12th August

To my dear friends out there, who were sitting with me under the dark sky one year ago, looking for Cassiopea, counting shooting stars and making wishes.

I still remember every joy and laughter, every tear and heartache that followed after. No one understands the destiny. But when I see one of the shooting stars today, I will whisper a wish, that you will be able to sit again under the dark sky, watch the shooting stars, forget the past and look forward with a smile on your faces.



PS. It's the Perseid meteor shower day again, people! I hope you find your lucky shooting star ;)

Summer reading

About a month ago, I decided that I want to have a good reading list. Then I found this list of 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to present according to TIME and I thought it would be fun to try to read them all. Only 3 out of 100 books I have read so far, so it might take forever to complete the list. But hey, one should just give it a try right?

These are the books I have read:

• The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (CS. Lewis)
• The Lord of The Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
• To Kill a Mocking Bird (Harper Lee)

Well, ok. I cheated a little bit. I read them in Indonesian (come on, no student could afford imported books!)

Anyhow, I started to look around and found a nice offer in ebay Germany. Someone was selling three English books, two of them were on the list, for 4 euros only (which is like the price of 4 bags of Lays potato chips) and without shipping price! So I bought them:

• The Catcher in The Rye (J.D. Salinger)
• The Lord of The Flies (William Golding)
• A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)

The first two are the ones in the TIME's list. The one from Charles Dickens can't be bad as well. I started with this and I am still currently reading it:


Oh and one more thing, I found this super cool website:

It's basically a way to share books with other people in the world. You can register a book then put it in the wild til somebody finds it. When you find a book, you should register it too, then you can see all the places that the book has been traveling to. It's kind of fun. I went hunting once, somebody registered some books and wrote that he put them on a park (over the bridge, on a park bench, under an information board). But it rained before I found the books, and I didn't come back to find them again afterward. It was my only (and unsuccessful) hunt so far, cause nobody put English books in the wild around here. I do read German books, but it's kind of tiring when I have to concentrate to understand the story. However, I keep my eye on the list of released books, hoping that somebody nice would put some English ones on the wild. Then it wold be the time to go out hunting again!

Two guests in the backyard

One was a crow. He was taking a sunbath. A long warm sunbath.


Really.

He was just standing like that for more than 10 minutes. In the same position. With his head a little bit tilted.

He was probably thinking, "Mmmm... Warm... Sun... Just a bit more... A bit more..."

And there was also this one.


She wasn't there for sunbathing. Oh yes, this one is more gracious.

"Sunbathing?? In other people's backyard? With a strange paparazzi taking picture of me? No way!"

Well, I'm sorry little birdie. I didn't have the intention to play paparazzi today. Was just having fun with this cute grinder in the kitchen.


But you were too cute to ignore, too.


I am really sorry for stalking.

And what was it with the grinder again? That has to wait til I find the right time to post it :)

So tweeeeeeeeeeeeet

Partly Cloud

Fikri and Fadli Photosession

Last week I had another photosession with Mbak Reni & Mas Nanda's krucils =)

Fadli just had his immunization the previous day, so he was not so well. But he was still cute as ever!

This is Fadli with grandma. He was wondering about solving world's energy problem. Or stopping war and famine around the globe. Or when mama would feed him again.


He was praying....


... cause he couldn't make up his mind about which toy he should choose.


Look at the big bright eyes.


Fikri was playing around all the time. He was investigating my tripod.


Pretending to hear grandma's story about a man who walked outside in the street.


Playing monkey.


And of course, just being cute.


These two have their own language to speak to each other.


And that language includes some kind of telepathy power.


This is to assure that we adult will never understand them.


Anyway, it was a great fun! Looking forward for another photoshoot :)

It's Sunday today

and my fridge was almost empty. What to cook for lunch? I had only four and a half tomatoes. Three half onions. Yes you got it right. Half onions. Three of them. And spaghetti. Spaghetti al pomodoro sounded pretty good, right?

You will need this following ingredients:


Plus olive oil and parmesan cheese. I remembered that later after I took the picture.

First thing you need to do is to cook the pasta according to the package directions. Don't forget to salt the water generously!


Meanwhile, wash, peel, and seed the tomatoes. I used two of them for one portion. Lately I have grown such an unexpected fondness to tomatoes, so the "unused" part after peeling and seeding went directly to my mouth. Mmmm... Fresh and juicy.


Next, chop the onion. For me a half of them is enough. You love onions and you want more? Just go ahead.


Sautee the onions with olive oil until translucent.


Then add the tomatoes. Cook until just tender.


Add dried basilikum. Yes, you heard me right. When I told you my fridge was almost empty I meant I didn't have fresh basilikum either.


Add salt and pepper then remove from heat.

Drain the cooked pasta and put on a plate. Toss it with the tomatoes.


Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top...


... then you're done! You have your simple lunch ready! Buon appetito!



Uhm. What?

Sorry, I can't hear you.


I haven't done what? I can't understand you at all.


Really. What do you mean?


Oh that.

Ehem. Well... Did I tell you that I am a very very busy master thesis student? I am. I really am. The dirty dishes can wait. Sure it can.

A tribute to the rain

I thought the cold days are over. I was wrong. But you know what, I don't mind! I woke up today with an extremely good mood and when I looked outside, I knew why. It was raining outside. Did I tell you that I love the rain? I did, probably in a hundred posts already now (no, I'm exaggerating). But I do love the rain. It gives me joys in all of my senses.

I love the smell of the wet earth.

I love the pattern it creates on my window.


I love walking outside when it's drizzling. Not when it's stormy and windy, I'm not that crazy. Yet.

And I love the small drops on the grass when it's over.


I know most people like warm sunny days a lot better. Well, I never have that yellow-shiny-bubbly personality anyway. Does the fact that I like cloudy and rainy days makes me dark and twisty? Like Meredith Grey? At least she has Derek. He said dark and twisty is not a flaw. Let me quote his proposal again, if you haven't heard about it.

"... You say you're dark and twisty. It's not a flaw. It's a strength. It makes you, who you are. I'm not going to get down on one knee. I'm not going to ask a question. I love you Meredith Grey. And I want to spend the rest of my life, with you..."

Awww... I'm wondering if they will eventually get married this season. Or the next one. I don't mind waiting.

Oops, I'm going too far. We were discussing about the rain. Yes. The rain. There is one more thing I love about the rain.

If you are wondering about the title of my blog, it's because I love the way it sounds. Plip plop.

My favourite breakfast

I love Knusper Müsli for breakfast. It's crunchy, it's sweet, it's tasty and it makes me happy. Did I mention sweet? Yes, I love sweet breakfast. But no chocolate please. Chocolate for breakfast doesn't sound right. Even if it's in the form of a bowl of chocolate cereal.

My favourite one is Knusper Früchte-Müsli. Yep, add some dried fruits and it's just perfect. I recently bought one with dried apples, raisins, coconut and banana. I love it when I get a banana piece on my mouth. There aren't so many banana pieces, so when I get one it feels like I'm in a bonus round. Hmmm....


Sometimes I put some fresh fruits on the top. Any kind of berries, apples, or some fresh grapes...


Pour plain yogurt all over it. I use plain yogurt all the time. It's not a diet one, should I care? But shake it first. It makes a lot of difference, believe me. Shake shake shake, don't hesitate. Shake it more... and more... then pour...


And your healthy tasty yummy breakfast is ready. Guten appetite!

I feel like...

... shopping and dressing up! I found this lovely website, We Love Hijab just today. Their old website is officially closed now, but you can still find a lot of great article there. They write articles about mix 'n match...


... fashion don'ts...

cover that legs please!

... hijab du jour...


... some video tutorials about how to wear hijab, fashion trends, Q&As, and a lot more!

Oh well, I won't do the shopping here though. 1st reason, I don't want to spend money on clothes when I know that if I go back to Indonesia, I can buy a lot more pieces in the market by bringing my friend, mbak nyonyik, the greatest bidder I've ever known! :p 2nd, I don't know where I am going to land after I finish my master degree (hopefully) this October. I came to Europe with one big suitcase and one backpack, now my things are doubled (or tripled!) already. Better not add more clothes to that :)

First attempt, what went wrong?

I was craving for Rotiboy since last week and today I decided to make it on my own. In case you are wondering, Rotiboy is the best Mexican bun ever! Google the image and imagine some warm fresh baked coffee-flavored buns. Yummmmm.....

I found one recipe from the House of Annie. Her attempt seems to be successful, so I decided to use her recipe, but... I don't know where I did wrong. The buns did not raised properly and the topping was too hard.

Oh well, I enjoyed the process anyway :) Second attempt will be done in a near future!