Recipe: Ginger Coffee

This is a recipe to make ginger coffee at home from available ingredients in our kitchen. It is good choice to drink in cool weather.

• Ingredients:

1. Coffee, 2 spoons
2. Ginger, 3 cm long
3. Sugar (depend on personal taste) 
4. Water, 3 glasses

• Process

1. Roast ginger, and then grind it thoroughly.
2. Boil water and then add coffee, sugar, and grinded ginger to boiling water.
3. Boil water until only 1 glass remaining.
4. Filter it and ginger coffee is ready.

Ginger need to be roasted  a little to spice up its aroma, careful not to over-roast it. To make more than a cup, make calculation according to recipe mentioned above. Another recipe is ginger tea.

Recipe: Tempe Mendoan

Tempe (or tempeh) is a 'cake' from fermented soybeans. Fermentation makes tempe has more nutritional value in protein, fibers, and vitamins. This is one of reasons that tempe is famous as vegetarian cuisine, even if we should not have to be a vegetarian to like it. Tempe is a staple food in Java, an island in Indonesia, in western countries tempe usually is sold in vegetarian food court.

This a recipe of tempe mendoan from Central Java. Mendoan itself means fast deep fried. Tempe is sliced wide and thin before frying.

Ingredients:

• 300 g tempeh, size 10×15 cm
• 2 pieces green onion, slice thinly
• 199 g rice flour
• 1 tbs wheat flour
• 125 ml water
• ½ ml cooking oil

For grinding

• 2 tsp. coriander
• 1 piece garlic
• 1 cm greater galingale
• add salt according to taste

Cooking procedure

1. Put together the two kinds of flour and the ground ingredients.
2. Add water little by little until it forms a liquid dough. Mix together until it forms a smooth and complete mix.
3. Add the sliced green onion.
4. Warm the cooking oil in the frying pan.
5. Dip the tempeh into the dough.
6. Insert the tempeh into the hot oil, and fry it until done, don't take too long time, when dough is hardening, take tempe out from oil. Remember that mendoan means frying fast.
7. Take it out from the oil and serve it with small chilies.

Usually tempe mendoan is served with warm tea or coffee.  It is very popular in Central Java in which it originates.Coriander above is a spice, it is a typical characteristic of Java and Indonesian cuisine to use various spices (it is only coriander in tempe mendoan), so they usually have strong taste.

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Mountain and city bike

This is a picture of a mountain bike, specially built for off road cycling. Its design makes riders able to concentrate better during riding on mountainous terrain. I am used to ride this type of bicycle to go to school and college. It, surely, has advantage when I took a bad terrain shortcut, but a problem arises when riding it in ordinary road. More problems arise if our bike have problems on gear, chain, brakes, etc.

Because an off road bicycle like this requires rider to slightly bend down gripping handlebar, I feel slight lower back pain after ride. This won't last long but it is disturbing enough. I also feel that I pulled my breath faster every-time I ride an off road bicycle. This is normal in mountainous terrain but we don't need that much energy to ride bike around neighborhood and town.

So, if we just need to ride around town, what we need is a city bike like this one. Riders can hold handlebar with straighten up position and ride. This reduces possibility of lower back pain and spends less energy. Personally I like bicycle more to drive around town than any motorized vehicle.

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Lombok: Sister island of Bali

Lombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia (Nusa Tenggara means south east island in English). The province’s capital, Mataram, is located in this island. Lombok is located on the east of Bali Island and only separated by a strait. Considering its near location to Bali, the main destination of tourists in Indonesia, and Lombok also has many exotic places as Bali, many people consider Lombok as alternative to Bali. Lombok is less westernized and less crowded than Bali too, a good thing for some people to retreat.

Because of growing potential of tourism, Lombok now has Selaparang International Airport near its capital, Mataram. Selaparang International Airport serves domestic and international flight, even if the main flight is dominated by domestic flight, especially to Denpasar, Bali. Most of tourists usually visit Bali first, and later visit Lombok via air from Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar to Selaparang Airport in Mataram. Tourists who have visited many places in Bali can make extended visit to Lombok. But less advertisement makes Lombok has not been as popular as Bali yet; furthermore, many infrastructures in Lombok are still in development. Local government is concerning with this problem, so developments in many potential areas are growing especially after Indonesia recovered from Asian Financial crisis in 1997. Hopefully, recent world economic crisis doesn’t affect badly to those developments even if tourism industry seems to be slowing today due to situation of world economic.

Compared to Bali, main inhabitants of Lombok is Sasak people with majority of them are Muslims. According to Statistic Bureau of Indonesia, 80% of inhabitants are Sasak people with majority of them are Muslims, 15% are Balinese Hindus, and the remaining are Javanese, Chinese, and Arabs. Main language is Sasak language, but Balinese in Lombok use Bali language. Islam as main religion affects many local cultures, compared to Bali whose cultures are affected by Hinduism.

These are many tourist attractions in Lombok such as Senggigi Beach, located in west cost of Lombok. Even if it is smaller, Senggigi is similar to Kuta Beach Bali. Senggigi has natural reef and many tourists go there to do snorkeling activities. Also Gili Meno, one of three Gili islands (the others are Gili Gili Trawangan dan Gili Air). Gili Meno is the place of endangered birds’ sanctuary. There is a unique thing in Gili Meno, i.e. local people intentionally limit motorized vehicle and electricity. In Gili Trawangan, compared to Gili Meno this Gili has more party air. Tourists usually go to Gili Trawangan for scuba diving or snorkeling.

There is one volcano in Lombok, Mt. Rinjani. Mt. Rinjani is a part of Mount Rinjani National Park. It is the second highest active volcano in Indonesia. Nearby, there is Hutan Monyet Pusuk, literally that name means Monkey Forest of Pusuk, located in Rinjani Forest. This forest is the place of Sendanggile Waterfall, a gate to climb Mt. Rinjani.

There are many other tourist attractions other than above. Local guides or travel bureaus in Bali are able to offer information about Lombok. Some people feel that less developed location can bring more enjoyments. Lombok does have places that will satisfy them.