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Postcard livin’

Koh Tao, Thailand October 2017

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#TummyTales: Makassarian food, you’re a beaut.

I love my mom, but sometimes I get tired of her food. It’s the same thing almost every day: chicken, rice, veggies. I love it, but she hardly experiments with her spices.

I’m never really one for spicy, but damn, I would eat spicy just for this. The ikan bakar is great and they let you split it to spicy and non. Cereal prawns were no short of crunchy and addictive.

My mouth waters as I type this.

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Bajaj strolls in the city

Jakarta, Indonesia October 2017

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Shophaus

Jakarta, Indonesia October 2017

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#TrySomethingNew: Coworking spaces are productive AF

Maybe it’s the surroundings or my productive mood, but I got a lot of shit done on my first time ever working from my rented table.

But honestly, I think it’s because I had a 6-hour time frame. I really made use of my 360 minutes.

Co & Co is the first (apparently) coworking space in Bandung. Lucky me, it was so close to my Grandma’s! They have a variety of packages of desk rentals, including daily passes – full day, 3 hours and 6 hours. The receptionist was such a sweetheart, and there was a decent level of noise.

It’s one of the most memorable workspaces I had because my 6-hour pass left me no choice but to be productive. It even made me forget to eat!

It was also super affordable that it made me think of moving to Bandung (again).  But that’s no longer an option.

Regardless, I’m really glad I did this! It’s really funny how we’ve progressed from renting apartments to renting desks. When do we start renting water bottles?

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#TummyTales: The place for a carbonara fix

I’m a sucker for pasta carbonara, especially if there’s the right amount of parmesan in it. Yum.

After being back in Jakarta, it’s become hard to find one that’s affordable and close to home. But this girl’s gotta eat! So when I stayed for a couple of days at the East, I knew I had to try one of the cafes in Kelapa Gading.

Amyrea is a quaint restaurant/cafe that also serves as an art space. They sell a few trinkets by local artists and also really cute baked goods. Their carbonara pasta went better than I expected and the peach tea I ordered surprisingly complemented it well. 

I’d love to go back because it does have a very homey feel to it, plus the staff was super friendly. But being situated in the South, it seems like it’s just topping the list of recommendations for anyone looking for a good cafe at KG. 

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#TummyTales: Cuanki time is best time

Bandung’s culinary scene is weird. There’s fried yeast covered in eggs (cilor) and its siblings (cilok, cimol, and cireng). Nobody thought they’d like it, but they snack on these weird babies anyway. I can honestly say I have been personally victimized by this.

Cuanki is another one. It’s short for “cari uang jalan kaki” which literally means “find money by walking”. Mostly because cuanki sellers usually carry their products using a rod and walk around the area. 

It’s still a popular way for them to be found, but this cuanki has grown to an actual shop. Its HQ is always filled with people queuing and it’s crazy! But at the market I usually go to, they have their own mini branch. Sold by this guy with his own pushcart, stools are used as makeshift tables. 

It’s become one of my must-haves when I’m in Bandung because it’s warm, salty and crispy. Do yourself a favor and save yourself the queue and head to the Cuanki Serayu pushcart at Pasar Cihapit. It’s quieter, colder, and easier to find parking.

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#TummyTales: Yes to good food. Yes to good tiles.

This place literally made me think about moving to Bandung. The brunch set I had was just at the right portion. Not that big of a fan of their fried mash potato or whatever concoction they were trying at.

It was also two-thirds of what you’d pay in Jakarta for a place as cute as this. Wifi was great too, and the staff helpful as always. It is Bandung, anyway.

Cups Coffee & Kitchen is situated just 5-10 minutes walk away from the main Dago street. Who needs to go all the way to Lembang?

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Pigeonhole Coffee

Bintaro, Indonesia October 2017

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#TummyTales: The good kind of weird

So @andrianarinaldi and I have accidentally started a ritual of exploring new places every other weekend – and if we’re lucky, every weekend! – and this place was one of them.

Three Folks is tucked inside a charming guesthouse and it is the perfect place to exclude yourself from the chaos of South Jakarta. It has the right homey feel to it, so expect yourself to stay for a little longer than usual. They cook up some pretty decent (although usual cafe menu) heavy meals, but people usually stay for the ice cream. And you should.

We shared a bowl of black citrus (what) and lingonberry yogurt. The black citrus was hands down the most surprising of it all because it was so. good. Totally went over my expectations!

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Weaving.

Jakarta, Indonesia September 2017

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#TummyTales: Best. Nourish. Bowl. Ever.

Other than the fact that it was free (shameless), Pure Foods Company’s nourish bowl was refreshing, scrumptious and filling. It was a really good balance of flavors and textures – sweet and salty from the sauces, crunchy and soft from the tofu and tempeh. 

Especially the tempe kering. This girl always gets weak for tempe kering.

Granted, I felt a little hungry a little after but it was so healthy I figured I’d just deal with it. It’s like the perfect meal for meatless Mondays!

Now that I think about it, I could really use another bowl right now.

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The intricacies

Jakarta, Indonesia September 2017

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An eccentric place.

Bintaro, Indonesia September 2017

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Kopi Manyar

Bintaro, Indonesia September 2017

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#TrySomethingNew: Nine Ideas on the Ninth Month

Well, not really 9 ideas, but September has been all things new for me. It really felt like the month is taking its sweet time to end so all these different things are popping in my head.

Or maybe there are nine things. Let me list it all down:

I work from home now

My parents and I finally went to Kalimantan together, and we all went to Banjarmasin (new place yay!)

I’m gonna add a new project that’s completely food-related and call it tummy tales

I visited two new cafes in a day (!!!) simply because there was no wifi (ugh the life of a 21st century working woman)

I’m currently researching about local textiles because that’s probably my next project - and I am honestly super excited but also scared which is also exciting!!

Probably going to take graphic/web design courses so that’s an upgrade

Finally did yoga in Jakarta and it was a free class

Went to a new cafe just yesterday which has its own resident cat

Now I’ve ran out and that’s nothing new but literally my parents just asked me when am I getting married

OH wait. I’m adding a contact page. That’s what’s new! Maybe you won’t even notice, but hey if you do, please say hello! We can be buddies 🤗

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#TummyTales: Lontong Orari

Ok let me just be honest: I didn’t really like Banjarmasin. There wasn’t anything in particular that caught my eye, except for a few that required you to drive out. And since my dad didn’t want to drive, that option was out.

I thought the food would change my mind, but it didn’t really help. 

It’s a mix of rice cake, jackfruit curry and a protein choice between chicken or fish. I’m terribly against food that are sweet (unless they are desserts) and this one had manis all over. 

Another thing I’m not a fan of in Banjarmasin is how large food portions are. I might have been in a little unenthusiastic mood, because I could barely finish most of my meals when I was there, and this was one of it. 

So if you’re into large portions of sweet food, I highly recommend you to try it. I’m pretty sure if I had slapped 3 tablespoons of salt, I would have changed my mind. 

The restaurant seems a little popular for reunions and came highly recommended for tourists who are looking for something local. Just to note, the restaurant has no seats, which means you have to sit on the floor.

Would I come back? Tbh, no. But it’s garnering a lot of local fame, so it must be doing something right!