Arem-arem, Indonesian stuffed coconut rice-roll





When I decided to write this recipe, I spent some time trying to look for the right translation for arem-arem.
Yes, arem-arem.

It started two weeks ago, in one of the meetings at my office, when we had those traditional Indonesian snacks. Pisang goreng and arem-arem.

Then my mind took me to my younger days, back to Lampung, my beloved hometown.
We used to go to one of the islands along Lampung Bay and spent the entire day playing around on those white sandy beaches and crystal-clear water.
Obviously, we had to bring enough food and drink for our excursions because there was nothing, let alone the restaurants or mini markets, on those islands.
And guess what...one of the most favorite snacks we had is arem-arem.
Made from scratch by my late grandma or my mom, and we all devoured it while it was still nicely warm. My heart aches with memories as I write this :).

Dan arem-arem pun berhasil membuat saya jadi sendu.
Bukan seneng duit lho #walaupunsebenernyaiyajugasih.
Inget jaman masih kecil dulu, setiap mau menyebrang ke salah satu pulau di Teluk Lampung,selalu berbekal nasi uduk dan teman-temannya plus arem-arem, lemper dan/atau pisang goreng.
Jadi inget dengan almarhum Nenek Ewet, panggilan kesayangan kami untuk nenek dari pihak mama, yang paling hobi buat arem-arem untuk cucu-cucunya yang kadang sudah menghabiskan arem-aremnya di mobil, jauh sebelum sampai di kapal dan menyebrang.
Dan kali ini, saya mau berbagi resep cemilan (berat) kesayangan penuh nostalgia ini.

It's rather nostalgic for me to write and share the recipe of arem-arem. 
But hey, that's the beauty of it, right.
Every food has its wonderful story.

Arem-arem is basically a stuffed rice roll, wrapped in banana leaves.
It can be stuffed with veggies, mince beef or chicken. Or simply anything you like that goes well with the rice. To make the rice even tastier, we add coconut milk, lemon grass, bay leaves and salt to the rice, before stuff it with the filling and steam it.  

So, there are three steps to prepare arem-arem. Firstly, we prepare the fillings, then precook the rice, and finally stuff the rolls and steam them.

Now let's start with the ingredients

For the filling:

It's absolutely up to you but I love a combination of veggies and mince beef.

Minced beef - 2 lbs
Carrots - 2 pieces, cut into small cubes
Potatoes - 2 pieces, peeled and cut into small cubes
Green onion - 2 pieces, finely sliced
Shallots - 2 pieces, finely sliced
Garlics - 3 pieces, finely sliced or smashed
Salt, sugar and pepper - as desired
Nutmeg powder - as desired
Vegetable oil - 2 spoonful



For the precooked rice:

Rice, preferably the jasmine rice - 3 lbs
Coconut milk - 2 cans
Lemon grass - 3 pieces
Bay leaves - 8 - 10 pieces
Salt and sugar - as desired

You well need banana leaves for wrappings . If it's a bit complicated to have one, aluminum foil will do the trick.

How to cook:

First, we prepare the fillings. It's basically veggie and minced beef sauté, so prepare the pan, put the oil and cook the shallots, onion and garlic. Once it smells great and cooked, put the minced beef and potatoes then cook it for 10 minutes. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg and a bit of sugar as desired. Add carrots and continue to cook it. Finally, add the green onion and set it aside.

Let's now get the rice ready. Prepare the cleaned rice and add water, coconut milk, lemon grass, bay leaves all together. Cook it in pot in low fire and don't forget to stir it occasionally to avoid overcooking. Once all the liquid is all absorbed by the rice, it will be precooked and damp.

Then the next step will be stuffing the rice and roll it. Cut the banana leaves, cleaned before, into rectangle and spread one scope of rice, spread it with spoon, then add a half spoon of fillings. Add another scope of rice and roll it into a long rectangle shape. You can insert one fresh chili if you like. Once it's cooked, it won't be that hot. But I prefer to eat the chili fresh on the side.


Once all the wrapped rice rolls are ready, steam them for about 15-20 minutes.

steam it for 15-20 minutes
Once it's ready, the rice and its stuffing will be deliciously blended and you can enjoy it with fresh chili or sambal, as desired.  Eat it while it's hot or warm and enjooooy.


pair it with fresh chili

I'll be back with more Indonesian food recipes and till then, bon appetit!

Meet My Writer-buddy, Diah Dwi Arti

Pernah punya cita-cita menjadi penulis?
Atau malah sudah berhasil menjadi penulis dan menerbitkan buku?
Saya juga pengen, malah punya keinginan untuk menulis serius dan menggelontorkan buku karya sendiri yang benar-benar saya suka. Tapi sampai sekarang, masih banyak alasaaaan yang menghalangi saya memenuhi keinginan yang satu ini. 
Mulai dari waktu yang terbatas (tapi untuk mantengin sale dan online shop masih bisa >_<), distraksi, sampai pekerjaan kantor yang hobi banget 'mampir' macam abang bakso kesayangan di kompleks kami dulu.

Walhasil, saya mencari akal dengan mencoba membuat tulisan pendek dan mengikuti kontes blog yang salah satu hadiahnya adalah menerbitkan hasil tulisan kita dalam sebuh buku. Dan di salah satu kontes inilah saya pertama kali kenal mba Diah Dwi Arti.

Time to meet my writer-buddy, Diah Dwi Arti.

Continuing our 'arisan blog', or our blog-hoping and linky party, this time I get a chance to introduce my dear friend, Diah, a mom of two, Damar and Darojat.
Two precious children whose names are shortened to be her famous blog, damarojat.com.





As I previously mentioned above, we 'met' firstly in Pakdhe Abdul Cholik's contest about mother. Both of our stories, together with many others, were published in the same book titile Hati Seluas Samudera. We both talked about how deeply thankful we all are to our moms. For me who have spent so much time away from my mom, it felt like pouring my heart out missing her :).


photo was taken from https://jampang.wordpress.com/tag/buku-hati-ibu-seluas-samudera/

But, back to damarojat.com, on her blog, she talks a lot things that matter to her family and her readers.
I truly enjoy reading her piece on kids and everything around them. 
And she also writes a lot about her travel with her kids and family, including the most recent trip to Madiun to try 'river-tubing'. It certainly looks fun and feels like I want to try it as well!

Her personal touch is her signature, as she shares many aspects of her personal life without patronizing. We can surely take some lessons of life from her reflection on many simple but meaningful things. One recent post that she wrote was about her cat, which, sadly, has died not too long ago. Here she wrote about how cats and kittens teach us to be patient and compassion towards others. She also once shared about blogging, the trend of social media and what will happen afterwards! There are some vantage points for us all here.


All those stories are just simply flowing and full of good messages as well as points to ponder.

Not to mention her other books and anthology! 
She won some blog contests, wrote for rockingmama.co.id, contributed to indonesianfolktales.com, and so many more!
I really envy her and I hope I can follow her path in blogging and writing.


a glimpse of damarojat.com


Although most of her posts are in Bahasa Indonesia, do you know that she has another website dedicated to her stories in English as well?
Yuuup... go check http://mommysnextstep.blogspot.com and get to know more of Diah Dwi Arti. She also have another blog filled with her fictions called  hari-hari fiksi and one in Javanese, the traditional language of Java people. Thumbs up, Mba Diah :). You surely are serious in blogging and preserving Indonesian intangible heritages like traditional language and folktales.

Check out her other social media platforms:
Twitter: @diahdwiarti
Instagram: @diahdwiarti
Facebook: Diah Dwi Arti
Youtube: Diah Dwi Arti

Ini yang saya suka dari arisan blog. Kita akan selalu belajar mengenai hal baru dan mendapat inspirasi dari teman-teman di dunia blogging.

Keep up the great works and hope to see you soon, mba :)

Astoria Park in January


One snowy day is all it needs to get us out and have fun!
NYC has been bombarded by snow lately, although it usually is followed by rain so all the pretty white snow is washed away.

But last weekend, we have extra as it started snowing in the middle of the night until around 5 PM! And we all had one thing in mind: Astoria Park!




Last year, we had Jonas storm coming in January and yes, we went out to the same spot and took pictures. I even wrote that we had to do after the storm.

Snowy, windy and cold day apparently did not stop us from heading to Astoria Park, having fun with the snow and taking pictures :). The sky was grey and gloomy but hey, it's the winter sky!




enjoying the cold, kiddos?



So, do enjoy the snow as much as we do as well?

all white and grey, even the sky..

Stay warm, everyone!

Join us on Skywatch Friday and get lost with the  sky from all over the world



WW: More snow in 2017

Winter is definitely still here :) 



Add caption


And the last 2 weekends, NYC was blessed with snow!
Look who's having fun indeed :)


she wanted to clean the car!

out to the park :)




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Wonderful Wednesday with Oh My Heartsie Girls



This week has been a melange of everything!
Mini snow storm, (unsurprisingly) back-to-back meetings, a lot of reports and brainstorming, doctors' visit and more.
But for sure the kids are enjoying the snow!


cute snow gear :)

And it was also a packed week with birthday parties, great food and cuddling time :).
Obi has some parties to attend at the beginning of the year and it was good to meet some friends after the winter break. They had a break for about a week.


Happy happy birthday Salmaaa :)

And it was time for my annual check up with the oncologist! 2 and a half years after my mastectomy and all the procedures that I have to go through, I have to make sure that I keep myself fit and clean from cancer cell! Wish me luck :)

Stay healthy, people...

But now...let's have fun because it's definitely time for a party!
Yuuup...our weekly linky party indeed. The second one in 2017!

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Thank you, 2016

Have you ever written a flashback?
Sort of a short review of what happened at the previous year.
All the good, bad and just so-so things occurred last year.
The ups and downs of your live. 
The highlights of  your life in 365-day.

I gotta admit that I am not good at looking back.

I tend to move forward and bury the hatchet, although for sure I took good mental notes of all those lessons learned in life.
But I can always try, right?
And here I am now, trying to have a good look of what 2016 has brought me and be blessed!

Pernah menulis kilas balik satu tahun yang baru saja dilewati?

Terus terang, saya ngga pernah hahaha.
Beneran!
Sepertinya ini semua karena perpaduan rasa malas dan tidak (pernah) punya cukup waktu karena awal tahun kantor selalu 'dihajar' dengan tumpukan laporan yang antriannya ngalah-ngalahin pembagian samples lipstik Sephora.

Kalau kali ini memutuskan untuk menulis segala haru biru dan perjalanan di tahun 2016, bukan berarti saya ikut-ikutan ya :).

Well, ikut-ikutan juga ngga papa deh.
Hitung-hitung sekalian menikmati memori daun pisang dan melihat kembali keseruan 2016 :).

Kalau bicara pencapaian, terutama di blog, mungkin tidak ada apa-apanya dibanding teman-teman blogger lainnya. 
Well, I am still working on my blogging skills and I have to admit I' m an amateur!

But that certainly doesn't stop me from learning more and more from you all.

Tapi, again, kalau bicara pencapaian, buat saya bisa bangun setiap hari dengan sehat, bahagia dan penuh semangat adalah pencapaian yang sebenarnya.
Apalagi ditambah bonus peluk hangat dan ciuman sayang anak-anak dan Bapak :).
But on a more serious note, blogging has once again offered many wonderful opportunities for me.

Meskipun jarang banget ikutan lomba blog, alhamdulillah tulisan penuh rindu saya untuk Lampung berhasil menang juara 2 di lomba blog Lampung Krakatau Festival.  Hadiah uang tunainya sangat bermanfaat untuk mama dan hadiah tur gunung Krakataunya saya berikan kepada teman baik yang memang berada di tanah air. Berkah lain juga banyak saya nikmati lewat pertemanan baru di arisan blog, berbagai posting berbayar (termasuk dalam USD :))), dan aneka hadiah dari giveaways yang saya ikuti, including auto steam machine (thank you, Theresa!) and books (thanks a million, Karen and Linda).

So indeed, 2016 proves to be another fantastic year for me and my loved ones.

Ada banyak 'pengalaman pertama' yang mewarnai 2016.
So many 'first time' experiences for me in 2016.
Let's see...

First time visiting Yosemite National Parks and enjoying some of those wonderful parks in the west part of the US with my petite family.
First time hiking in Grand Canyon.
First time visiting Jordan and awestruck in Petra.
First time riding a donkey and giggling along the way.
First time joining a 5K run and finished it.
First time enjoying front row in New York Fashion Week.
First time taking a selfie with Stevie Wonder *and he said, "isn't she lovely?" to me :).
First time fully joining 5 miles (around 8 km) strides for breast cancer awareness and finished it with a smile.
First time watching Beyonce and Coldplay amazing concerts.
First time having a clean mammogram and getting injection to kick away those cancer cells.
And the list can go on and on and on.

Aren't I so blessed?
We all are!

Satu hal yang pasti, saya tidak pernah berhenti bersyukur untuk nikmat kesehatan dan kesempatan yang Gusti berikan. My itchy feet certainly enjoyed some of the most beautiful places on earth and I sincerely hope we can continue to do so in the new year.

So here's a little round-up of my 2016..

JANUARY

I always start the new year celebrating the birthday and wonderful life of my beloved late father. I know you rest in peace up there, Papa. 
And you are looking down at us all with a big smile.

Last January, we also enjoyed a little 'happy new year' gift. Jonas storm!



FEBRUARY

This month of love was filled with exciting fashion adventures!
New York Couture Fashion Week with Anniesa Hasibuan's PearlAsia collection and have-fun-go-mad repertoire with her fantastic team were quite an experience.



It was the first time for us as well to have a full-day photo session at ..guess where? Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Yuuup..that's the one! Good thing headless knight decided not to join us that day >_<



eerily beautiful :) 

MARCH


Petra, here I come!
One of my dream-come-true trips happened in March, 2016.



After collecting those piles of flashy, colorful travel brochures and peeping so many websites about Jordan and Petra, I finally arrived in this beautiful country in March. And the whole trip was for free! Oh yeaaah...



Read the story here: One day in the Lost City, Petra, Jordan


APRIL

Spring break is officially our favorite time for an unforgettable road-trip! 

12 days on the road, 10 cities (and probably more :)), 7 States, 5  National parks and once-in-a-lifetime precious experience. 
Drop dead tiring but undoubtedly reinvigorating our body and soul.
From Las Vegas to Route 66, from Lower Antelope Canyon to Lake Powell, from Grand Canyon to the Death Valley, from Mesquita Flat Sand Dunes to El Capitan and Tunnel View in Yosemite, and from Muir Woods to San Fransisco.
Truly a wonderful trip we had here. 





MAY

Still continuing our Spring Break road trip, our beginning of May was started with the fantastic view of Yosemite, from Glacier Point.



After enjoying its fields of gold at the valley, driving up to 2199 meter to see Half Dome and the surrounding nature is the perfect adios to this beautiful park.
I wish I could go back here again!



JUNE

Reality bites and days were filled with works.
But, guess what. I had a chance to see Queen B, BEYONCE, on her fabulous Formation concert here in NYC.


 I slay, my queen :). the concert was FABULOUS!



At the some month, my princess Obi graduated from Kindergarten, as the best student in her class!
Yaaaaay...congratulations, love.


JULY

Well, summer was officially there but I didn't have some days-off to start our annual summer trip. Besides June and July was Ramadhan, so we had observed the solemn Holy month and celebrated Eid Fitri. 



We managed to see some fantastic murals in Astoria as well.



And, COLDPLAY was coming to town!


Oh my God...their concert was also fantastic!
10 thumbs up :)





AUGUST

My birthday month and I had wonderful time at home with my munchkins.
We also revisited Pocono, Pennsylvania and had a great time there.




SEPTEMBER


Another 'storm' was here as the UN General Assembly was coming but the real highlight of this month was the New York Fashion Week, where I witnessed and became part of history for Anniesa Hasibuan's show in NYFW.

The first Indonesian designer in NYFW Main Show, first modest collection in NYFW and first all-hijab models. How cool is that! 




OCTOBER

The breast cancer month!
And I had, once again, joined Making Strides against breast cancer and walked 5 miles with family and friends.

I felt so blessed to be surrounded by my beloved and continued my campaign for a world free of breast cancer.




NOVEMBER

I started this month with joining 5K run.
Never ever before I joined such thing!
And although mixed with brisk walking, I finished it with a huge smile :)



Got a chance to go back to Switzerland and Zermatt was where I was heading to this time.
I just share the story in my blog and check it out in All white in Zermatt.




DECEMBER


Sweet December!
All the birthdays and our 12th anniversary!
And we ring in the new year at the intersection of the world, Times Square, with millions of others. I shared that a few post before this :)

So, that's 2016 in glimpse for me.
How's yours?
Surely as colorful as mine.

I sincerely hope we all have a fabulous 2017!
Have a fantastic 2017, everyone...