Kawah Putih

Kawah Putih (white crater) is a lake located at Mt. Patuha, Southern Bandung. What is the most interesting about this place is the colors. Sometimes it turns pale turquoise and in another time, as it name says, white. The view is soooo very much greaaatttt!! Very sublime. Kawah Putih can be easily reached by car through Ciwidey. In far south Bandung, everything becomes greener, breathable, faraway from the gases (except for the sulphur), free, calm, cool, peace, the right destination place to spend a romantic time with your lover one*.

 Pictures by Kharisma Ulan Suci**

* A great landscape for Marshall-Lily outdoor wedding ceremony (without buffet :D)

** You could see many of her great pictures in Facebook, add her!

New Years Eve

 

 

Happy New Year Everyone, easy, 
it's just a matter of a date on the calendar! 
(me)

I wanna be a stay at home Mom!

Becoming a housewife could be incredibly great. I imagine myself:
+ Taking care of my kids
+ Cooking (I’ve been collecting cookbooks!)
+ Gardening (I imagine I have an inner yard next to my dining room)
+ Sewing (I always wanted to sew my own clothes)
+ Decorating house (I will move and remove arm chair, rearrange bookshelf, change a tablecloth everyday, arrange picture frames, and label many jars)
+ Painting (want to learn it)
+ Photography-ing (I’ll take my kids pictures and put them in a memory books)
+ Doing some quilting (yeah, although it’s difficult but I’ll try!)
+ Making an ice cream (coffee crunch, rocks!!)
+ Writing a book (it’s always been my dream to write a book, maybe about chemistry at home or basic chemistry)
+ And of course, Blogging!!!


But now, I’m a 7 to 4*, sort of… :(

*Office and business hours (or goverment hours) in Indonesia is starting earlier from 7.30 am till 16.00 pm.

BATIK, A SUBLIME CLOTH FROM JAVA (INDONESIA)

Still talking about Batik.

There are many different batik designs, in general, there are two categories : geometric motif and free form design. Particular design have been associated with traditional festivals and specific religious ceremonies like wedding. It was thought that certain cloth had mystical powers to ward off ill fortune, while other pieces could bring good luck.

KAWUNG

Kawung is another very old design consisting of intersecting circles, known in Java since at least the thirteenth century. This design has appeared carved into the walls of many temples throughout Java such as Prambanan near Jogjakarta and Kediri in East Java. For many years, this pattern was reserved for the royal court of the Sultan of Jogjakarta. The circles are sometimes embellished inside with two or more small crosses or other ornaments such as intersecting lines or dots. It has been suggested that the ovals might represent flora such as the fruit of the kapok (silk cotton) tree or the aren (sugar palm).

CEPLOK

Ceplok is a general name for a whole series of geometric designs based on squares, rhombs, circles, stars, etc. Although fundamentally geometric, ceplok can also represent abstractions and stylization of flowers, buds, seeds and even animals. Variations in color intensity can create illusions of depth. The Indonesian population is largely Muslim, a religion that forbids the portrayal of animal and human forms in a realistic manner. To get around this prohibition, the batik worker does not attempt to express this matter in a realistic form. A single element of the form is chosen and then that element is repeated again and again in the pattern.

PARANG

Parang was once used exclusively by the royal courts of Central Java. It has several suggested meanings such as 'rugged rock', 'knife pattern' or 'broken blade'. The Parang design consists of slanting rows of thick knife-like segments running in parallel diagonal bands. Parang usually alternated with narrower bands in a darker contrasting color. These darker bands contain another design element, a line of lozenge-shaped motifs call mlinjon. There are many variations of this basic striped pattern with its elegant sweeping lines, with over forty parang designs recorded. The most famous is the 'Parang Rusak' which in its most classical form consisting of rows of softly folded parang. This motif also appears in media other than batik, including woodcarving and as ornamentation on gamelan musical instruments.

MODERN BATIK

Modern batik, although having strong ties to traditional batik, utilizes linear treatment of leaves, flowers and birds. These batiks tend to be more dependent on the dictates of the designer rather than the stiff guidelines that have guided traditional craftsmen. This is also apparent in the use of color that modern designers use. Artisans are no longer dependent on traditional (natural) dyes, as chemical dyes can produce any color that they wish to achieve. Modern batik still utilizes canting and cap to create intricate designs.

Source:

http://www.expat.or.id/info/batik.html

Hagelslag

Hollanders called it Hagelslag. Indonesians called it Meises (I don't know where this is come from). For the Americans, it's known as Sprinkles or Jimmies. I prefer to call it meises (you know where I'm leaving). Meises is one of Broodbeleg(1) made by chocolates and sugar. This kind of broodbeleg is also common in Indonesia(2), Belgium and Suriname, once a colony of The Netherlands.

Dutch hagelslag was first invented in 1936 by Gerard de Vries for Venz, a Dutch company. Inspired by several letters to Venz from a five-year-old boy named H. Bakker asking for a broodbeleg, prompted de Vries's to develope the hagelslag. After much research and venture, de Vries and Venz created the first machine to produce the tiny cylindrical treats. They were named "Hagelslag" after their resemblance to a weather phenomenon prominent in the Netherlands, hail (hagel)(3).

the common plastic packages of meises made in Indonesia, the brand name is Ceres

this is the premium version, you could find it in Setiabudhi Store

You could see the different, this is the real hagelslag from Netherlands

the other

and the other one..

see?

(1) : Broodbeleg is a bread topping examples butter, margarine, jam, pindakaas, cheese, chocolate paste.
(2) : In Indonesia, Roti Tawar (white bread) with many kind of broodbeleg is a common breakfast foods besides Nasi Goreng.
(3) : I couldn't see the connection...

source : http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagelslag

Indonesian Celebrate Batik Day on Oct 2

Photo: Gary A. Cameron/REUTERS via http://blogs.smh.com.au/photographers/archives/2007/08/ok_some_targets_are_just.html

Indonesian have been asked to wear Batik on oct. 2 to celebrate UNESCO`s decision to include Batik in its list of "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity" items. And I saw everyone wearing Batik today, including the students here at Polytechnic, oh my, they're very cute! I hope every friday, Indonesian always wear Batik in honor of our heritage.

Masyarakat Indonesia disarankan memakai Batik pada tanggal 2 Oktober 2009 untuk merayakan keputusan UNESCO yang telah mengkategorikan Batik ke dalam daftar "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity". Dan, hari ini saya melihat semua orang memakai batik, termasuk para mahasiswa di Politeknik, dan ya ampun, mereka keliatan lucu banget deh! Saya harap masyarakat Indonesia mengenakan Batik setiap hari jumat dalam rangka menghormati warisan luhur budaya kita.

Fear of Commitment

image from http://jezebel.com/5310186/breaking-not-all-men-comically-terrified-of-marriage

Guys decided they wanted to get married when:

1. his dad suggested it
2. he was committed when his girlfriend helped him through a rough time
3. had to deal with a drug addiction
   

Damn!

Inspector Clouseau, I wanna meet you!

Inspector Clouseau is a funniest detective ever, watching his movie will make you laugh (but not until cry). I like his bold french accent(1). He hires the best accent coach to teach him how to pronounce 'hamburger'(2) (on his movie, he said darmburger, 'amburger or da-burger). And, I like the way he say 'o'(3) and 'u'(4) in many words, very Clouseau!

(1) It makes me want to learn French, oui, oui.. je parle francais! (in bahasa: frang-syeh)
(2) I'm hungry..
(3) Like in the word 'honor' (he said: onoh)
(4) Like in the word 'justice' (he said: justis)

Image from: www.reelmovienews.com/gallery/jacques-clouseau/

Gita Gutawa

I should not idolize a young 16 year old girl

notes : her impressive high pitch voice makes me want to join a singing class

wrap wrap wrap....!!!

I'm not a spectacular artist. When I came to wrapping paper for creating a perfect package, I gave up. My hands do not get-alongable with that stuffs. But, that won't be a problem anymore, this lace tape could be my saviour. Oh my, isn't that cute?

ps. I wonder when Gramedia would sell this stuff..

Singin' in the Rain

You have to watch this movie -like the poster said- it's a treasure! The songs, dances and the 50's costumes are really great. This movie was claimed as one of the best musical ever made. According to Wikipedia this movie has been parodied and imitated numerous times. Especially the dance, many great actors dance like Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) in their films. Starting from Tom Hanks in Punchline, Jean Reno in Leon , Ewan McGregor in Moulin Rouge to a ridiculous janitor at Springfield Primary School, Groundskeeper Willie who was singing with an umbrella (like Gene Kelly of course) while it was an acid rain on The Simpson's episode Brawl in The Family.

Movies

Watching movies is one of my favourite. I like it a lot, it takes my mind of things. Not in the cinema, but in my bedroom. The best part watching movies in your room is you can wear whatever clothes you want. It’s doesn’t require a tight jeans with heels, dress with scarf or even make up. Just sit on your bed and cover yourself with blanket while grab some cookies. Recently, I have watched romance comedy and drama movies like The Holiday, Forest Gump (yeah, I know, this is old), Sex and The City, Benjamin Button (makes me cry even though already watched it twice). Can’t hardly wait to rental many great films!