..another family reunion

August 28th, Saturday, another family reunion from my mother in-law side, some couldn't come but still another fun day for Grace, She still not get used to with his uncles, need little bit time until she give them smile. The two girls, Tori and Rayna didn't show up too, so Grace was the only little girl...
The weather not as warm as we thought, so we didn't swim at the little pool in the backyard. We go home earlier because we need to prepare for our trip to Eastern Washington. Got home at 7PM enough time to prepare (mostly) Grace's stuff. ..:))

Family Picnic

Daddy's chating with Ashley,Grace hand up! we're with Heather, left and Gayle, right On Saturday, August 21st, we had Family Picnic, one of some Summer Parties in our family. This time, the Picnic was at 'Vaux Retreat Center at Baker View Park' , Mount Vernon, Washington. This is the family from my late father in-law. We actually not sit down on the grass with picnic blanket, but the Retreat Center has kinda cottage with all the tables and chairs, kitchen with 2 big refrigerators, microwave, etc. Every family brought their favorite meals, or in here, America, we call it 'Pot Luck' Party. I brought 'Paella', Spanish Rice with Shrimps. It's about 20 people showed up, and this time we missed all Grace's cousins, because two cousins were in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming and one cousin was in Virginia with his mom, visiting his mom's friend, so Grace was the only little kid and I was surprised because this time she really enjoy the party, smiling alot, clapping alot infront of those people who only once in a while she meets.

Terik Bola Daging - Meatballs with Coconut Sauce

Ingredients - Bahan
1 lb ground beef/chicken/turkey (sekitar 450 gram daging cacah)
1 inch galanga, slice ( 2 cm lengkuas,memarkan)
2 lime leaves (2 buah daun jeruk purut)
1 Indonesian Bay Leave (1 lembar daun salam)
1 cup Coconut Milk (sekitar 250 CC Santan)
1 tbs butter
2 tbs sweet soy sauce ( kecap manis)

Blend the Spices below - Bumbu yang dihaluskan
5 shallot, if big just use one - bawang merah
2 garlic - bawang putih
3 candle nuts - kemiri
1 tsp ground coriander - ketumbar bubuk
salt - garam
a little bit brown sugar (pake gula jawa, kalo tidak suka manis di skip aja!)

Mix the ground beef with the Spices, shape into balls
Campur daging cacah dengan bumbu yang sudah dihaluskan, bentuk bola
Heat the pot, melt the butter and add the raw meatballs, pour the sweet soy sauce until brown
Panaskan wajan/panci, lelehkan butter dan tambahkan bola daging tambahkan kecap manis hingga kecoklatan
Add the coconut milk, galanga, Indonesian bay leave, lime leaves
Tambahkan santan, lengkuas, daun salam dan daun jeruk purut.
Shimmer in middle-heat, give it a stir occasionally until the milk reduce and meatballs well done.
Masak dengan api sedang sambil sesekali di aduk sampe kuah mengental sesuai selera.

Happy B'day Indonesia..!

August 17th is Indonesia's Independence Day, the country where I come from. I tried to tell my 'Indo-American' daughter (almost 2 years old) about this. ...she stared at me and gave me her best grimache..ha..ha..!   Just like in America during 4th of July where people celebrated it with barbequing and having fun outdoor, in Indonesia many people celebrate days before the date, by having games for kids, adults and on the night of August 16th, we usually try to reminish what the heroes did to gain this Independence and then the festive continued by having dinner together sometimes outside with family or neigboors.   I made Indonesia yellow rice with some accessories along with it such as 'Kue Lumpur', the Indonesian Mini Mud Pie as desert, and on top of the yellow rice are crepes from beaten egg then I sliced them thinly formed like noodles, and Terik Meatballs' a kind of meatballs cooked with coconut milk, we also ate that with sliced cucumber and 'Kerupuk Udang'...Indonesian Shrimp Cracker. It's simple and it was fun, my hubby likes 'Kue Lumpur', he ate them not only as a desert but also appetizer...:)) Happy Birthday Indonesia, we love you so much!!..

14 Great Books for Toddler

1.  Bunny My Honey by Anita Jeram $4.99 2.  Baby Faces by DK Publishing $5.99 3.  Counting Kisses by Karen Watz $7.99 4.  Eyes, Nose, Fingers & Toes by Judy Hindley $6.99 5.  Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown $8.99 6.  Guess How Much I Love You by Sam Mc Bratney $7.99 7.  Hop & Pop by Dr. Seuss $6.99 8.  Moo. Baa, La La by Sandra Beynton $8.99 9.  Pat The Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt $9.99 10. Runnaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown $11.55 11. Ten Little Fingers by Annie Kubler $4.99 12. The Very Hungry Cartepilaar by Eric Carle $8.23 13. Where Is Baby's Belly Button by Karen Katz $5.99 14.  Where The Side Walk Ends by Shel Silverstein $12.91 Source: Babyzone

Kue Lumpur - Indonesian Mud Mini Pie

2 cup mashed potato (sekitar 450 gr, kentang kukus dan haluskan) 1 3/4 cup coconut milk (santan, sekitar 300 ml) 1 tbs vanila extract 16 tbs sugar (1 cup) - gula 14 tbs all purpose flour (1/2 cup plus 2 tbs) 4 tbs margarine or butter 4 eggs - telur Raisin for garnish (hiasan) Semua dicampur dan diaduk sampe halus pake mixer Blend all with mixerPake muffin pan di spray nonstick spray Spray muffin pan with nonstick oil spray Masukkan adonan setengah saja ditiap cetakan Drop the dough just half in every muffin cup Panggang di oven 25 menit 350 degree, taruh raisin setelah 15 menit di oven Bake for 25 minutes in 350F preheated oven, put some raisins on top of the dough after 15 minutes and bake again for 10 minutes. Inspired by Andrew's mom from Ashland, Kentucky, US.

Veggies in the basket, Sayur Mayur

Lumayan banget dapet sekeranjang sayur mayur plus dalam tas kresek, gratis pula, dari salah satu pasien nya my hubby, ada timun, wortel, beet, paprika hijau, tomat, buncis, bawang bombai, kentang, Swiis Chard (sejenis sayuran gitu), squash...Thank you Lord, and thank you to Don, Ludin and Tammy. Semua fresh from the ground plus tanpa pestisida, dari kebun mereka sendiri.

Feels good getting 'free' vegetables plus in two plastic bags, from one of the patients of my hubby, cucumbers, carrots, beets, green bell peppers, potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, onions, Swiss Chard...all fresh from the ground, ..Thank you Lord, and thank you to Don, Ludin and Tammy. God bless you guys!..

What we’ve been up to?

Well we've been busy these past few weeks. My routine day jobs, cooking, laundrying, cleaning, walking out with Grace, going to the park, going to the gym (sometimes..hh!). Grace turned to 23 months on August 1st, it is hard to believe that she only one more step to be 2 years old little girl. Time goes insanely fast!.I just want to freeze time and keep Grace young and innocent. It seemed just yesterday when we brought her from hospital and all she could do is sleeping, nursing, crying (not much though, she's happy once she smells her crib), pooping...ha..ha!. Now she has lots of energy, she likes drawing, not only on the blank paper but also on magazine, newspaper, map in the wall, ..plus on her body, she showed me and said 'mooom...tattoo, tattoo!..OMG!!. She also like climbing, dancing, watching her favorite shows on tivi, running arround with her daddy!. Yes.!!, her vocabularies began to spurt, one day after watching 'Dinosaur's Train' she said 'Dino-soyuz, Dino-soyuz (Dinosaur) and' Tee-weeiz '.. Tee-weeiz (mean T-Rex) .. I was amazed..!, not to mentioned when she wants to go out for walking, she would say 'shocks n shoes'  'shocks n shoes and 'o-side , o-side (mean outside). I speak Indonesian to her everyday, she understands but she still respond me in English...well that's okay!, because she hears alot English, through tivi, music...or it's just because her personality I don't know because my friend's son who also mix kid between Indonesian and white American, he responded well when his mom speaks Indonesian to him, I guess (like word wise, kid has different personality). Grace never let me experiment with her hair, it seems she's little bit tomboy, even when I try to comb or brush her hair, she doesn't like it, but she loves to wear heels and prance around the house and she carries a purse often times, I hope she'll be more girly as the year goes by.

Gudeg ala Perantauan

Gudeg ala Perantauan Bahan : 2 kaleng nangka muda (di Asian supermarket : Thai Green Young Jackfruit in brine) 5 telur rebus, kupas (10 juga boleh dech klo mau) 2 kaleng santan 3 lembar daun salam 3 X 2 cm lengkuas, memarkan 2 buah paha ayam 100 gr gula merah, iris halus (bagi yg tinggal di US, sekitar 1/2 cup), aku kadang pake 'dark brown sugar' kalo pas ga punya gula jawa. 1 mangkok kulit bawang merah (shallot lho!, bukan red onion..!) Haluskan: 6 butir bawang merah 3 butir bawang putih 1/2 sendok teh ketumbar 1 sdm garam Cara membuatnya : Panaskan oven 180 C (350F). Siapkan panci tanah liat atau big bowl yang tahan oven Blender hingga halus santan, gula merah, dan bumbu halus.

Choco-Peanut Butter Shake

Ini salah satu minuman yang sering aku buat, waktu hamil, karena agak bosan dengan penampilan plain milk, dibikin Shake bisa menambah selera, sekarang kadang masih sering buat tapi share dengan Grace anakku..he..he!

Choco-Peanut Butter Shake

One of my favorite drinks when I was pregnant, milk is good during pregnancy but sometimes plain milk is boring...this is really yuum and now I still make it sometimes but share with my daughter, Grace..!





Makes 2 Servings
1 cup milk (1 cup = setara satu gelas belimbing)
2 cups chocolate ice cream
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Blend all in Blender and pour into tall glasses.

Apricot Cobbler

June-July adalah musim apricot, salah satu cara enjoy apricot yang kita sukai adalah dibikin cobbler, cobbler sebenarnya dulu dulunya adalah adonan pie, tapi karena malas, adonan tidak dibikin bentuk pie, tapi di drop diatas irisan apricot...enak dan mudah!.

Ingredients
For Filling
1 1/2 lb fresh apricots, pitted and cut into 1/2- inch wedges
7 tbs sugar
1 tbs all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon almond extract