lunch

Having lunch with Iki outside because our apartment is not yet provided with kitchen utensils. Not even a knife or a single frying pan.

Nasi goreng Jawa I shared with Iki tasted really good. I wonder how much MSG they put inside haha.

Waiting forward for Enyo's visit this evening :p

bless me!

woke up at 1.30 am this morning and got frustated because i couldn't go back into sleep no matter how i tried. guess i was too nervous to have this long trip with iki haha.

iki on the other hand looks really fine. he is very actively playing with his grandparents now.

i tried my best to give them my best smile, and used as much concealer as possible to cover my sleepy eyes.

arrgh..will arrive at the airport soon. oh god, bless me!

coughing and lonely

my cough is getting worse these past few days so i had to do the lastthing i want to do: calling my mother in law! iki didn't let me have a little sleep at all so i need her to take care of him. so since yesterday i could sleep peacefully.

i think i had too much sleeping during the days that now i couldn't close my eyes anymore in the middle of the night. i just realized that my bedroom seems empty now with only one bed. i couldn't recall when was the last time i sleep alone. hiro is now working abroad and now in my dark room i'm missing him so much. the feeling i almost forgot for few years until tonight.
anyway must go back to sleep now. tomorrow i have to finish packing. i hope my cough would get better so that the long trip with iki only to meet hiro would be smooth!!

ps: sorry haven't replied any comments yet. been doing mobile blogging only these few days. i will as soon as i get better :)

damn

this would be a busy week but i catch a cold. damn.

i couldn't have any sleep. iki keeps jumping on my head. he's upset that he couldn't go swimming today...

hope i could recover before saturday :(

Thai festival

We are at full-of-people-that-we-could-hardly-walk Thai festival 2008 in Tokyo. I didn't expect that people would be this much :(

I really REALLY want to eat.......

Bakso Pak Salam
Mie pangsit Pak Salam
Nasi bebek madura Canggih
Soto Banjar at Kedungdoro
Kwetiau siram at Apeng Restaurant
Lele, telor, terong penyet
Nasi Udang Bu Rudi
Ayam & Bakwan penyet Bu Kris
Tahu Tek Tek
Nasi Padang nearby CDU office
Cah Kangkung
Sate babi bikinan mama
Pastel tutup bikinan oma
Sop sener bikinan oma
Mie kuah babi bikinan mama
Tinoransak bikinan mama
Empek-empek palembang
Rujak manis
Nasi Kuning Banjar + Haruan
Soto Ayam pucang
R-W :p
Nasi Goreng Ikan asin
Mie dokdok pedes
Bubur Ayam surya
Coto Makassar
Lemper ayam bikinan maminya Palen hahaha
Lontong Cap Go Meh
Pisang goreng pake bumbu petis pedes :p

The list was much longer. I deleted 1/3 of it already....
Huuu huuuuu *drooling*

ci-chan sad

Hiro has been very busy these past three weeks. He has very important project that he has to work till late every day, even during weekends and golden week.He often has late dinner and caught a cold because he was too tired. I just hope everything will be fine!

Tonight Iki had dinner with me only, as usual. Before started he asked about papa-chan, and i told him that papa is still at work. This is what he said then: "papa-chan nai, ci-chan sad. ci-chan mau papa-chan" (papa is not here, iki-chan is sad. iki-chan wants papa).

Poor boy...

Mama's make up

Cosmetics is an essential need here in Tokyo. Especially when you live in a company apartment complex where all wives always step out of their houses with their best appearances. Even for only throwing away garbage or accompanying children playing downstairs!! They do wear jeans and T-shirts, but I never see anyone without make up on their faces. I didn't really pay attention to this matter at first, but well, as time goes by....now I have to struggle everyday between my busy mornings to put some make up on. I am not good on this, FYI! (>.<).
Once I asked Hiro, what if the apartment was on fire when I was in bath?! He simply answered, "Of course at least you have to put lipsticks on!" Ha?!

According to VERY magazine, May 2008 Edition, there are three types of make up tips for a woman. Mama's make up, wife's make up, and office's make up. Since I'm not a working mother, I'll share about mama's make up and wife's make up in separate posts :)



The key point here is to appear very simple yet elegant. That's why the usage of foundation is omitted. Here are the steps:

Cosmetics base, preferable UV essential base.
I use Biotherm's moisturizer here as my last step daily skin care. No UV essential but I like it because my skin is very dry and that product can give extra protection the whole day.



UV protection with SPF 50 PA+++.
I use Kanebo's Allie SPF 50. It is also waterproof and recommended for water sport activity. Start by making small dots on your face with your finger before spread it all over your face.



Concealer.
I use body shop's one. Choose a bit lighter color than your skin. Apply some amount on your hand first, then use your finger to apply it under your eyes to camouflage the dark color.



Face loose powder.
I use body shop's too, the darkest color. Tap the sponge gently all over the face. Avoid rubbing it on your skin!



Eye brow liner.
I use Revlon's eyebrow pencil, grey one.



Eye shadow.
Choose natural color, the closest color to your skin. The idea for mama make up is that you seem like putting on almost no make up. Eye shadow color's choice is one important factor to sharpen make up. I choose this Revlon's eye color stick, bronze one.



Mascara.
My eye lashes are super short so I need a product that can make them look longer. I also use waterproof one because there were too many incidents that blackened my under eyes!
I don't put mascara on my lower eye's lashes. I don't like the very big eyes effect.



Cheek color.
Almost all wives I meet everyday use pink or orange cheek color because they have very light skin color. I prefer Body shop's bronze pearls. I'm still NOT good applying this thing on my cheeks *sigh*. I tried to put it on as thin as possible, but so far I'm not satisfied with the result yet :(



I use this "cute" Maquillage cheek brush from Shiseido instead of sponge from the bronze pearl's package. I tried using sponge once and shocked seeing the thick color on my face!



Lipstick.
I use Integrate's liquid dark brown lipstick for daily use. Thinking about changing into lighter color once I finish this :p



Done.
The magazine wrote that usually it takes 5 minutes to complete this mama's make up steps, but I still need 12 minutes - could be longer if Iki disturbs me :p

How long do you do your daily make up???

coffee time

The weather is very good today. we spent the whole morning playing at the park. after lunch then i brought iki to ikebukuro. our coffee is out of stock and i need a pair of flat yet fashionable shoes. it's sale month at seibu ikebukuro but those cute shoes are till above my budget hhhh. i spent too mch money already shopping these months so i guess i'd better not to buy anymore stuffs here or we will be bankrupt hahaha. i ended up having this caramel frappucino at starbucks,while iki is sleeping on his stroller.
well, i guess i will have a bit more window shopping before going home :p

Bobo's Birthday

Last Saturday was my mother in law's (MIL) birthday. We went to Yokohama together to have dinner party with my sister in law's family. It was the first time we could all sit on the same table and eat after we moved to Japan so my parents in law were really looking forward to it. MIL said that it was a great birthday present already.



We prepared personalized calendar with everyone's pictures in various occasions. My sister in law made it. It was a sweet birthday present for that old woman :)

We had dinner at a crab restaurant. The food was (of course) not as delicious as the crab I had in Hokkaido, but we had so much fun there. Iki also enjoyed playing together with his cousins.

The appetizer came in this cute box. From left to right: boiled crab, bamboo shoots salad with kani miso dressing, tofu with crab topping, and green salad with Japanese dressing.



Then came this pretty decorated crab sashimi.



And chawan mushi for the kids



The main menu was grilled crab with various vegetables. I didn't take any pictures because everyone was too hungry already. It was my first time eating crab in that style. Tasted good!!

And I had this Warabi Mochi as dessert. Really a perfect one to end my dinner!!!



Iki played a lot and said some new vocabularies that night, all in Japanese. He collected almost all the crab shaped chopsticks stands on the table and put them inside his pockets. I thought then he gave them back all before going home......but I found one left inside his pocket the next day. Oh my.....little thief! :))

Help!

My mother in law is having her 79th birthday next Saturday. I prepared small party for my father in law last month so it was considered as birthday present from us. But this time we're going to have birthday dinner together with my sister in law's family. I must come bringing a nice birthday present, right?!

Couldn't think of any good idea. Help help helppppp m(_ _)m *bowing*

Mothers' visit

Just finished cleaning up the mess in my kitchen. My friends went back home already two hours ago and Iki fell asleep soon after that. It was a very late nap (over 5 p.m!), so I guess tonight we will have late dinner + late bath + late goodnight sleep again (_ _o)

It was really fun today. At first Iki was nervous and panic that some girls are coming over, but then he got used and enjoyed their visit. Iki brought them all playing in his room, so we, mothers have plenty time to chat and laugh :p.

I prepared easy Japanese Kare with Saffron Rice. It was a blast. Everyone loved it, especially the saffron rice that they asked for more.



At last I didn't serve my tissue box-like brownies. Remember that Japanese eats with eyes?! Whenever I visited my friends' house, every meal was always presented beautifully. Felt like eating at a restaurant. So guessed what I served them?! KERUPUK UDANG :p. Boy, they loved it. They asked me to bring some for them if I go back to Indonesia. Hmmm....wished I was clever enough to think about this Kerupuk possibility yesterday!! I shouldn't have to spend the whole afternoon making butter and baking cake, right?!?! (>.<)



They brought a lot of children snacks, Japanese sweets, bread and cake too. So we were all overeating and happy (^__^)

Have some kare leftover so I don't have to cook anymore tonight, but it's almost 7.30 so I'm off to wake Iki up now. Hmmmm he definitely will be angry and have a bad mood tonight :(

Shierly-made butter

You probably are getting tired reading about this butter thing :p, but yes, again I still couldn't get any unsalted butter. Tomorrow some friends are coming over for lunch and I planned to bake French brownies for dessert. So today I decided to try making my own unsalted butter.



All I need were only a pack of cream and following the very clear illustrated instructions here. In less than 15 minutes, tadaaaa I got unsalted butter (^___^). From 150 ml cream, I got 80 gr unsalted butter + 50 cc buttermilk (will think of how to use this later).



And this is the final result. French Brownies from VideoJug



Little Iki dropped it while it's not cooling down yet. The hole is as big as the hole on my heart. It looks like a tissue box now (T_T). How would I show this to my friends tomorrow?!?!?!?!?! *lemes*

Nerd

Today I got online using MSN messenger again after looooong looooong time. And it was because I was looking for Hiro and could only find him there. Good point is that I met Tina and had little chat while baking Kue Yun today. I was very happy and enjoyed it a little bit too much. I got my cake a bit burnt as the result (>.<) . It didn't look good, but it did taste good! (^___^)



I turned on my PC again after put Iki into sleep and got my MSN automatically connected. A long lost friend greeted me and complained that I didn't get online on MSN for years. When he asked what was new, I told him that I'm now married, with a son, and living in Japan. To my surprised he was very very angry. He said that he waited for me online for years, only to find me married. I was like "HA?! Who the hell are you, "yelling" at me like that?!?!"

I couldn't remember if I promised him anything. I couldn't remember if our relationship was more than a "friend". As far as I could remember, whole our chats in the pasts were about his complaints about his works, his house, his life, him having no friends. I was just being a very good "ear" to all of his ramblings. And how dare he said that I gave him impressions that we were in "relationship"?!, and now even asked to MEET me, ALONE?! hiiiiiii noooo way!

I blocked him right away and got offline from MSN.

N.E.R.D!!!!

Butter

Still about butter :p
This butter matter has been a national news lately. That Japan is in butter shortage. Funny for a country like Japan, isn't it? Anyway restaurants, bakery, and women who love to bake get the biggest impact. Others? Like my mother in law, for example, she doesn't really care. So do some of my friends who do not like baking. They said that most Japanese food do not need any butter, so the butter shortage doesn't really bother them. ALL Japanese would be panic if there's soy bean shortage, since it's the main ingredients for making miso, tofu, and natto (for example). Make sense for me. There're always those three things inside my refrigerator, and I'm sure are inside other Japanese's refrigerators all over Japan.

Anyway this afternoon I found butter at Seiyu supermarket. Only 2 packs left. I ran and took them all once I saw them, and somewhat felt satisfied when a woman behind me gasped "a-re?!?!" (read: heee???!!!). Well, I regretted as I walked out of the supermarket, though. I should give one butter to her..........



But it does mean I could bake this Kue Yun I've been dying of (it doesn't need unsalted butter). I got the recipe from Yun, but because she doesn't know the name of the cake, I named it "Kue Yun". Let's see how would it be this evening hehehe

There's still no unsalted butter for making cake though, I went to the other supermarket to check (and there was no butter at all there). But it's OK. After reading Amy's blog, I think I'll make my own unsalted butter later when I need it, but using faster method: this one.

OK, off to the kitchen now. Will start baking my Kue Yun (^___^)

No Butter Anywhere!!!! (>.<)

Butter is nowhere to be found in Tokyo :(. I can't believe it. It's been two months. We're using margarine for bread already now, but definitely not for cooking or baking *sigh*. Recently I bake something with Iki at least once a week. With no butter stock everywhere, I must find other productive hobby then......(Hiro complained that my "blogging and browsing and chatting" hobby is not productive at all)

I'm wondering when will the butter market condition be normal again, I have long list meals to cook using butter :p

Sick

Iki catches a cold! Suddenly he got little cough and his nose stuffed since last night. Poor boy....Hiro said that he might get the virus when I brought him to play at department store yesterday afternoon or because he was too stressed after locked me outside yesterday :p.

We spent almost the whole day in the living room watching Thomas the Tank engine's movies. He was weak and wanted me to hug him all the time. He kept saying: "ci-chan...koawa.." (read: Iki-chan is like koala).

It took time to feed him too, so this afternoon I brought him to supermarket (after we went to doctor) and asked him to chose whatever he wanted for lunch. He picked tarako (salted fish eggs)- his favorite ever, udon (buckwheat noodle), and green peas. I added some vegetables, and this is what he had for lunch:



He ate that happily! And as usual this boy loves to drink medicine. The powdered medicine he just got from the doctor today was orange so he was excited to drink it. He even asked for more hahaha. My boy really really likes medicine, in any form or color. For him, medicine is a dessert :p

Get well soon, Iki.....it's just really sad to see him weakly played and laid on my lap the whole day. I missed his screams, jumps, and dances. I miss my naughty yet healthy boy......

Locked (>.<)

Iki locked me at the veranda when I was taking the dry clothes this evening...

At that time I just finished saying "Iki, stop playing with the sliding door", when I heard the locked sound. Damn!!!!! I was locked at the veranda by a 2 years old boy!!! And don't you dare to laugh at me grrrhhhhh

Our apartment's sliding doors to the verandas are equipped with safety locked so that kids couldn't open it from inside. And today I got the proof that kids (or toddler) really couldn't open it!!.
I tried to teach Iki from outside how to open the damn lock but he couldn't. He tried and tried though, following my instructions with his panic face. But yeah....it was too difficult to him.
I told him to take the wireless phone and taught him how to call Hiro then. He did it!!!! I didn't expect he could understand and follow my instructions properly. Smart boy! but papa-chan was not smart enough to understand that it was an emergency call :(

Today was my first period day so my stomachache was killing me. Usually if Hiro has to drink with his colleagues he always sends me an SMS around that time, so I was worried too. Couldn't imagine if I had to stay out there until 1 a.m and let little Iki alone without food inside (>.<). It was warm today but I was so worried and scared and angry that I felt really cold. I was locked outside for more than 1 hour when suddenly I saw a little girl passed with her bike. I called her and explained her what happened with my very limited Japanese. Luckily she understood and ran for help. One mother then came over and called the apartment administrator to help me out.....

I didn't know what to say then when I read Hiro's sms on my mobile phone: "Did you call me? Aku angkat then mendengar your voice and Iki. Waktu kerja jangan call me. ONLY EMERGENCY aja" How could I not blow up reading that?!?! IT WAS AN EMERGENCY CALL!!!!

Anyway it's over. I learned my lesson today: to bring my mobile phone EVERYWHERE. Iki learned his lesson too today, I hope. He was also panic, trying his best to help me. After the apartment administrator rescued me, Iki hugged me tightly while saying "coyi, mama....coyi..." (sorry, mama). I forgave him already the moment he tried his best to help me......



Oh dear.....what an embarassing experience. I guess tomorrow everyone would know that "Iki-kun no mama was locked at the veranda by Iki" (>.<)

(-_-)

It's really difficult to make everyone happy. I couldn't....
Infact I'm unhappy now (-_-;)

Chinese food dinner

Last Sunday we had dinner at a nearby small Chinese restaurant nearby our apartment. At first I doubted if the food was good, but surprisingly it was really really good!!

We ordered this stir fry cuttle fish in oyster sauce. Boy, the cuttle fish was very soft. Too bad I only ate one piece!!! Little Iki loved this menu that he took my portion as well.



And then came this Fried Rice. Tasted good. Four stars out of five :)



This is the star of our dinner. Tea-smoked Duck (zhang cha ya zi). It was so tasty and tender and juicy. And the skin was very crispy.



Everyone loved this menu. Little Iki ate 3 or 4 pieces greedily :))



At the end we ordered Shark Fin soup. We were not full yet wanted something light. It was too salty for Hiro, but for me it was just perfect. Iki? he was too busy with his smoked duck :p



Total damage was 9310 yen = around 90 USD. Gee....small restaurant doesn't mean "cheap" here!!

Good news

Yesterday night I heard a good news after feeling nervous and down for these few weeks *phew*.
Hiro told me that he is not to be sent to that dangerous country where he couldn't bring the family. The news from the other country is not clear yet, though. But for now he will work here, in Japan (^__^). How long? no one knows! but at least he still will be here for the next 2 or three weeks.

God works in his own way. Thank you for praying with me, my dear bestfriends *hugs hugs*

The weather was as good as my feeling today. We had outdoor activities the whole afternoon. I brought enough snacks, and a magazine. He could play by himself at the park now and let me read peacefully. Only came to me when he wanted something to eat and took a rest. We went back home until he was too tired to say no, and was asleep in a minute I put him on his bed hahaha.



This flower is now fully bloomed here. I found them all around our place. What flower? I don't know and I don't bother to know. So white, pure, light and pretty. Like a baby's heart.



Hiro was working until late again today so I made this new recipe I took from my new monthly cooking magazine, with a bit modifications here and there to meet Iki's preference. Rolled pork with Tarako (fish's salted eggs) and boiled spinach. He loved it!!! \(^o^)/

"Busy" Week

This week is the busiest ever :))

There was no swimming school on Monday, but some mothers gathered at Sakurako-chan's house. We had lunch and fun talks there. The kids enjoyed playing with lots of toys there. They are about the same age so seemed that they were not interested to play together yet. They just got together if they want other kid's toy, and ended up fighting (_ _o)

Tuesday was swimming day as usual. I had some shopping afterwards and then spent the next 1 hour waiting for Iki playing with the small cars and tricycles downstairs. I was tired and hungry after the swimming lesson but how come this boy was still full of energy?!?!
There were some hungry mothers too waiting for their kids playing after their daily shopping. We ranted each other of how difficult to get the kids home with all those toys parked freely nearby the parking area and stairs (>.<)

I had hanami (again!) on Wednesday. Together with some friends from the swimming school. We had picnic lunch under Sakura trees at the park I visited last weekend with Hiro and Iki. We had onigiri (rice balls) with various fillings, Fried Chicken (Ayam goreng bumbu Kobe - yes, I prepared this one), dango (Japanese rice cake sweets in ball shape), and Sakura mochi. I didn't take any photos, didn't get any chance at all. None of us did. We were too busy feeding our kids and accompanied them playing. They had different interests so we were all separated! One mother with her 9 months daughter climbing the rocky stairs, one mother with her 1 y/o son interested to catch a fish from the pond, and me trying to stop Iki jumping from a big rock into a small human-made river. At the end we were all exhausted and I guessed everyone agreed that picnic with toddlers was not a good idea hahaha. We (the mothers) could have some talks only during our way home because the kids sat tiredly on their strollers.



Then I went to Saitama to visit Nova and Kiyo on Thursday. It was an hour trip from my house but we had so much fun there. Nova cooked Indonesian food, complete with her spicy sambal, krupuk udang, and Nutrisari!!! I couldn't remember when was the last time I had Nutrisari! Iki fell in love with krupuk and Nova gave us some to be cooked at home (Thanksssss a lot, Nov!). Too bad Iki and Kiyo were still not interested to play together. Most of the time Iki wanted the toy in Kiyo's hand and Kiyo also was interested to whatever Iki held. Iki is not as aggressive as Kiyo but he tried his best to defend or take the toy he's interested in. And so did Kiyo. There were always be little fightings between them hahaha



Iki and Kiyo. They are one year old different, but they are at about the same height now :)). They were fighting for this wheel drive at the park.



After swimming lesson on Friday, I had lunch together with some friends again at the Fitness Center's cafe. The food was really good and this time amazingly the kids were playing together. Playing here means running around and chasing each other. They were very active and noisy and uncontrollable. It was a hard work to stop them and bring them home, and still then Iki ran away from me again as I parked his bike at our apartment, to play with the car toys. Some other tired mothers with their shopping bags again welcomed me with their weak smile :p

Thanks God then I didn't have to meet anyone on Saturday. I just went out for a little shopping then spent the rest of the day at home with Iki and papa-chan. This -staying at home- is a very unusual thing in our home!!

And today I had lunch at an Indian restaurant in Shinjuku with a friend. The food was really good though it was not as spicy as expected. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet, and was really a good deal for 1500 yen for each person.



Lately I spent a lot of time with mothers so I felt really good to meet a single woman. For a while I was free from mothers' talks (kids, houseworks, cooking, shopping, toys, and even schools!), and had a totally different topic to talk about: travels, passion, work, restaurants, friendship, guys :p, fashion, and body shaping (haha!). Thanks to Hiro for taking care of Iki the whole day (^_^)

And I took this photo on our way home after having dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant tonight. Sakura at night. As beautiful as they're seen during the day. This would be my last Sakura photo this year. As they are almost all gone now :)



What a fun yet tiring week. I guess next week I just want to stay at home :)

Please....

Hiro is not leaving on the 15th as scheduled. The company said that he must wait for the new information on April 10th. Whether he's going to be sent to that country where we couldn't go with him, or to the other country (which is much much better because he could bring the whole family).

The possibility is not big though (_ _;). Only about 10%. But it IS a hope. Though a miracle is needed, I do wish there is any to help us.

I pray day and night for that, and please pray with me too. Please pray to bring the miracle here so that the 10% chance could come true...........

PS: Last night I heard from Hiro that the possibility is only 1% now :(. God, I really need a miracle!!

Throwing away oil

Throwing away garbage here has its own rule. Garbage must be separated based on several categories. Combustible, incombustible, pet bottle, silicon tray, bin, milk package, old clothes, newspaper, magazines, and empty big boxes. Its more or less the same with the rule in Incheon except for oil. In Incheon oil must be thrown away inside a big special tank nearby the big public trash bin, meanwhile here oil must be put inside combustible garbage. When I heard it for the first time I was confused. How is it to put liquid into combustible garbage?!

We are big fans of deep fried food so oil is an essential need in our home. So how to throw away oil properly was one of my important to do list to learn. There are indeed some ways that can turn oil into combustible garbage. We use this one:



Powder that can turn oil into jelly like thing. The oil must be heated first until about 40 degrees Celsius. And then I just have to put the powder inside, mix them well with chopsticks, and let the oil cold. The final result is this:



This big oil jelly then can be thrown away as combustible garbage. It was really interesting for me hihihi (dasar udik!)

How do you throw away your oil?

(@_@)

I'm p.r.e.g.n.a.n.t
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .
. . .

Iki is having a brother or sister!




(^_____^)

Happy April Fool day