Making garlic bread with Cahaya

Cahaya and I like cooking together in the kitchen. Or actually, it is me who likes cooking together with Cahaya. But Cahaya always enjoys our cooking session. I started baking cakes with Cahaya since she was two years old. Perhaps the idea of the comfort baking has grown on her. We often have different ideas […]

Minum kopi sebagai praktik mencuri waktu jeda bagi perempuan

Nuraini Juliastuti
Setiap kali minum kopi, saya selalu ingat dua hal. Pertama, ngopi adalah budaya baru dalam kehidupan sehari-hari saya. Kedua, kopi dan ngopi adalah materi dan praktik yang dikenalkan oleh Nenek dan Ibu. Sebagai budaya baru, saya selalu memandang minum kopi lebih dari sekedar minum kopi. Ia adalah sesuatu yang lain, yang akhirnya saya perlukan untuk […]

Picnic scenes (1)

Among thousands of pictures and photographs about picnic or picnicking collected by State Library of Victoria, there is a series of photos that interest me. The series was titled “Picnic Scenes,” and it is categorised under Rural Water Corporation collection. It consists of 23 photos; this writing analyses the first five photos of the series. […]

Public barbecue equipment: A note on generosity

We like going to a park. We went to a park for various reasons. A park is a place for Cahaya to play in the playground. It is common to see benches and tables; they are comfortable to sit and eat on properly. Children could play around the park, while parents supervise, and perhaps prepare […]

Arisan revisited: Notes on precariousness (2)

Frictions As a savings association to base on mutual help principle, the operationalization scope of arisanis limited to small groups in which the members know each other. Researches on arisan confirm the condition that it would not occur in a group where the members are unfamiliar to each other. The meaning of mutual help is restricted and not […]

Arisan revisited: Notes on precariousness (1)

Arisan is a popular community-based savings association in Indonesia. Amid various ways of saving and credit facilitated by modern banking platforms, arisan proves to be a sustaining mechanism for accumulating money. What aspects of arisan to help contribute to its sustainability? Arisan: a transitional economic system Jan Newberry defines arisan as a monthly credit lottery […]

Picnic food

Sausages is a must in our picnic diet. Cahaya always likes sausages. And when the picnic location is equipped with a barbecue equipment, it does not seem right to not have sausages on the menu. Andy does not eat red meat much. To avoid eating red meat-based dishes, he always prepared bananas, apples, and peanut […]

Grapevines

A question–if the fruits branches are overhanging the footpath, are we allowed to pick the fruits?  

Let me tell you something about an olive tree

I saw olive trees again. I texted my sister and told her that I have been seeing olive trees in the neighbourhood. The text went like this–“Ini pohon zaitun yang kuceritakan tempo hari. Ia tumbuh di jalan defat rumah kami. Kau lihat, zaitun tak hanya tumbuh di Arab, atau representasi tanaman Arab. Ia ada di […]

Lemon trees

Lemon is an unusual ingredient in Javanese culinary tradition. We use lime a lot instead. And the lime leaves. But lemon, no. We use lime in curry, rendang, stir fry dishes, savoury snacks, and fresh drinks. We used the juice and the leaves. It is not too difficult to find lime in Melbourne, or in […]

Seeing vending machine as a friend

Vending machines can easily be found in public spaces: library, train station, office building. They are usually placed at the corner of the building, at the corner of the streets, on train platforms. They are machines on which people depend when the needs for snacks or foods arise. It seems that they are placed at […]

Looking at corn on Swanston Street

  On one hot summer day I walked down Swanston Street and saw a group of corn plants on the other side of the road. Is that really corn? I wondered. I turned around to see it clearly. They were indeed corn. Would the corn taste sweet? I don’t know. Next to the corn, there […]

An Unfinished Story of the Source of Good Food

The fridge in my house in Surabaya is always chaotic. It resembles a repository where a jumble of different kinds of food wrapped in plastic and paper are placed without any clear system of categorisation. Vegetables, butter cans, colourful candies usually used to decorate birthday cake, biscuits, sugar, dried fish, peeled onion, powdered spices… All […]

Raw long beans sambal

I crave for sambal kacang panjang (raw long beans sambal) sometimes. This often happens when I have a huge bowl of white rice on the table. Good quality rice smells fragrant. It makes me want to add a touch of strong salty taste to it. In this case, sambal kacang panjang with any type of […]

Chillies wisdom

Grow chilies in the garden, my grandmother used to say. Green chilies are fine. Red ones are better. Chili eaten fresh, or combined with other elements, makes everything taste better. Chili is spicy, zingy, and fiery. It is hot and addictive; it makes you want for more food. Chili is the crucial ingredient for the […]