This Is How We Celebrate Christmas in TAG

TAG stands for Totally Awesome Generation, a gathering of youth age eleven to fifteen. Imagine these active, creative, and LOUD teens as a seed, then TAG is the ground who provides the nutrients, who nurtures, and where they lay a strong foundation.

As I move nearing my second year in TAG, I've seen a lot of improvement in many of them. I enjoy seeing them pursuing their talent and passion. What was once a blank canvas, has started showing its face. Now we have dancers, guitarists, breakdancers, footballers, drummers, bassist, photographers, leaders, horse jockey, singers, actors, actresses and many more waiting to be unraveled.

I, myself is challenged to improve. Just as I posted a year ago here. I kept my vision clear this year, that is to grow the photographer in me, skill wise, gear wise and art wise. My very first post in 2012 is dedicated to you Taggers. Enjoy these photos.

FYI, this is how we celebrate Christmas : Stealing Santa. That means everyone bring their own gift, then we collect them together, and then draw numbers to decide in order who gets the turn to pick gifts. Once you've taken a present, the next guy after you have the chance to steal your present or get a new unopened one. You can see the hype as people started stealing each other gifts.

Alrighty, let the pictures speak for itself.

Happy New Year Taggers,

Your Mentor

Hmm. Should I get a big one, or a heavy one, or .... ?

Cruel mentor, stealing from the kids.

Cruel mentor smiles evilishly.

The 2011 Tees that everyone wanted!

Ah, the happy faces

And the not-so-happy faces ...

Now Cooking - Hachimaki Ramen

Hello Wanderbiters! Its good to be writing and sharing more frequently as this holiday season gave me a surplus of hours to work on new post =) This blog is indeed a labor of love. Have a jolly Christmas to you all and in case we didn't get to meet, Happy New Year as well. In that spirit, please welcome a new segment dedicated solely for newly opened food place - "Now Cooking". I'll be sharing the first bites so you'll have a decent idea of it and a certain expectations before trying =)

The lucky foodplace I visited just yesterday is Hachimaki Ramen, located at Rukan Cordoba Pantai Indah Kapuk (just across the Waterbom). I googled the word and found hachi means 'a bowl' and maki means 'volume'. So doing the math, I suppose it intends to say a huge bowl of ramen? It appears to be. Judging from the photo, you'll imagine a good portion of ramen to fit the belly of a young man in puberty. But nope, na'ah, its almost 65% soup and 30% ramen noodles and the last 5% of the meal, predictably the beef and the egg.

This Karai Ramen is rated two on spicy-o-meter. Yes, you can customize how hot you want your ramen to be (hmm, reminds me of...) Lucky I didn't tried number nine as I always do at Ramen Sanpachi cause number two is pretty-darn-hot already. They have the levels until ten, I dare not to try! Meat wise it was okay despite the un-generous portion. Presentation was very disappointing, its just too far from what I see on the menu. As for the soup, the broth has a mild meaty flavor that I can barely taste having the spicyness predominates the soup. However, getting spiced up and sweaty was what I came here for. So, I'm satisfied with this one, and I'll keep my mouth shut until I tried the other ramen.

The second menu I tried was the Chuka Wakame (Seaweed). I enjoyed this as I'm always a huge fan of seaweed. On the side note though, I felt that it was too salty. Tried to tilt the bowl, squeeze the seaweed and found a good dose of sesame oil and soysauce. Aha! In my opinion, plain seaweed already bear a distinctive flavor of its own. A sprinkle of sesame seed is more than enough. I like it raw.

Last but not least, the atmosphere here is quite enjoyable especially the outdoor section where you could sit under the shades and next to the greens. Its just nice for me, and it gave me a good natural lighting to take my photos. =) I might come back to try out some more menus, until then, give it a try on your own and have a good holiday all.

Smile on, Shine on

Rubs
Snack on my tweets @captainruby.
Email me at fellexandro.ruby@gmail.com

Grilled Pork Ribs at Warung Ubud

Sekilas mendengar nama Warung Ubud yang terbayang adalah berbagai hidangan khas Bali seperti ayam betutu, sambal matah, babi guling dan sejenisnya. Namun sayangnya saya justru tidak menemukan satupun yang berbau Bali dalam pilihan menu-nya. Hanya satu yang mendekati yaitu Iga Babi Bakar. Sudah kepalang tanggung dan kepalang lapar tetap saya pesan iganya dan tidak lupa sebotol Badak. Minuman yang sudah beredar semenjak saya kecil ini memang selalu membangkitkan nuansa nostalgia yang menyenangkan. Ditambah lagi hari itu saya ditemani salah satu sahabat yang baru kembali dari Sydney. Jarum mood kembali bergerak ke tanda positif. =)

Menunggu, dan menunggu sampai kurang lebih durasi dua lagu habis akhirnya dihidangkan juga iga ini. Panas, fresh, dengan french fries sebagai side dish-nya. Setelah meneteskan beberapa remasan segar lemon, saya pun siap mencicipinya. Untungnya, penampilannya yang menarik dan membuat lidah bergoyang setara dengan rasanya yang juga cukup enak buat saya.

Daging babi-nya lembut seperti hasil presto, kaya bumbu dan rempah yang meresap, walaupun agak sedikit didominasi oleh wangi merica, namun semuanya masih flattering untuk lidah saya. Apalagi setelah dicocol dengan sambelnya. Wow. Saya harus nih ngomongin sambelnya dengan lebih detail karena fungsi dia cukup menentukan. Sambal terbuat dari potongan-potongan cabe rawit yang dihaluskan, dicampur dengan bawang, merica, dan beberapa rempah lainnya sampai berbentuk sedikit padat kemudian dilarutkan dalam saus kecap kental manis. Deliciously sinful! Haha =P

Anyway, untuk harga yang menurut saya cukup murah, 70K, kalian akan mendapatkan at least tujuh slices ribs dalam satu rack. Good value for money. Lokasinya pun cukup strategis, di deretan Rukan Cordoba Bukit Golf Mediterania, tepat di seberang Waterbom PIK. Nah, boleh tuh bermain air seharian lalu ditutup dengan iga ini, serasa di Bali yah. *ngarep.co.uk*

Overall, saya cukup puas dengan menu ini, walaupun sebenarnya masih berharap kalau mereka lengkap dengan menu-menu khas Bali lainnya. Alrighty, let me know what you think of after you gave it a try.

Smile on, Shine on,
Fellexandro Ruby
Food Blogger & Photographer
Twitter: @captainruby
E-mail: fellexandro.ruby@gmail.com

Melumat Nikmat Filipina

Melumat makanannya maksudnya =P, walaupun memang bersamaan dengan kesebelasan Indonesia yang berhasil melumat Filipina 2-0 secara agregat. Siang saya makan, malamnya Indonesia menang. What a coincidence. Tapi cukuplah sudah Filipina dengan kekalahannya, kali ini justru saya mau menceritakan keberhasilan Filipina memenangkan lidah dan perut saya. Yuk!

Kedua menu yang saya coba di bawah ini adalah hasil spontanitas ketika berjalan mengelilingi fX mall. Maksud awal hanya ingin menikmati muffin favorit dari Muffin House, eh ternyata ada restoran Filipina di dalamnya, namanya Manila Connexxion. Melihat beberapa Filipino yang duduk dan sedang menikmati makanan di resto ini menambah rasa penasaran saya. Pasti original nih rasanya, atau paling tidak mendekati original, kalau ada Filipino yang makan di sini.

Banyak pilihan menu otentik Filipin tersedia dan beragam mulai dari appetizer, main course, dessert sampai minuman. Jempol. Namun kali ini baru Beef Adobo dan Chicken Tocino yang saya cicipi. Dari segi rasa, sekilas lidah saya menangkap Beef Adobo standard, tidak ada spice khusus yang stand out. Dagingnya memang empuk namun tidak ada nuansa baru yang menandai ke-filipin-an masakan ini. Beef Adobo taste in the same level as any chinese beef stew.

Menu kedualah yang membuat saya kembali tersenyum. Chicken Tocino terbuat dari daging ayam yang dibumbui dengan berbagai macam spice yang dicampur dengan sari buah nanas yang memberikan nuansa manis asam pada lidah. Hasil gorengan daging yang merata dan meninggalkan sisa hampir burnout di beberapa bagian memberikan rasa sedikit pahit dan garing yang saya personally suka. Ditambah dengan kombinasi garlic rice yang wangi, Chicken Tocino officially menjadi salah satu menu yang akan saya sambangi berkali-kali.

Cuma satu kurangnya Chicken Tocino yaitu menunya yang cukup kecil, belum puas mengunyah nikmatnya daging ayam, tidak berasa sudah habis. Hehe. Tapi ya memang, kalau makanan enak tampaknya berapapun porsinya tetap kurang puas. =P Oh, dan telur mata sapinya juga saya masih rancu, tidak menambah keunikan apapun pada masakan, tapi dasarnya lapar dan doyan telur, tetap saya lahap. =D

Sejauh dua menu ini, saya cukup menyukai masakan Filipin, dan tentunya akan kembali lagi untuk mencicipi menu lainnya. Tapi sebelum itu saya mau melumat makanan Malaysia dulu ah, supaya niscaya agar semoga timnas Indonesia bisa turut melumat Malaysia di final AFF. Nyam! *mengunyah nasi lemak*

Tersenyumlah, Bersinarlah

Rubs
Food Enthusiast & Photographer
Snack on my tweets @captainruby

Shanghai Foodgalore (Or The Misadventures of The Chinese Looking Guy That Speaks No Chinese)

Stranded in a city where you don't speak the language but having the face looking like the locals is one hilarious torture. Things like random people on the MRT asking directions to me in Chinese and when I answered them in English, they return it with a confused and demeaning look that almost like saying "Whoa! So you're so effin cool that you only speak English? Where's your nationalism?" Seriously, I laugh at each of my encounters with the local chineses. 

However, let's put that aside for now, and allow me take you to the place where the foodventure began, Chinese Fast Food. Bump into this place halfway back from Shanghai Expo, just above Long Yang Road station to be exact, and found a long queue waiting. A good sign this should be. So I got into the line only to find myself blank for a minute when the waiter ask me "ni yao che she me?" (what do you want to eat?). For the complete sixty seconds only one thought ran across my head and sadly that is the voice of my mom mocking "I told you so many times to go and take that Chinese lesson. See? Now you've found out for yourself how important it is."

But I have no time for that, and so I used my final ammunition, the ever-so-effective-universal-language in traveling : body language! I took out my hands, stare at the waitress eyes, slowly made a one and a nine with my fingers. Good thing the waitress understood! HA! And that has granted me this:

On the left is the slow-cooked pork with what i assume was pig-innards mixed in sweet-salty soy sauce. I found this quite flat, none of the spices stood out and some of the meats were too stiff and unchewable. The other menu in contrary was awesome! A good blend of tofu, chicken broth, and eggs cooked with enough heat that resulted in a semi-moist texture that slowly diffuse once it reaches your tongue. I tasted a reasonable amount of saltiness and the good good aroma of fresh eggs. A delight. I've never met this in any chinese resto in Indonesia, so yeah, I think I'm gonna miss this. 

Off to the second spot was this resto near Holiday Inn Downtown, a medium-sized fast food with the face of an oldman as the logo. Tell you the truth, I decided to eat here because of him. He gave me a sense of security that their food gotta be good and luckily I was right. =)

The chicken rice with traditional mushroom was a feast in the midst of winter. Just swallowing that first freshly cooked rice and chicken leave a warm feeling in my belly. I feel home in instant, but transported back to reality when I look around and I couldn't find any chili sauce nearby. WHAT?! I tried complaining to the old man a.k.a Mr Lee but he just stared back at me with a smile from the corner of my plate. Oh well, on the plus side, at least their chopsticks were super hygiene (look at the chopstick-washer-machine!).  

Fed up with Chinese food, on the next day I went out for a little variety, and nothing was as exciting as seeing the Golden Arch sign just a couple block from the hotel. YAY! Finally, twentieth-century-food! I was so pumped to try for the first time in my life, McDonald's burgers-with-pork which I could never find in Indonesia. But all that hype just fade away when I stood in front of the counter and remember once again that I couldn't read any of those letters in the menu. DAMN! I should've at least learn how to say 'pork' before flying off here. Once again, body language to the rescue! But how am I suppose to explain 'pig' ? Make a groook-ing sound with my mouth? I ran out of choices, so I took a good look at each of the photos, made my wild guess and took away the burger back to hotel. Another surprise when I opened the paperbag and pull out the burger, the wrapping says Chicken Burger. --" There goes my one and only chance.

Noting the taste, it was one juicy-meaty slice of boneless chicken, the grilled soy sauce let out one tasty scent in favor of my Asian tongue. It was gooood for something coming out of McDonald's menu.

The day after, finished with all the business work, I get to visit this beautiful Yi Yuan garden, one of Shanghai's must-visit landmark, complete with it's shopping alleys that reminds me of Singapore's Bugis Junction. Here I finally found one of Shanghai's authentic hawker food, its the famous Xiao Long Pao. But unlike the normal ones, this one you have to sip it from a straw. And OH MY! It was one heavenly sip. Almost feels like sipping a concentrate of all the goodness (read: fat) of pork in one tasty juice. I recommend this! A must try! See how orgasmic I was while sipping it. =p

Right after that, I went for a quick lunch at this huge foodcourt inside the garden. I rather not talk about it though. I can't believe such beautiful looking foods can taste that disappointing. Awful. Scooch over.

It was quite late after the stroll around the garden. My feet and back are tired from walking, and on my way back my nose traced a very buttery smell coming right from a small shop. I didn't jot down the name of the street. But here's what my nose led me to. Freshly baked portuguese-style tartlettes coming right out of the oven. Its the sweet that I've been craving for. A perfect bite size snack for the afternoon. I can still recall the buttery smell arousing my nose, the hot sweet filling splendoring my tongue, and the crunchy feeling when I took the bite. YUM!

A fine dessert closed my walk that day and closed my stroll around Shanghai. And this Chinese-looking guy that can't speak Chinese has finally made his way around the city and survived with a grin on his face. My overall opinion, the food here are rather flat. It doesn't go to the extreme when it comes to flavor. Slight saltyness, slight sweetness, not spicy at all, and good luck finding chili sauce that complement the food. However, I find this as an enjoyable variety filler, a fling from tons of Indonesian food that I tasted daily in Jakarta. Above all, it was fun, and nothing beats a fun adventure.

Until our next foodventure.

Smile on, shine on. (and stay away from pork),

Chinese-looking Guy

Twitter: @captainruby

Email: fellexandro.ruby@gmail.com

I Ran Out of Superlatives to Express Your Lovingkindness

 remember tweeting this in September and amazingly unknowingly He gave me a surprise. I expected next year but He present it early. I am beyond thankful.

Last November, on an unplanned-before business trip I got the chance to visit one of the world's emerging cities, Shanghai and it was wintery! *widegrin* I've missed being wrapped in layers of clothes and jackets, having no sweat all day, travelling around city with subway metro, and freezing my ears walking against the wind. That's exactly what I got. It was only four days three nights, but it was really a blessing. On top of that I get to taste local cuisine (will review them soon) in between of work-related stuffs and took some citylights photos that I've been wanting. Here's a glimpse of what I captured. Not to boast, but to let myself and everyone of us be reminded that there's a Higher Being up there who listens and take a good care of us right to the littlest details. And He love to give us surprises.

I've simply ran out of superlatives to express Your lovingkindness. You are good and Your Grace overflows. =)

With a grateful heart,
Fellexandro Ruby

Marvelous Seven (@JCF_2010 Food Blogger's Dinner)

It was around this hour yesterday, me and 32 other bloggers had the privilege to delight in 7-course dinner from amazing line up of topnotch chefs. Gracias Goorme.com and Ismaya for the invites and for arranging such a wonderful event. Not just solid food, we were feed with interesting insights on foodphotography and food reviewing, both from the experts in their field as well. However, on this post, I just want to relive that night once again with you beautiful readers, as I go through the photos and the menu.

In order of appearance:
1# Cold Appetizer // Balinese Chicken Salad with Coconut Vegetables and Sambal Matah
By Fahmi Widarte (Corporate Chef of Rotaryana Prima)
As the starter salad, the spicy taste kicks in real quick to my taste buds, and kinda jump start me to taste the next one. As spicy food lover, the hot-ness is simply yum!

2# Hot Appetizer // Braised Wagyu Beef Cheek in Sweet Miso
By Hugo Adrian (Executive Chef of Blowfish Kitchen & Bar)
Not a big fan of radish, however, I gotta say the miso complements the radish. It gives a good mix of sweet and salty, while the wagyu does what a wagyu beef does. It splendor my tongue.

3# Soup // Authentic Sultan's Tomato Cream Soup
By Agus Ishermawan (Head Chef of Ismaya Catering)
And now, we're talking. Very creamy soup (in coffee term this might close to an espresso), tasty tomato, and the surprise foie-gras! It wasn't on the description, that made us guessing, and @glister_blister got it right.

4# Pasta // Red Shell Pasta With Duck Ragout, Pine Nut and Rocket Salad
By Gianfranco Beltrame (Italian Chef de Cuisine at Casa D'Oro Hotel Indonesia Kempinski)
A plateful of pasta after a bowl of tomato cream soup is simply not the best sequence to taste them. A quarter way to this, my belly started to repulse. Sad that I had to left it halfway. However, the braised duck was a feast when munch together with the pine nut. I like the mix of soft and crunchy texture.

5# Fish // Chilean Sea Bass With Lee Kum Kee Ginger Oyster Sauce
By Sofyan Joshua (Technical Culinary Chef of Sukanda Djaya)
It was one of my favorite simply because of its lightness, kinda refresh the palate after all the creams. And again, intriguing blend of soft swirly fresh fish and crunchy pine nuts. Oh, yum!

6# Meat // Short Rib, Truffle Demi Glaze, Charcoal Oil, Glazed Carrots, Potato Hot Foam and Nuts Fake Cous Cous
By Ignacio Virgen Jimenez (Chef de Cuisine of Potato Head)
Now, this is a tricky menu for me. On the plate was five different flavor. I tried the ribs alone, was grilled with exact tenderness that I like. Then tried mixing it with the charcoal oil and the carrots. I gotta say, the carrot was truly something. Unlike any other I've ever tasted, the partly glazed skin with slight bitterness and the partly stewed carrot-meat with its full sweet taste was gooooood. However, I didn't quite get the chopped 'something', was it the nuts fake cous cous? Gotta be it, it smells weird for me. I left that part and finished the rest though. =)

7# Dessert // Green Tea Cake Ala Tropicale
By Rinrin Marinka (Artistic Chef)
Finally! The part that I've been waiting for, the la finale, the cherry on top of the cake! Yeehee! Anw, photo-wise its a very tricky food to shoot, however, I kinda nailed it, didn't I? Back to the taste, as I expected, it was a great closure for my tastebud, the sweet that I've been waiting for. You know this Asian tongue likes it that way. Dipping the sliced green tea cake with the yellow sourly passionfruit sauce was delightful. The best part for me was the crunchy biscuit covered in chocolate and the baked crispy apple slices. It was outstanding =)

---
Sad that it has to end, but with a happy belly and a stream of good foodphotos I'm twice happier a man. =))  Marvelous seven course dinner, awesome night, cheers to the beautiful people that accompanied me that night Ivan, Dessey, Michelle, Astrid, Natalixia, Imel, Selby, Daniel, and Adhi Putra. It was an honor sharing the table with you. Until our next toast together (oh sigh, we forgot to toast together, o well, save it for the next time =)

Smile on, Shine on,

Fellexandro Ruby 
Snack on my tweets @captainruby
Email me at fellexandro.ruby@gmail.com