Japanese Curry

Curry is one of popular dish in Japanese manga. Although the origin is from India, curry has been a part of Japanese culture. The taste is sweeter and the texture is thicker than Indian curry. If you have read Miiko or Addicted to Curry, you might be curious too about this dish. When I was in Japan, it was hard to find halal curry, because usually they use animal fat for the curry roux and meat for the curry. Fortunately, I was able to taste vegetarian curry when I was having summer camp. It was so delicious!

Basically, there are two steps to make curry. First, we need to prepare the roux or paste. Next, we cook the vegetable, meat, and potato, then pour water and mix the roux. Nowadays, people in Japan usually use the instant roux. You can find it easily in any supermarket in Japan. But, it's not easy to find halal one. So, I searched on the internet to make the Japanese curry from scracth. Luckily, I found the recipe on this blog (www.norecipes.com). It's easy to follow.

My first Japanese curry from scratch

Cerita Persalinan

Kemarin, saya diajak untuk mengunjungi seorang teman dari Paskistan yang baru melahirkan minggu lalu. Saya pergi ke sana bersama beberapa teman dari Indonesia, Malaysia, dan Pakistan. Kebetulan, salah satu teman dari Malaysia, juga baru melahirkan bulan lalu. Bayinya dibawa, dibungkus-bungkus beberapa lapis karena cuacanya cukup dingin. Teman saya dari Malaysia ini namanya Shikin, sekelas sama saya di kelas Probstat. Dia melahirkan sekitar 3 minggu lebih awal dari waktu yang diperkirakan dokter. Jadi, dia ketinggalan beberapa kelas, dan kuis. Untungnya, dia bisa ikut UAS bareng-bareng yang lain setelah melahirkan. 

Saya bertanya tentang pengalaman dia melahirkan anak keduanya. Katanya, air ketubannya sudah pecah pukul 1 pagi, lalu langsung ke rumah sakit. Sampai berbaring di tempat tidur rumah sakit, sudah pukul 3. Saya jadi bingung, 2 jam ngapain aja ya? Mungkin mempersiapkan barang-barang untuk dibawa ke rumah sakit dan menunggu taksi. Setelah sampai di rumah sakit, dokternya belum sampai. Jadi, Shikin diminta untuk tenang dulu, menahan bayinya, karena di rumah sakit cuma ada susternya dan dokter trainee. Tapi karena sudah tidak tahan lagi, sekitar pukul 3.44 pagi, Shikin mem''push" sekali. Ternyata bayinya langsung keluar!! Dan, dokternya pun masih belum datang. Jadi, Shikin melahirkan sendiri, tanpa bantuan dokter, dengan hanya mengejan sekali. Epic! Dokter datang hanya untuk menjahit sedikit yang robek. Rumah sakit pun sangat fair. Mereka memberikan tagihan 0 (Nol) Won untuk jasa dokter membantu melahirkan. Hanya ada tagihan biaya sedikit untuk proses menjahit, kamar dan lain-lain. Semuanya pun sudah dipenuhi asuransi, jadi Shikin tidak perlu membayar biaya persalinannya. 

Akhirnya kami sampai. Bayinya sedang tertidur pulas. So cute!!! Dalam beberapa bulan ke depan, ada beberapa sister yang akan melahirkan. Sepertinya, akan banyak bayi-bayi menumpang yang lahir di Daejeon ini. Lalu saya ditanya, apakah kamu sedang hamil? Dalam hati saya bilang, saya gendut banget ya sampe dikira lagi hamil =(. Belum, sister. Lalu dia berkata, selesaikan dulu sekolahmu. Bayi membutuhkan perawatan ekstra dan fokus. Jadi, lebih baik kamu selesaikan sekolahmu, lalu fokus merawat bayi. Oke sister! Noted! ^_^

Toy Story 3

Yesterday I watched Toy Story 3. So late? Yeah, I was so late. This movie was produced in 2010. Honestly, it was the first time I watched Toy Story movie. Really. When I was a kid, I only watched the first 10 minutes of the movie. I don't know why I wasn't interested in Toy Story at all. But yesterday, I changed my mind. I love the movie!! The last part when Andy gave his toys to Bonnie really touched me. I think I should watch Toy Story 1 and 2 next time ^^

Toy Story 3 (from www.allposters.ie)

Mie Bakso

Dulu di Indonesia, gak pernah kepikiran buat bikin bakso karena di mana-mana tersedia. Di sini, untuk mengobati rasa kangen sama bakso perlu usaha lebih, karena di Daejeon gak ada yang jual bakso halal. Jadi, harus bikin sendiri. Tadinya mau bikin mie ayam bakso, tapi kecapnya cuma sedikit, ga cukup buat bikin semur ayam. Jadinya, bikin mie bakso yamin aja. Kebetulan di kulkas cuma ada daging dada ayam. Ga punya daging cincang. Jadinya, dada ayamnya dicacah pakai pisau. Resep untuk bikin bakso ini saya peroleh dari Mbak Ai dengan beberapa modifikasi.

1. Siapkan daging giling. Kalau gak ada daging giling, dagingnya bisa dicacah pake pisau atau diblender.
2. Campur daging dengan 1 butir telur dan 4 sdm sagu.
3. Campurkan dengan bumbu halus (bawang putih, gula, garam, bawang merah (ganti dengan bawang bombay kalau bawang merah susah didapat).
4. Campurkan seluruh adonan, lalu bentuk bulatan-bulatan menggunakan sendok.
5. Rebus air sampai mendidih, lalu masukkan bola-bola bakso.
6. Masukkan bumbu halus seperti untuk bumbu adonan bakso ke dalam air rebusan. Tambah gula dan garam sesuai selera. 

Di sini, saya menggunakan daging ayam, ditambah pelangkap daun bokcoi, daun bawang, dan mie goreng instant. Karena dagingnya dicacah manual pakai pisau, jadi baksonya kurang lembut. Tapi secara keseluruhan, sudah miriplah dengan bakso yang biasa dijual si mamang. Bakso karya saya dagingnya lebih banyak dari kanji tentunya. Hehehe..

Chessboard Paradox: Solution

This is the answer of my previous of chessboard paradox. If you haven't read the problem, I suggest you to read my previous post.

The length of each side of the rectangle resembles Fibonacci numbers, known as Cassini's identity, for n >0.

Thus, the length can be considered as F5=5, F6=8, F7=13, F8=21. In the first example, we have 13x5-8x8=1 (one square more), while the second example gives 21x18-13x13=-1 (one square less). This identity leads to mismatch number of boxes in the chessboard. The truth is, the edges of the four pieces that lie along the diagonal of the formed rectangle (picture B and D) do not coincide exactly in the direction. If the resolution of the picture is good enough, we can see that the diagonal is not a straight segment line, but a small diamond-shaped figure.

Chessboard Paradox

Lunch break, I don't want to get trapped in 9GAG, so I download an e-book of "Famous Puzzles of Great Mathematicians" by Miodrag S. Petkovic. I think my brain is a bit dull nowadays. This book is just what I need. 

Mathematics is too serious and, therefore, no opportunity should be missed to make it amusing. - Blaine Pascal

So, I solved some easy arithmetic puzzles. So nostalgic. And then there is a problem related to Fibonacci's sequence. I have seen this problem before, I knew it. But I couldn't explain the answer. Well, that's a proof how my brain has become rusty. This is the problem:

 Let us consider an ordinary 8x8 chessboard cut into four pieces-two trapezoidals and two triangles. If these four pieces are put together in the shape of a rectangle, one obtains a 5x13 rectangle containing 65 small squares (one square more). Therefore, 64=65?! Similarly, if we cut a 13x13 chessboard into four pieces and reassemble the pieces, we obtain a rectangle 8x21 containing 168 small squares (one square less). In this case we obtain 169=168? Can you explain these paradoxes?

Can you?

I already know the answer, but I'll post the answer later, just to leave a little curiosity for you. Well, I hope you haven't known this. But if you have, I hope you've forgotten. And of course, don't google the answer. Have fun ^_^

One Week, One New Dish

Cooking has never been my passion. I like cooking, I enjoy it, but it's not what I want to do in my spare time. Now I'm a house wife, I should be more passionate about cooking. I'm delighted when my husband loves my dishes. So, I'm starting my new project, to make my husband well fed and happy. I call it "one week, one new dish". So here is the deal. I'm going to try a new recipe every week, add some creation if needed, and see if my husband likes it (I hope he does). The dishes may vary from Indonesian, Japanese, European, anything. From street food to restaurant food. I'm going to post it on my blog every week, just to keep track on my progress. 

Well, I started three weeks ago, and this one is my first trial of "Sweet and Sour Fish (Ikan asam manis)". It was so simple, very easy to make. I put some pineapple in the sauce, so it brought fresh sour taste. I got the recipe from this website, you can try it. 

Sweet and Sour Fish