Colorful Wild Orchid

It was an excellent day for driving in South Coast Highway, Western Australia.

Spring has come in the Valley of the Giants, Walpole.

Fresh air, green grass and trees are everywhere.

I spotted a bunch colorful wild-orchid grows next to the roadside. 

They were beautiful.

I begged hubby to stop near them to take photos.

They are not fragrant plants, but still attractive.

We went straight to Augusta that afternoon.

I saw more orchids in an empty field near our accommodation.

 

I envied the house next to the abandoned land.

I wish I could have this extraordinary view from my kitchen window. 

Or, even a land full of the colorful orchid to admire everyday. 

What a gorgeous view.
November 2011. 

Pekanbaru,

Belajar (menjadi) Berani

Beberapa tahun silam aku pernah menghadapi seseorang yang cukup keras pada mahasiswa. Sebenarnya ia bukan orang yang menakutkan secara fisik, tetapi cara penyampaian, ego dan kecepatan reaksi dalam menanggapi masalah sering membuat orang frustasi saat mereka berbicara dengannya. Sayangnya, aku harus berurusan dengannya berkaitan dengan izin pemakaian suatu alat karena ia sangat berhak memberikan keputusan akhir.

Hari itu kami berdua tahu bahwa aku dan beliau harus membicarakan izin itu. Pasalnya aku sudah berkali-kali minta pada atasannya, tetapi sang atasan yang bijaksana mengatakan kalau aku juga harus meminta izin orang tersebut. Berhari-hari aku menunggu untuk mengumpulkan keberanian dan menata strategi. Izin harus didapatkan supaya tugas dapat dilaksanakan dengan lancar.

Suatu hari saat sore menjelang dan ruangan tempat kerja mulai sepi, tiba-tiba aku merasa gerah dengan suasana di sekelilingku. Sesuatu terasa menekan keras di dalam dadaku, menggumpal dan tak sabar ingin dikeluarkan. Aku dapat merasakan bahwa iapun mengalami hal tak nyaman yang sama. Beberapa kali kudengar beliau secara sengaja membanting beberapa alat atau berbicara dengan nada keras kepada orang lain seolah pikirannya terganggu oleh sesuatu. 

Aku pikir, itulah saat yang kutunggu untuk mulai bicara supaya kebekuan komunikasi kami bisa dipecahkan.

Detik-detik permintaan izin itupun tiba. 

Ia sudah beranjak dari kantor bersiap mengunci pintu untuk pulang. Pada saat bersamaan aku berdiri di depan pintu kantornya, menunggu diriku meminta izin.

Kami berdua berdiri kaku di depan pintu saling memandang. 

Lalu aku menyampaikan maksudku. 

Ia mendengar, lalu dengan cepat mengatakan sangat keberatan memberikan izin dengan berbagai alasan dan contoh-contoh kasus.

 

Aku menunggu ia selesai dengan perkataannya, lalu mencoba kembali memberi argumen yang masuk akal agar diberi izin. 

Ia kembali menolak. 

Tidak putus asa, aku menceritakan metode pemberian sebuah izin dari lembaga dengan lancar. Rasanya sudah hampir di puncak rasa frustasi karena kata ‘tidak’ dan ‘keberatan’ lebih sering terdengar ketimbang ‘dipikirkan’ dan ‘dicek kembali’ dari orang tersebut. Aku terus berbicara menerangkan rencana kerja sistem tersebut karena begitu sulit meyakinkan dirinya. Ia tersenyum sinis tapi tetap diam.

Aku diam juga, menunggu.

Tiba-tiba ia berpikir teknik yang dikerjakan oleh lembaga itu cukup bagus. Ia tertarik untuk mencoba metode tersebut untuk mengeluarkan izin.

So, it’s settling now. 

Wajah kami sangat lega.

Aku gembira karena telah berani menyampaikan maksudku dengan baik sehingga ia memahami dan mau memberikan izin. Sedangkan ia juga berani mengalahkan egonya, mau menahan diri supaya tidak kesal berlarut-larut, mendengar dahulu dan turut menimbang solusi terbaik.

Ini pelajaran menjadi berani terbaik untukku.

Pekanbaru,

Simple Banana Pancake (for dessert)

My parents have a banana orchard in their backyard. It is really a queer hobby to me. There are many types of banana grow there. I cannot call how many varieties of banana in the yard, but we taste quite many types, such as pisang kepok (saba/cooking banana), pisang manis (apple banana), pisang Ambon (Ambon banana), pisang Sarawak (Sarawak banana), pisang telunjuk (lady finger banana), and pisang nangka (jackfruit banana), depends on the season. I don't have any particular favorite, but pisang kepok is always suit me well.

Actually my German and Australian friends think I'm very lucky because we own the banana orchard. I knew what they've been thinking. They must think we grow the Cavendish (yellow) banana, which is considered expensive ($5 per kg, not in season in the UK/Australia). In fact, I'm more fortunate in term of other banana varieties:)

By the way, as the result of harvesting two or three bunches of banana per month, we never out of stock of this sweet fruit at home. Sometimes, I got the overripe bananas in the fridge, which are not appealing to eat but cannot be wasted. So, after trying this 'banana creamy ice cream' recipe, I got an idea to make the overripe banana more useful. 

This could be a simple banana pancake. How to make the pancake:

• Peel the banana first (3 banana)
• Crush them, to make banana puree
• Add two tablespoonful of wheat flour into the puree
• Add another tablespoonful of corn flour, just skip this when you don't have any at home
• Add an egg
• A pinch of salt
• Mix all ingredients well
• Heat the teflon pan, give a little bit oil, use low heat
• Put the mixture in the pan, spread the mix and remember to maintain the thickness (0.5cm)
• Let the bottom side of pancake turns brown and upper side becomes dry
• Roll the pancake slowly, slowly, slowly, make sure not to mess it up
• Serve and garnish it with chocolate bar or cheese.

I think this dessert works well with vanilla or mango ice cream.

Pekanbaru,

Bench

My passion for bench began many years ago when I saw a lonely bench covered with autumn leaves. That was in the UK. It is a type of romantic-scenes in the movies. 

However, when I lived in Perth few years ago, without autumn foliage nor snow, the hot summer in Perth with yellow grass and blue sky was also a perfect setting for bench. I changed my view about bench straightaway. It is always a romantic furniture everywhere.

Benches are not difficult to find. Due to its capacity to let up to four people seating uncomfortably, bench is truly an important element in the parks, gardens, scenic viewing point, beaches, and in the highly traffic areas. 

Although I like bench so much, I never seat on it for a very long time. I just used to take photos of bench rather than sit in it properly.

However, I have quite obsessed with a bench at Alfred Cove Nature Reserve, Applecross, Perth, WA. It is such a comfortable bench with wooden platform that built underneath. Both look perfect there. 

We even returned to this location, so I could sit there to enjoy the bench alone for few minutes. 

I have been thinking of a romantic story between two people and a bench.

Pekanbaru, 

A bike and a lighthouse

It was a nice day in Fremantle, Western Australia.

We went to the South Mole Lighthouse which is located at the entrance of Swan River, Fremantle Harbor.

The 9m green lighthouse is catchy. Such a fine day with blue sky as a background.

We sat on the breakwater stone initially, before walked to the lighthouse to get better view for the Rottness Island Ferries.

 

On my way back to our car, I was thrilled to see the red bicycle. 

It stood there nicely. It was waiting for the lady-owner.

I couldn't wait to capture that special postcard moment: me with a bike and a lighthouse.

Of course, I asked for permission from the husband of the owner to let me take a pose with that beautiful red bicycle.

I was very pleased with the photo.

What do you think?

Pekanbaru,

Craving of Sate Padang

It is quite amusing, coz we won't be able to buy 'sate Padang' in Padang, West Sumatra.
Why?

Because sate hawker in Padang won’t call it ‘sate Padang’. They declare this type of indulging food as ‘sate’ only. No need to mention ‘Padang’ again.

Got it now?

Anyone who wants to taste authentic Minang cuisine should include sate Padang in their wish list. Who can resist the perfectly cooked meat, rice dumplings, with thick spicy sauce, all decorated with fried onion? I can't. It's too delicious to resist.

This marvellous sate is made by boiling the meat with several crushed spices (onion, garlic, coriander, chili, pepper, fennel, ginger, galangal, lemon grass, tamarind, lime leaves, etc). Cut the meat into dices and thread them onto skewers. Grill the meat for few minutes. To make the sauce, use the leftover stock from meat, which is thickened with rice flour and water. Serve the sate with fried onion on top.  A link to a full recipe is here: Madame Hertie's Kitchen.

To make it more suspicious, people said the sate from street hawkers or restaurants is much more delicious than the homemade sate. It feels like something missing when we cook our own sate. It could be the proportion of the spices. But, it is most likely because lack of smoke flavour when we grill the meat. Indeed, I think the smoke flavour that makes the satemuch more tempting and mouth watering.

Pekanbaru,

Cacatnya itu Cela

Seseorang yang kukenal sekarang menjadi sangat menganggu. Tadinya demi kesopanan aku tetap berusaha melayani basa-basi di antara kami berdua dengan baik. Tetapi lama-kelamaan tanpa ragu-ragu ia kerap mencela perbuatan, masa lalu dan kondisi fisikku secara langsung.

Astaghfirullah…

Saking seringnya dicela orang tersebut, aku menjadi gampang curiga dengan tiap komentarnya. Tetapi aku bukan orang yang suka melawan celaannya secara langsung, karena mengembalikan kekasaran bukan tipeku. Untuk menetralisir kesebalan akibat celaan tersebut, aku berharap memiliki hati seluas samudra atau reservoir untuk menenangkan diri.

 

Setelah berkonsultasi pada ‘La Tahzan’ (Dr ‘Aidh al-Qarni) baik-baik, aku menemukan beberapa hal penting untuk menenangkan jiwaku yang baru saja dapat celaan baru kemarin. Misalnya beberapa hal berikut:

“ Jangan bersedih jika mendengar kata-kata kasar, karena kedengkian itu sudah ada sejak dulu”, maksudnya: aku bukanlah orang yang pertama menjadi korban kedengkian orang lain dan celaan mereka.

“Jangan bersedih atas cercaan dan hinaan orang”, moralnya: tiap cercaan dan hinaan sebenarnya mendatangkan pahala. Semakin pedas sebuah celaan, maka makin banyak pahala yang diperoleh seseorang.

“Caci maki dan cemoohan itu tidak akan membahayakan diri anda”, yang berarti: ucapan-ucapan orang yang suka mencela, suka bicara kesana-kemari, dan suka menjatuhkan kehormatan orang lain, tidak berbahaya dan penting, karena sikap orang tersebut tidak akan bisa mengusik hati orang-orang beriman, baik dan berani.

“Jangan bersedih jika dianiaya, dilecehkan, dihina atau dizalimi”, karena: para pencela suka mencela orang yang memiliki harga dan derajat tinggi. Pendengki tidak akan pernah menendang bangkai anjing atau orang-orang tak berharga.

Kurasa, modus operandi cela-mencela ini memang dilakukan orang-orang yang merasa dirinya tak berharga di samping orang-orang tertentu. Cela hanyalah sebuah senjata cacat yang bisa ditumpahkannya untuk menutupi kelemahan dan kedengkian dirinya pada orang lain.

Yah, jangan bersedih lagi, lah.

Pekanbaru,

Do not worry with your English

I think the fastest way to learn English is to use English more often in thinking, talking and writing.  My pleasure in learning English comes from literature and BBC classic mini series based on Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell's novels. Could watch them for hours.

What I consider important now is to use English as frequent as I could: to write, to talk and to think. Don't want to lose the sense and momentum of including English in my life in the meantime, that's why I start writing my post in English.

I know there are many grammatical mistakes or inappropriate terms in my post. 

But, we start learning from baby steps, right? So, even though there are going to be more unpleasant posts, I hope my friends won't complain at all and keep reading.

Pekanbaru,