When Sensei Didn`t Come

Today`s Japanese Culture class is very interesting. Our Sensei (lecturer) wasn`t able to attend the class because she was busy. So, she let us to do the Tea Ceremony by our self.

Our first reaction was ... Happy!! "Yeeaah, we don`t need to sit properly for 1 hour." LoL... No one will injured like the previous class as written in Husna`s blog :p

Second reaction was ... "Oo Oow... What should we do?" No one could remember the steps perfectly, neither me.

Translated Conversation
Pak : "First, open the fukusa from this side. Eee... Wrong..?"
Sumin : "Using our right hand, then move it to.... Eee.. which side..?"
Yang : "It shouldn`t be like this. Why..Why..?"
Husna : "Not like that, but like this. See..?"
Ari : "Yeah, i can do it. But then... Eeee?"
Me : "Hahaha.. Let me take pic of all of you guys"

Next : Everyone tried hard to remember the right steps. Sometimes debating, right or wrong. Sometimes laughing. Especially when Pak, my Korean Friend tried hard to practise and remembered all the steps. Sometimes when he was arguing with another student from China, spontaneously he used Korean Language, not Japanese language. hahaha

When another students became slothful remembering, Pak was still trying hard to remember. And all of us called him Pak Sensei. Hahaha... Good Job Pak !! (Note: Please notice that Pak is a name of my Korean friend, not acronym of Bapak in Indonesian Language, hahaha).

Me...? I just remember the steps how to use Fukusa and how to take Okashi (snacks) hahaha.. Surely i will remember all the things about food. LoL... But I couldn`t totally remember the other steps. If I have to do a test about this class, I`m sure I will fail. Hahaha..

Window Shopping ?!?!?!

Participants : 8 Peoples
Midha (Indonesia), Yang (Taiwan), Jillian (America), Pija (Malaysia), Husna (Malaysia), Ari (Korea), Wan (Malaysia), and Pat (Thailand)

Plan : Window Shopping
Reason : Half of us stated that we had no money (including me)

Destination :

• SHIMAMURA shop in Kiyotake.
• Photo Station or something. My friend Wan, want to participate in a Photography contest to win 100.000 Yen. We wish u luck Wan...
• AEON Mall. Lunch at 3 PM
• DAISO, 100 yen Shop.
  
• Baskin Robin 31 Ice Cream
  
• Yamada Denki
• Pet Shop
• Cake House
• Husna & Pija`s house
  

Left : Special ice cream by 31. Right : Cake House

Japanese doll to refuse the rain

Left : Husna`s car, enough for 8 person. Right : Eating the Roll Cake

Conclusion : It wasn`t Window Shopping
Reason : All of us bought many things even we stated that we had no money. hahaha

It was fun. Thank you my lovely friends ^_^

Cake Coklat Putih Telur

Tidak mau berlarut dalam kesedihan yang mendalam atas kegagalan project minggu ini. (hahaha.. hiperbolis), saya langsung bikin cake ini. Soalnya tingkat kegagalannya kecil.. Hehehe.. Sekaligus memanfaatkan sisa putih telur yang ada. Saya ambil resepnya dari sini.

3 potong cake yang lain masih ada pemotretan & shooting iklan.. Hahaha

Bahan-bahan

• 10 butir putih telur
• 150 gram gula pasir
• 120 gram tepung terigu
• 30 gram coklat bubuk
• 120 gram mentega/margarin, cairkan

Cara Membuat

• Campur tepung terigu dan coklat bubuk, aduk hingga rata, lalu ayak, sisihkan. (saya tambahkan 1/2 sdt baking powder)
  
• Kocok putih telur sambil masukkan gula sedikit-sedikit hingga mengental, lalu masukkan campuran tepung terigu tadi sedikit-sedikit, aduk rata.
• Masukkan mentega cair, aduk rata, lalu tuang adonan ke dalam loyang bulat berlubang tengahnya yang telah diolesi dengan sedikit mentega. (saya pakai loyang biasa diameter 20 cm)
  
• Panggang dalam oven (180 derajat Celsius, 30 menit) hingga matang.
  

Saya cuma buat 1/2 resep saja, semua bahan diatas saya bagi dua. Hasilnya 12 potong cake moist, lembut & enak. Gak jadi kecewa deh... hehehe

Martabak Manis (Failed)

Weekend, berarti ada new project. ^_^

Ini percobaan saya yang kedua bikin Martabak Manis alias terang bulan. Dulu pertama bikin gagal total, bukan jadi martabak yang ada serat2nya gitu, eh malah jadi pancake, hiks...T_T

Tapi masih penasaran, kira2 salahnya dimana ya. Mmm.. mungkin karena waktu itu gak pake Mixer. Huehehe... Oke.. Kali ini percobaan kedua pake mixer pinjeman dari Pijah. Coba resep ngambil dari sini. Dan sebelum bikin bener2 mempelajari cara masaknya, konon kabarnya susah bikin yang rongga2nya cantik kayak sarang semut.

Pas bikin martabak yang pertama, waah senang. Bener2 bisa seperti yang ada di petunjuk pembuatan. Bisa ada sarang semutnya. Udah ngebayangin bisa jadi tukang jual martabak nanti. Huehehe... Tapiiiii, Kok gosong alias hangus ya. Hiks T_T

Mmmm.. Mungkin teflonnya terlalu panas. (hehehe.. sok tau gini)

Oke.. coba lagi adonan kedua. Waah, kok sarang semutnya gak keluar. Jadi pancake lagi deh. Hiks.. Yang ketiga. Mmmm, ada sarang semutnya. Tp adonannya ketipisan. Huwaaa... Kok kena kutukan begini.

Gpp.. Gpp.. Nanti coba lagi.. Soalnya masih penasaran sama makanan yang satu ini. Semangat y midha !! ^_^

Martabak yang gak manis.
Gelap bulan bukan terang bulan.
Gambarnya kecil aja ya, soalnya malu, gagal gini.. hehehe

Tea Ceremony Equipments

Learning something about Japanese Tea Ceremony is very interesting. As I told you in my previous blog about tea ceremony, one of the principles is Tranquility. You have to do everything calmly, patiently and beautifully.

Even only to clean up the chawan (bowl), or to use o Hashi (chopstick) to take okashi (snack), you can not do it as what you want because there are special ways and steps to do. You really need to be patient.

Today I will Tell you about the equipment first. It`s my Tea Ceremony set for this week.

Sorry for the resulotion, I used my Cellphone to take this pic

Let start with the red one, look like handkerchief. It`s called Fukusa (帛紗). The fukusa is a silk cloth approximately 30 cm or a little less than 12 inches square, used for the ritual cleansing of the tea scoop and the tea caddy, and to handle hot kettle or pot lids.

Another red (or orange) is Natsume, the container of green tea powder. Actually, the container is called Chaki (茶器). There are two main types of Chaki: the ceramic caddies called cha-ire, and the lacquered or plain wood caddies called natsume. I used natsume in my class.I try to find out a better pic of natsume. Here it is. The pattern of the natsume itself is very beautiful.

The long bamboo is Chashaku (茶杓) or tea scoop generally about 18 cm in length. It is used to transfer the powdered tea from the tea container (chaki) to the tea bowl (chawan). A bowl in the left side is Chawan (茶碗), usually made from ceramic and has beautiful pattern. An unique shape bamboo in the right side is called Chasen (茶筅) or tea wishk. It`s used to mix the green tea powder and the water.

And the white thing in my first pic is Chakin (茶巾), a small rectangular white linen or hemp cloth mainly used to wipe the tea bowl. It`s just a napkin but you need to obey special rules using the chakin to clean up your bowl.

Difficult to spell? And difficult to remember? Yeah.. me too... hahaha...

special thanks : Google sensei (LoL), Wikipedia, and another sources

Chayoo, Ganbatte !!!

Chayoo midha !!! Ganbatte midha !!!

No more cry
No more sad
No more worry

Memang susah berfikir seperti orang dewasa. Terlalu banyak kekhawatiran dalam menghadapi masa depan. Hidup itu harus disyukuri, dan dinikmati. Sudah saatnya kembali menyemangati diri sendiri :D Yosh !! Ganbarimasu...

*** makasih y mas...

BBQ Party and Hotaru Matsuri

Yesterday I had BBQ party, held by an International Community at a very very nice park of Amago Castle, 1 hour from my Dorm. The participants was about 83 peoples, 30 of them are foreigners (I didn`t count.. hahaha).

I paid 1000 yen (Rp 85.000) for this BBQ. All you can eat, if you want and you can ^_^ What I got from 1000 yen was : All you can eat Seafood, salad, snacks, fruits, drink, fun games, a looots of fun, new friends,and a bunch of priceless happiness.

Situation of BBQ Party

The weather was nice, not too hot, cloudy. Then it was raining for a while. No problem, we had finished eating the foods. Hahaha...

I loved Ika Yaki. Special menu : Onigiri Yaki (baked Onigiri Rice)

Then we moved to Kobayashi, to see Hotaru Matsuri. Hotaru (ホタル) = Fireflies, and Matsuri (祭) = Festival. Kobayashi was about 45 minutes from Amago Castle. Another awesome place.

Imagining I was sitting on that chair with my boyfriend T_T

The night came, and it was going dark. I could see the fireflies. Woooooow... It was sooooo beautiful. Don't know how to express that feeling. It just like seeing a millions of stars flying arround you. My camera couldn`t capture the pic well. So I try to find a similar pic from a search engine. Here it is, fireflies...

Almost 85 % same with the situation that I saw.

We finished at 9 PM. Then going back to Dorm, back to normal life again. I arrived at 10.30 and directly turn on my laptop, since I know someone was waiting for me ^_^

I`m so tired. My backbone is painful now. But I`m happy. What a nice weekend...