The Black Box

It is Sunday again and what’s better than another playlist for the lovely day?

They say there are phases to handle a broken heart and I cannot help to throw out some Cee Lo and Black Kids, also Van Halen and Alanis Morrisette. Too bad I don’t insert some Kelly Clarkson in :P 

The Black Box

1. Fall Out Boys – Thanks Fr Th Mmrs
2. Weezer – Go Away
3. The All-American Rejects – Gives You Hell
4. Cee Lo – Forget You
5. Arctic Monkeys – Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweatheart
6. Fall Out Boys – Grand Theft Autum/Where Is Your Boy
7. Black Kids – I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You
8. Florence and The Machine – Shake It Out
9. Van Halen – Jump
10.The Beatles – Here Comes The Sun
11. A Great Big World – This Is The New Year
12. Alanis Morisette – Hand In My Pocket
13. Oh Honey – Be Okay
14. Grouplove – Chloe
15. Florence and The Machine – Dog Days Are Over

If you happen on Spotify, hear it here.

On Cooking Shows

Last week, the 6th season of MasterChef US crowned their new winner. Claudia Sandoval snatched out the title from her competitor Derrick Peltz (who I always thought should have win). This season, I got myself a lot of favorite contestants. I think I love all the Top 6 Contestant and cried on the elimination every week :))

I kind of love cooking for a long time. I’m not good at it and I think the only one who enjoy my cooking is myself only. My sisters always finished up my cooking but no one said it’s that great :)) But I still enjoy it. That’s why I always love to see cooking competition show and cooking show in general. Here’s some of my favorite cooking show list I love to watch at weekend.

Nigella Lawson

chef-nigella

(image from here)

I heart you, Nigella <3 For many years, Nigella Lawson has been on many shows and writes many books. I think the close up shots of ingredients or food on her show is what makes me love it. Nigella often cooks for her guests who visit, so she sometimes share other tips like table arrangement and party preparation.

Jamie Oliver

chef-jamieoliver

(image from here)

Who doesn’t love Jamie Oliver? He is a revolutionary chef and maybe you lost count of his cooking shows, books, and restaurants number. He once initiated a campaign to encourage British school children towards eating healthy foods and cutting out junk food. My personal favorite show are Jamie’s 15 Minutes Meal and Jamie at Home. The thing about his show that I love is how he always encourages to use home grown spices/vegetables. He also shares some tips to save leftover ingredients and the right time to use cooking shortcuts, like using canned ingredients and spice, etc.

Buddy Valastro

chef-buddy-volastro

Buddy Valastro is more known by his Cake Boss show, that tells the story of Carlo’s Bakery. Buddy and his team have been baking cake masterpiece everyday. But my favorite Buddy’s show is his Kitchen Boss, where he cooks daily food. He sticks to his Italian/Sicilian roots and produce a lot of mouthwatering comfort food. The interesting thing about this show is he often invites his family to help him cooks; his wife, his cousin, his mother, etc. Italian family loves to eat together, that’s why he always cooks with his family member in a big portion.

Bara Pattiradjawane

chef-bara

(image from here)

Bara Pattiradjawane has been my idol for a long time, maybe since his Gula-Gula show at Trans TV back in my college year. I think I owe him a lot of breakfast and lunch boxes during those years, because I always followed his recipes :)) I diligently watch his show every weekend and I bought some of his books. What I love about his show is most of the time he doesn’t have the exact measurement of the recipe, which is awesome~ He also has some YouTube series Done in 7, where he cooks simple dishes that can be done under 7 minutes. He cooks everyday meals which is easy to follow and just perfect for anak kost-an :))

I think there are other chefs and cooking shows that I love, like Rachel Ray (but I don’t get a chance to watch a lot of her show) and the recent one, Eat Street (review of food trucks around US and Canada). Do you watch a lot of cooking show yourself?

Note:

Recently, I also found Just Try and Taste, which gives easy to follow recipes (Mba Endang, aku padamu banget). I came to her blog when searching for the recipe of this Nasi Biryani, but of course I haven’t got the time to make it :))

On Surprises

It was a sunny day in Osaka when my sister and I visited this restaurant. A small Okonomiyaki restaurant in a narrow alley. We don’t even remember the direction or even the  name of the place. We found the restaurant address in a free travel guide book that we got at our hostel. The neighborhood was quite and we were the only customer. The owner was a family consists of three and they didn’t speak any English. Thankfully the menu was also written in English. Each table is equipped with a small teppan (metal griddle). The owner cooked the sobayaki in our table and delivered the okonomiyaki in a plate.

It was a special moment for us since the family treated us really nice even if we communicated in the most absurd way. We love the warm welcome and the good food. I think the beauty in travelling is always about the surprises. You never know when you will find a special moment to treasure.

Shinsekai District – Osaka

Did I tell you where the best place in Osaka is?

The Shinsekai District is nothing but vibrant, noisy, and colorful places.

Whether you visit it on day or night, it’s still full of good food and warm people.

With strange looking and beautiful billboard and posters.

…and narrow colorful alley.


Along with various dishes, from shaved ice to deep fried foods.

Sunday, Sunday

I recently struggle to find a decent platform to buy songs after Nokia Music shut down. Sure there is Itunes, Amazon Music, and Spotify but here in Indonesia other than Itunes, I don’t find anything to be working. Then, there happen to be Langit Musik and Melon :)) Melon actually offers huge variety of music library, but the interface and all web/mobile experience feels awful. It’s confusing and frustrating to buy songs. The most disappointing thing is the download link seems not working, even if I already bought the songs :(

But anyway, I managed to make this playlist after awhile. The playlist contains some new bands I recently followed and some recent hit songs that I find catchy.

Sunday, Sunday

1. The Vaccines – Handsome
2. Alt-J – Left Hand Free
3. Catfish and the Bottlemen – Hourglass
4. Circa Waves – Stuck In My Teeth
5. Hozier – Someone New
6. The 1975 – Girls
7. The Kooks – Bad Habit
8. Betty Who – Somebody Loves You
9. Walk The Moon – Shut Up and Dance
10. The Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather
11. Circa Waves – T-Shirt Weather
12. Paramore – Anklebiters
13. Lower Than Atlantis – Words Don’t Come So Easily
14. Stereophonics – C’est La Vie
15. The Vaccines – Norgaard

If you happen on Spotify, hear it here.