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Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Hardena

Last night I went to Hardena/Waroeng Surabaya. I might be off the spaghettio's but Indonesian food is definitely out of my comfort zone, but I was pretty excited to try it out. I calmed my anxiety by checking out the online menu, figuring out what foods are. I have found that at least in this Indonesian place, coconut and tofu are in almost anything on the menu. I seen a few reviews saying there was a "pick 3 for $7" deal so I decided to figure out ahead of time what I wanted. I found a list of the 50 most delicious foods and randang was on it, so I knew I was giving that a shot. I also found a soup, soto ayum and a salad gado gado. I wrote them down, picked up my cousin and boyfriend and headed down.



The restaurant wasn't hard to find. It isn't flashy, a bright door but a not too noticeable sign on a side street off of Broad. The restaurant was cute, small and felt almost like I was invited to dinner at someone special's house. When we came in two girls around our age were sitting at the main large table and offered to move down and share with us. We sat, then realized we were supposed to go up school lunch style and pick things and then be seated. I pulled out my list and prepared for my turn. When the people in front of me finished the man who stood in front of the hot dishes asked, for here or to go, and I said for here. He grabbed a plate, turned to a big rice maker and started pouring on rice. My cousin whispers to me, "What is he doing?" and I whisper back "I don't know, maybe he serves one generic meal for strange american customers who show up in his restaurant, just go with it." He turns back around and faces the foods with a plate of white rice and says
"What would you like?" I ask if it is the infamous pick three I heard of. (I do not use the word infamous haha). He says yes. I say I want to start with rendang. He says rendang back to me, reassuring me that I pronounced it correctly. I see some green beans in tofu and I know that I want them more than the stuff on my list, so I ask for those. Then I say soto ayum, and he says, that comes in a bowl and is seperate from the pick 3. I say ok, and knowing that it is a soup, and the other thing on my list gado gado is a salad I assume it's not in the pick three either so I look at the dishes in front of me and since almost everyone comes with tofu I opt for a mixed vegetable. Brenda goes with the rendang also and chooses a side of squid, and Andrew had the curry chicken. We also shared a glass of Es Teler. Which was a sweet coconut milk flavored drink with floating fruit in it. We ended up having an awesome time. The women at our table were from Singapore and told us that most of this food was traditional in their country, and they recommended the Crysanthanum tea. Which I found very refreshing. They also recommended to ask for a side of chili (paste?) and to mix it in the rice. I really enjoyed it. It had a strong heat to it but a light flavor and made the meal. They helped us figure out the different  fruits in our drink with some taste testing. Lychee, and the other I can't remember. It also had shaved coconut in it and looked very tropical. Would have been great with some rum! When Brenda bit the squid ink exploded in her mouth, I am not sure if that is normal but it was hilarious to us.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

The Future of My Food

I am excited to say that cooking will just be one of many hobbies that come out of this new gastronome lifestyle. Next up: canning, gardening, and trying new restaurants. I am happy to say I have dinner plans for next week at S&H Kebab House and I have a list of places I want to try that will follow. It is scary and exciting to step outside of my comfort zone. The food I have been cooking is normal food, that everyone eats all of the time. I have come so far from spaghettios already, but say, garlic spinach the other night was new to me, but eating foods I have never even heard of will be a challenge. I look forward to informing you all of the experiences and I am excited and open to what I have in store for me. I can't wait to see the restaurants, experience the atmosphere and to try the foods. I am going to try and do menu research before going so I know what went into the preparation and what exactly I am eating! Wish me luck!

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Forgiving myself for the time lapse

I commend the faithful blogger. It is a difficult task to commit yourself fully to writing on the same subject, day in and day out especially in the beginning when you don't know how faithful your readers are! I have been roadblocked by my own mind. Filled with the pressures of staying on topic and to follow the exact format I have taken the fun out of blogging, and left huge dents in my writing schedule. I have been cooking everyday, taking pictures of my meals, I haven't been recording as faithfully my use of ingredients and quite often don't measure by teaspoon but more by estimates. So it has been difficult getting all of my experimental meals recorded on here! I waited weeks and thought it would just all come back to me in the pictures, but I trusted my memory more than it deserved to be.
Anyway, let me give you a list of helpful things I have been doing to keep cooking fresh and keeping my life involved with my new journey.
- I read Gabrielle Hamilton's Blood Bones and Butter. Which I found very inspiring. A woman who speaks of food the way that I have come to understand and appreciate it. She took her dream of starting a restaurant with little to no experience, skipped on the middle steps, and just made it happen- but she also was raised in a home with quite a lot of food appreciation that helped her aesthetic.
- I am currently working my way through "How to be a better Foodie" and looking up everything on the internet as I go to see what it is I am reading.
- I am currently listening to the audiobook by Anthony Bourdain "Medium Raw" and I am very pleased with it. He describes in his opening paragraphs his experience with the sacred eating of ortolan bunting. I found this very fascinating especially because they eat the bird whole including bones and beak, its illegal and they hide their heads whilst they enjoy this forbidden delicacy.
-I picked up Culinaria France, Italy and Germany and am studying the origins of food in my free time, why they ate what they did, where it came from, what the premier dishes in each region are which is exceptionally interesting to me when I found the actual villages of my ancestors.
- I have been going to my weekly worship celebration at my super market, picking up new varieties of fruits and cheeses, making my way through the spices, and most excitingly writing up shopping lists based on recipes I find online and trying to change them based on my specific taste.
- I have tried a few new foods. I have attempted a few new methods of cooking, and I have been experiencing extreme lust for everything that is kitchen appliance/utensil.
- I have been graciously lent the mother of all invention- the Kitchenaid Mixer. And made my own ice cream, water ice, pies, pretzels, pop tarts.. etc. from its many attachments!
So I didn't die people. I have just been anxiously awaiting the right thing to write and I just thought I would give you an update. :)
Now, I must get back to my reading.