Indonesia Sedap!

Punchlines

Quip #1
Me to Uncle Ming: 你真的很会介绍吃的！
Uncle Ming:因为你喜欢吃， 所以才介绍吃的给你。不是吃的你没有兴趣！

Quite funny since just a day earlier Zibin told me that Uncle Ming must think I really love eating since he’s always asking me to taste this and that. Ha ha… it’s really that obvious huh? This uncle’s been getting me to taste different food since I was a toddler! *grin*

Quip #2
My girl cousins (ages 14-17) were huddling together taking photos and one of them calls me over.

Ie Mei: Ci! Come here and take pictures with us! You can be young for once!

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The highlight of our weekend trip to Indonesia is undoubtedly the day trip to Uncle Ming’s villa in Coolibar, Puncak. This businessman uncle of mine has a really great hobby – agriculture. Both in his home in Jakarta as well as his villa in Coolibar, he likes to grow his own food. From corn, rice, fruit and vegetables to fish, and even having Arabian chicken to lay eggs, he’s got a veritable personal farm. He even has his own mini tea plantation! He also likes to cook and host.

Hence, on Saturday, we had a delectable picnic lunch on the lawn of his villa of fish from his pond and vegetables from his garden. He gave us a walk-and-taste tour of his estate and we clueless city folk were awed by how the food we eat actually look like before they land in the market. We tasted fresh fig from the fig tree (deeelicious!), black corn (we all had natural purple lipstick on afterwards), strawberries, tomatella, fresh tea leaves and fresh blackcurrant from which later was brewed an all-natural ‘ribena’ without added sugar. Amazing stuff! If all that wasn’t enough, we were given his home-grown and home-made tapioca chips to bring back to Singapore, and a bag of chilli padi for Zibin’s father!

As food go, everytime I visit Indonesia, I marvel at the people’s creative and culinary skill. My grandmother’s birthday lunch was at the Four Seasons Hotel in Jakarta, and that was hands-down the best 8-course Chinese meal I’ve ever eaten. Every course was fantastic. Cathy, who is usually a light eater, finished every course… even the fried rice! I thought that was a real compliment to the chef! :P The birthday cake was a chocolate mousse cake which was safe for diabetics. It was light in texture but surprisingly rich in taste. I watched my chocolate & dessert hater of a husband finish his entire piece on his own. (The ONE time I would have gladly helped him!)

Visit my photo album to see more pics from this trip!