Foreign Prophecies

Indonesian Cuisine Enthralls in the Midwest USA's Asian Food Fest

Ria Ellison, left, and Ake Langlois in front of The House of Sate booth

The man from the Filipino booth carving up the roasted pork for their BBQ

Due to the low prevalence of Asian restaurants, Americans in the Midwest tend to have little idea of what Asian cuisine is like. When they think of Asian food, the only things that come into their mind are the meals in a Chinese restaurant or Japanese's sushi. The Asian Food Fest aims to change that perception by introducing the less-popular Asian cuisine into the general American population.

This was the third time the festival is conducted. However, for the Indonesian American community in Cincinnati, it marked something else altogether. It was our debut in representing our ancestral cuisine to the festival. Ria Fariani Ellison and her partner Ake Nurita Langlois opened up a booth called The House of Sate, where they showcased chicken satay accompanied with yellow rice and 'acar' (pickled vegetables). For dessert, they served 'bolu kukus' (steamed cupcakes).

A resident of Sacramento, California, Langlois visited Cincinnati to help her childhood friend Ria in organizing the Indonesian booth. The pair then invited several of their Indonesian friends to help out with grilling the satay and serving the customers. I was privileged to be one of them.

Unlike Indonesian communities in coastal states like New York and California, those residing in the Midwest tend to be sparse and rare. We do not advertise our existence through the internet, nor do we have many Indonesian restaurants to cater to our longing for Indonesian food.

My friend Kevin Jo, left, and I are grilling the satays. Diva Jonatan in the background is preparing the raw meat.

It was to our delight to find that there are a lot of Indonesians coming to the event, specifically to check out our booth. Some are friends and acquaintances, but most are those who are unaware that Indonesian community around Cincinnati has gained stronger foothold over the last couple of years.

Apart from fellow Indonesians and Asians, there are also other Americans coming with keen interest in Indonesian culture, checking our booth with bits of salutations, "Apa kabar?" and "Selamat siang!" Some were curious of what yellow rice is made of, asking questions like, "Do you mix the rice with saffron like the Indians do" to which we answer that it is rice mixed with turmeric. Some others were peculiarly delighted to see that there is such a thing called "steamed cupcakes."

Visitors to the booth (day 1)

Visitors to the booth (day 2)

The Asian Food Fest came to Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio last weekend. The festival brought together various Asian booths from the Greater Cincinnati region (which includes Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky) to serve up taste samples of their best dishes. There was no admission charge for the visitors, but donations were accepted to help Care2Share build village and school facilities in Pleiku, Vietnam.

There were some concerns among booth participants that it might rain during those two days of the event, since rain has been falling quite sporadically over the last several weeks. Thank goodness, the sun shone brightly and the air was dry, contributing to the larger turnout of the crowd.

A notable visitor was an old lady who came in saying that she had spent a year working in Fatmawati hospital, South Jakarta in 1962. She then told us that she still remembered some folk songs such as "Nona Manis" and "Si Paku Gelang," and asked some of us to sing with her. We were more than happy to oblige. After 50 years of leaving Indonesia, she had a fairly good command of basic Indonesian, and left us impressed. For the whole weekend, we tried our best to become the first ambassadors of Indonesian food and culture to the region.

Vietnamese American Indie singer Andrea Pham

According to the festival's marketing director Bao Nguyen, an estimated number of 10,000 people was expected to come to the event. To accompany their enjoyment of the food, there were several live entertainments at the centerpiece including Japanese pop singer, aikido performance, and a Polynesian dance.

Me and Andrea Pham. My face looks tired!

Panyembrama dance, performed by Jeanne Speier, left, and Kamelia Smith

One performance which quickly became the main highlight of the event was the Balinese dance of Panyembrama, performed by local dancer Jeanne Speier and her Indonesian partner Kamellia Smith. It marked the first time a Balinese dance got performed on the Asian Food Fest. Soon enough, a lot of passersby and visitors alike huddled in front of the stage, forming a crowd enthralled by the beauty of their movements.

On an interesting sidenote, Rio (son of Ria) manages to carve up an interesting chaise lounge sculpture from UNO wooden blocks

After the festival concluded, booth owner Ria said, “It was a challenge, but I am glad everyone seems to enjoy working in our booth! I am pretty confident that we can do much better next year. I have received suggestions that the booth can be more attractive by including more variety in the menu such as pisang goreng (fried banana) and traditional drinks such as "cendol" or "es teler". Also, some gamelan music can attract more attention”

Me in the middle (not realising the pic was taken) while Ria and her daughter Sabrina look on

It would definitely be something we are going to look forward to in 2013.

This post has been published on The Jakarta Globe.

Date a girl who reads

>> 20 May 2012 – others

“You should date a girl who reads.
Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes, who has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she has found the book she wants. You see that weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a secondhand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow and worn.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry and in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who read understand that all things must come to end, but that you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.”

- Rosemarie Urquico

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Indeed, the only way I can ever find a girl truly alluring is when I know that she's an avid reader. Knowing that she's a non-reader is like discovering that she has a bad breath...it's a complete no-no!

"Twilight Director's Notebook" by Catherine Hardwicke

>> 19 May 2012 – book

Before I start, let me clarify one thing here: I am not, and never will be, a Twilight fan.

I have read all four books and watched three of the movies, and I have to admit that though the books are not necessarily as great as those teenage girls claim to be, the first Twilight movie does show a quality moviemaking.

There, I said it. The first Twilight movie is superb.

Which is the reason I got curious of "Twilight Director's Notebook : The Story of How We Made the Movie Based on the Novel by Stephenie Meyer", where the director Catherine Hardwicke compiles a huge stack of handwritten notes with a heap of pictures from the shoots and behind-the scenes. And voila, an amusing, and at times sentimental recollections of how the crew worked at their picturesque locations on the outskirts of Portland, OR.

It is also interesting to note how oftentimes Bella's scenes have to be done by a double because the actress Kristen S. was still 17 during most of the shoot process. In most U.S. states, you can only work a maximum of six hours a day if you are below 18. This led the crew to throw a birthday party saying "Welcome to [Working] nights!".

On the whole, this small-ish hardcover would be an interesting companion to watching the first movie. Unless of course, you don't like the movie either.

And try listening to Twilight OST album while leafing thru the pages.

Oh crap. Forget I said that. Now I'm sounding like a teenage girl too.

Verdict: 7 out of 10 stars

"The Complete Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi

>> 12 May 2012 – book

The entirety of Persepolis stories, which altogether forms a graphic memoir of an Iranian-European's experience in balancing her modern, sexualised, Westernised side with her secluded, backward-oriented, traditionalist Iranian side, offers us readers much more than meets the eye.

As a matter of fact, not only does the book provides a glimpse into her past personal life, but it also enlightens us readers on the topic of modern Iranian history and what it felt like to live in an oppressive regime like Iran was back then (and, to a certain extent, still is).

An insider's outlook to what the late 20th century Iran, "The Complete Persepolis" is guaranteed to leave us readers grateful that we do not live under such an oppressive regime like that.

Verdict: 9 out of 10 stars