Finally! FOOD!

A few people have asked me to post about food. Finally, after a long time coming, here it is. Please feel free to comment or ask me questions.

My first breakfast; instant oatmeal, 3 kinds of fruit, and coffee
 (those things floating in it are the grounds. That's the way it's made)

Far from my first self-prepared breakfast, the food here is fun, in abundance and CHEAP! Some of the big differences include the way it is prepared (some foods are cooked in big batches and held for long periods of time - the only hot thing on your plate may be rice...I don't eat that very often, but when I do, I have no problems, i.e sickness or anything.) Also, because this is a Muslim-dominant country, beer and alcoholic drinks aren't served in as many places, but as a result, the drinks are special and delicious - full of things to chew on (ice, jelly, fruit, fermented cassava, coconut, kidney beans, and more)

Before I moved here, I was mostly a vegetarian - flexitarian, if you will, but here I need to eat more meat because pinto beans and black beans are not to be found as we eat them.Tempe and tofu abound, but there's only so much of that I can eat. It's usually fried or marinated in a sweet sauce so eating a bunch, enough to feel as if I have enough protein, is sometimes a challenge. Chicken and fish have been staples in my diet, as well. The fish is served whole, as you'll see, and can be friend or grilled. Both ways are delicious.

Fried chicken is everywhere, sweet tea is the way to drink it  (or sugar with tea, similar to Southern style), hot sauces, both like Texas Pete and salsa, come served with every meal and of course, rice is the staple. If all day long you eat, but have not had rice, you've really not eaten. Rice makes a meal.

Enjoy the following pictures. I'll do a part two with more pictures when I get the photos off my phone and find the others...like fish soup with a whole fish in it

Firstly with drinks.

This delicious drink, es kacang merah 

(iced red beans), has a coffee/chocolate tasting

 base and includes kidney beans, 

grass jelly cubes, and ice. It's delice!

This is very common, es kelapa mudah (iced young coconut)
It's cocunut water with a little sugar or sweet syrup - this one had
 gula jawa (Javanese sugar) which is brown and tastes almost like molasses even though
the texture is granular and compact (sold in half-circle shaped disks usually) at first

This is one of my favorites. It's easy to find in the evening through street vendors. This one was served at a retreat. It's called Wedang Ronde (wedang is a traditional ginger beverage and ronde means ball - the thing in the spoon is of  rice flour with something like peanut butter or peanuts inside). The other floaties are jelly chewies (I think) and peanuts

Coffee's famous...
I don't know why we had to have so much this day, one is usually enough (I guess we were trying different kinds) Coffee is made by spooning the grounds into a cup, adding some sugar and then  adding boiling water. I love coffee with ginger (kopi jahe). That's what's floating in the small cups. It's Javanese ginger; not the big kind with which we're familiar for cooking...they have that here, too, but it's associated with Chinese cuisine, not Javanese coffee. The snacks we tried were fried tofu and a chicken mixture -maybe fish - steamed with rice inside a banana or palm leaf (there is a difference) :-) I think we had already eaten up all the tempe! 

One morning my coffee grounds reminded me of why I'm here...

One of the things that I really wanted to learn to eat here is fish. I know it's good for me, so I wanted to learn to eat it. I can and do, but I still can't clean the bones like the young girl I saw once whose bones looked like the common cartoon version when she finished. 

This place was one of my favorites...VERY simple, as you can see, but the food is fresh (they catch the fish and cook it right then). 

One of the many fish pools at "Morokangan" ( I think that means craving, basically)

The view of the rice fields behind the "lesehan" (floor dining - you sit on the ground or elevated floor and eat at a low table...or in this case, on the floor)

Before...

...after (not the same meal, but the idea's the same) usually all the green veggies are gone, too...maybe we weren't all the way finished, but close.

This meal was fantastic - the fish had been sliced before grilling, the vegetable to the left is fried eggplant, the selection of sauces and relishes included hot, sweet and peanut. The drink is like limeade. The green vegetable is called kankung and it's available just about everywhere. It's like mustard greens and collards, mixed, but is long and stalky. It was prepared with chicken, this time. Often it has a shrimp-based spice in it that I'm not too fond of, so believe me, I know how to ask for items without it. 

Not too long after I arrived here, some of the people with whom I worked suggested we have a party at the guesthouse where I lived. People would bring fruits and snacks to spend time visiting and eating. I visited a traditional market to buy the ingredients for the peanut sauce (over-browned them a little, the sauce shouldn't be this dark) The fruit with the sauce is called "lotis" and the party that happens when one serves this is called a "lotisan"

Making the peanut sauce with the flat mortar and pestle ("cobek" and "ulekan"). The slice of cucumber is the way to scrape it out when finished. I learned that from a dear woman on the street - I've posted her picture already on Facebook and she'll be in part 2 of this blog)

Some of the fruits and veggies ti dip in the peanut sauce - there's a really good crunchy thing that is kind of like a turnip but not tangy (that's the white stuff under the cucumbers and pineapple) The orange fruit is papaya (which is very delicious here - not as pungent as I've had before)

Traditional market...

Buying the spices for the peanut sauce - this nice lady is holding  tamarind paste...

I'm saving my favorite food for last, so in the interim, I'll share some random images. The first is the birthday lunch I enjoyed this year and is pork (! not commonly found here, but I've found some good places...the only thing is that at my favorite place I'm always too happy and hungry to remember to take pictures...I'll do better for part 2)

3 kinds of pork - the one on the top right is just like pork roast, the one in the center and
the one on the left have different sauces. The one on the left is minced, the one in the center is stewed. The green  is the kakung I mentioned earlier and of course, rice. The drinks are es jeruk (iced orange juice...made like lemonade but with orange juice...in other words, juice, sugar and water) The iced beverage in the center had kidney beans, ice and chocolate syrup. 

Fried chicken meal...tempe to the right, es jeruk again and es tape (fermented cassava with flavored syrup, ice, and grass jelly...I think that's it) The plate at the bottom of the picture is mine. It has the typical vegetables usually found with a meal ("lalapan"); cucumber, cabbage and mint leaves. I also have fried eggplant, a piece of fried tofu and some green "sambel" (kind of like salsa, but chilies instead of tomatoes)

This is the view behind a restaurant in my neighborhood. They serve pork. And these tables are low and you sit on the floor. I love this way to eat the most. Especially when the view is pleasant, the air is fresh and the food is good.

This is durian. King of fruits. This is one segment -sorry no picture of what the actual fruit looks like. This fruit is renowned for its pungent, onion-y flavor and the fact that many hotels and taxis won't let you bring it with you because the odor is strong. I like it. It kind of tastes like a caramelized onion custard...sweet, but definitely with an onion flavor. It is different, but I think the over the top reaction to it is a bit, well, over the top. Maybe I wouldn't want to smell it ALL the time though...hhhmmmm. 

This is a meal from a popular vegetarian restaurant. I had a tempe cake, salad, and tea with cloves, cinnamon and sugar. My friend and I shared mushroom sate (skewers-shishkabob - Indonesia is FAMOUS for sate) and fried sweet potato with guacamole. My friend had fried rice. I think she was drinking a veggie beverage with pureed greens and whatnot.

Pancakes and waffles with ice cream, chocolate sauce (or condensed milk) and shredded cheese are popular. I haven't found many sweets that I can't live with out and let me share with you: I am THANKFUL for that!

I just took this picture of a small restaurant where I've never eaten because they have The Police and The Beatles on the wall...I think Led Zeppelin, too...the photo is good because it shows "lesehan" dining on the left and regular table dining on the right. If you were to eat on the left, you'd leave your shows on the stair. 

And now for my favorite. This dish is popular and hails from East Java. It is called "Pecel" and contains blanched vegetables (the "real" kind also includes squash blossoms, or something like that)  with peanut sauce, rice and a peanut-crunchy-cracker. It is often served with tempe, sometimes with a piece of chicken, egg, tofu...I feel full afterwards; as if I got enough nutrition to keep all this body of mine moving. It makes me happy. I only have 2 pictures because kind of like the pork I love, I'm usually hungry and forget to take pictures! 

Delicious pecel from a street vendor. There's an egg in the foreground. The drinks are also my favorite, guava juice. 

This delicious pecel lunch was served in a lovely place in a close by city. The plates have the vegetables with peanut sauce, egg, chicken, tofu and cracker. The green vegetable in the middle is eggplant with "sambel hijo" (the green salsa like food - hijo, ijo, hijau=green) Oh and the beer? Bintang ("star") Nice lunch and lovely place.

lovely place...

lovely place...