I like the atmosphere, it's small, simple, cozy with modern influence. And if you take a peek, their courtyard seating looks cozy too with friendly atmosphere. Would be nice to have dinner in the courtyard on one summer night.
Service is excellent, the waiters & waitresses are all charming and helpful. We decided to order 2 entrees and 3 mains. The Ma hor is SUPER YUMMM!!!! The flavors burst in your mouth beautifully! You have to eat it as a whole. And it has nice after taste too! Super recommended! Second entree is the betel leaf with prawn, peanuts and fresh coconuts. It tastes nice but a bit too strong for me personally (yes even for my Asian taste, I guess a bit too much lemon and fish sauce). Still, is nice tho!
As for the mains, I like the duck and watermelon salad. It has nice combination and the watermelon kind of cleanse your mouth. The fried pork ribs is a bit too dry for me, but the red chili vinegar helps to add the flavor hence it doesn't taste too meaty. As for the steamed snapper, we were a bit disappointed as we thought it would be a steamed snapper fillet with a bit of coconut sauce. But as you can see from the picture, it looks like a bowl of snapper curry! As for the price, I guess it is fair as the menu is quite different and it's Asian fusion. If you are fancying fancy Asian cuisine, you must give it a try!
ku jadi florist... eh, graphic designer... eh, event organiser..... eh, singer ..... eh, kindi teacher... eh, tour guide.... eh, punya cafe..... eh, photographer... eh, travel blogger..... eh, eh, eh...
(biasanya adek & temen-temen gw langsung bilang: ah pusing ah ella banyak maunya) hehehe
Ya abis gimana dong, those occupations sound interesting!
Inget gak, waktu kecil pasti kita pernah ditanyain, cita-citanya apa nanti pas udah gede? Seinget saya most of my friends tuh cita-citanya jadi dokter. What's yours? Wanna know what's mine? Jangan diketawain yah. Cita-cita saya ga setinggi langit. Mentok di plafon rumah doang hehehe Well dari kecil aja cita-cita saya suka ganti-ganti. Tapi saya inget, saya paling pengen jadi kasir (selain jadi polisi dan pramugari) hihihi
Ini side story: lagi kecil saya suka kebalik antara pramugari and peragawati. Ngomong martabak aja buat saya susah, malah jadi matabrak hehehe But i'm pretty sure yg saya maksud itu pramugari as bisa keliling dunia dan naik pesawat. Nah kalo catwalk di pesawat susah dong, pake gaun couture yg biasanya gede and panjang-panjang di alley yg sempit, keselimpet malahan.
Back to my cita-cita jadi kasir. Nah, mungkin ada yang mikir, kenapa kasir? Soalnya keliatannya seru, mencet-mencet tombol uda gitu terakhirnya mencet 1 tombol, bunyi "kaching", then keluar duit deh hehehe
Udah gedean dikit, around SD and SMP, cita-cita saya berubah lagi, kali ini jadi librarian. Why? karena saya suka baca buku. And kepengaruh dari buku-buku yang saya baca (yang biasanya latar belakangnya somewhere di luar negeri), kayaknya enak kerja di perpustakaan.
Saya juga pernah kepikiran untuk jadi Archaeologist. Soalnya dari kecil saya suka history apalagi yg tentang manusia purba and Egypy and lost civilizations. Kayaknya interesting gitu cari-cari benda peninggalan purbakala. Meneliti-meneliti dan penuh adventures.
Tibalah saatnya SMA, di mana harus mulai lebih serius buat decide, so what's next? What do u want to be? Saat itu saya masi pengen jd either librarian or archaeologist. Tapi tambah lagi cita-cita saya: dentist karena waktu itu saya pake kawat gigi and kayaknya seru ngotak ngatik gigi (hmmm doesn't sound right ya?); interior design karena saya demen menata dan menghias rumah; guru TK karena saya suka anak-anak; and hospitality/tourism karena kayaknya kerja di hotel seru and saya suka traveling.
In the end semua impian saya saat itu mesti di cross off dari list. Dengan alasan yang mayan lucu juga. Oke:
- Librarian: kalo kata nyokap, ngapain mati ngeliat buku?
-Dentist: well saya ga diterima masuk IPA hahaha obviously karena nilai Fisika saya parah banget!
-Interior design: karena saya gak bisa gambar
-Guru TK: oh come on, di Indo mah "mana bisa hidup"
-Hospitality and Tourism: kurang lebih sama ama alasannya guru TK
Dan akhirnya saya ambil business. Awalnya saya masih kekeuh (= persistent) mau ambil marketing. Kayaknya seru aja ngatur strategy and concept gimana cara masarin satu product or idea ke public. My dad uda yakin banget it's not me. He said "i believe that you are accounting person". And jreng jreng, saya itu orangnya pesimis. Mid term exam marketing, first semester of my uni, i failed the exam. Bye bye marketing. Hence I finally took Accounting and Finance as my majors.
And yes, that's why I end up doing accounting job now. But if u asked me, I'm not accounting person. I get bored doing accounting haha I don't really mind doing it but if I have any other choice, I prefer to do something in more creative sides. Unfortunately u can't really put any creativity in accounting. Otherwise it will be creative accounting and you can be jailed! hahaha
But now, I can truly accept and understand why last time my mom and dad forced me to do accounting and finance. Not because: kalo accounting mati ngeliat duit hehehehe but because it's the basic on every business, every industry. I can still work in a hotel or traveling agency or a design company as their accounting person.
I can still learn those other things by taking some short courses here. Somehow tuh di sini environmentsnya lebih mendukung buat belajar macem-macem. First, karena lebih bisa nabung dari hasil kerja jadi lebih menudukung financially. Second, karena di sini most of the jobs don't require u to stay back at the office! hahaha Culture kerjanya relax gitu. Third, karena public transport systemnya uda lebih teratur jadi gampang kalo mau kemana-mana and less traffic jam compared to in Jakarta. Nah tinggal sekarang decide deh mana yang bener-bener passion gw. Hold on. Let me change the word as passion is a very strong word in my opinion. Mana yang bener-bener gw suka. Hence ke depannya gw bisa doing something yg gw sukain, kerja yg emang bener-bener sukain.
And please pray for me....so i can have courage to (if i have to) change my lane. Salute for those people who really fight for their dreams from the very start and survive and finally win your war. I give u standing ovation, 4 thumbs up, a bottle of Moet and big bouquet of roses (of course Iit's just an exaggeration) hahaha but truly, good for you!
Well as for all of us, as all people say, pursue your dreams! Let's not die with regrets that you don't achieve any of your dreams. Life is short. Even though you might end up living till 80 or 90 years old, it's still short as you can't turn back your time. Whatever my dreams are, I know one thing, when my time has come to the end, I really wish I can die peacefully and I can smile, knowing that I have enjoyed my time in this world and I have made some if not all my dreams come true.
Melbourne is famous with its hidden little gems. Darac is one of them. This one small korean resto has bits of everything: nice food, warm service, cozy place and friendly atmosphere. And what makes it better, it is very near to my apartment! Wohooo!
Udah lama yah ga update blog. Uda mau akhir June aja. Oh sebelom nulis panjang lebar luas keliling, saya mau bilang, saya benernya malu mau tulis ttg topik ini huhuhu Tapi ya udahlah, apa mau dikata, emang begini kenyataannya...
Jadi gini lho, saya itu dari kecil rada boyish. Ga cuma kelakuan tapi juga dasarnya penampilan. Mungkin ada beberapa yg kurang percaya as pas kenalan ama saya udah taunya "ella tuh demen masak, bebersih rumah" --> cewek banget deh kesannya. Gini-gini lagi kecil selain main masak-masakan saya juga main layangan dan manjat genteng hahaha main kejar-kejaran sampe sering jatuh and betis penuh bekas luka (yang untungnya hilang dengan ajaib).
Kenapa saya bilang penampilan saya kayak cowok? Itu mah jelas, bentuk tubuh saya tuh segitiga kebalik alias bahu lebih lebar daripada pinggul. Uda gitu pinggang saya jarang-jarang nampak karena most of the time tertimbun lemak hahaha Plus rambut saya yang tipis menyebabkan saya ga bisa punya rambut panjang. Pendek all the time. And muka saya lumayan kayak cowok ditambah rambut awut-awutan.Apalagi kalo saya lagi capek and butek, tambah cowok abis. Kesannya saya ngejelekkin diri sendiri and gak pede bgt ya? ahuahahahaha tapi ya emang gitu keadaannya. Makanya dari kecil saya lebih sering dipakein rok and eventho rambutnya tipis tetep aje dikuncir lah, dijepit lah, dikasi pita or bando lah. Pake anting selalu setiap saat (yang ini sekarang uda jadi kebiasaan). Dan dulu saya sangat-sangat cuek and gak peduli penampilan. Paling demen pake jeans and kaos gombor.
Ada beberapa waktu saya disangka cowok lho. Sampe malu sendiri haha The latest one was early this week. Makanya saya akhirnya celoteh hehehe waktu itu saya baru kelar dinner and inget belom ambil paket di mailbox. Since cuma turun ke lobby (apartment) ya saya cuek pake rok mini, cuma bentar anyway and pas yg digantung itu. Rasanya aneh kalo pake celana tidur ke lobby, dan itu masi sekitar jam 7.30PM-an jadi masi rame lah lobbynya. Atasannya kemeja putih didouble sama kaos hitam lengan panjang. Begitu masuk lift ternyata mayan rame. ada sekitar 5 orang plus saya sendiri. Dari 5 orang itu, ada 3 cewek indo and yang pas saya masuk memang lagi bercandaan. Uda gitu ada 1 yang pas saya masuk lagi ngomong "iya dia tuh emang ga bisa tahan yang mulus-mulus. Nah kayak liat yg gini neh, mana tahan". Uda gitu dia nyanyi-nyanyi gak jelas "yang mulus, mana tahan...yang mulus, mana tahan". Yang 2 lagi ketawa-ketiwi. Uda gitu ada yang nyeletuk dengan suara lebih pelan, "eh, gak ngerti kan ya?", Yg 1 blg "yg mana, yg 1 ini?" (yang berarti adalah saya since matanya ngelirik ke saya hahahahaha) Saya sih cuma ngeliat-ngeliat keliling cuek. Mungkin muka saya terlalu Cina and gak ada sense indo-nya sama sekali ya? hahaha Nah pas sampe ground floor uda mau keluar lift ada yang nyeletuk "eh cewek ato cowok sih dia?". Ada yang nyeletuk "hmm kayaknya cewek deh, dari kakinya sih cewek, coba entar liat dari belakang". Selama di lift posisi saya tuh menghadap mereka. Tapi begitu keluar lift saya uda gak denger mereka ngomong apa lagi since lobby-nya lg rame juga. Tadinya saya mau iseng nyeletukin juga "eh mbak, saya cewek tulen kok. Hati-hati jaga mulut, di sini bule juga banyak yang ngerti bahasa Indo" hehehe tapi akhirnya saya diemin. Lagi itu saya sampe sempet mikir, emang saya segitu kayak cowoknya ya? Padahal uda pake rok .
Begitu saya balik ke apartment, saya penasaran, langsung ke kamar mandi and ngaca hauhahahaha dan ternyata memang hari itu saya lagi sangat sangat teramat sangat butek (efek month end ditambah payroll sepertinya) and somehow lebih mirip cowok. Ya sudahlah, akhirnya saya bertekad: saya harus lebih memperhatikan penampilan hahahahaha Jadi ya kalo anda next time ketemu saya and melihat saya jadi lebih feminin, anda tahu kenapa. Bukan karena lagi jatuh cinta atau lagi pedekate or lagi tebar pesona. Simply karena saya wanita and gak mau disangka cowok hahahaha
