colorado trip

aah, finally, a spare free time to write my blog using both hands instead of the usual 2 fingers. it feels nice. haha.

ok, brief trip summary, if anyone's interested.

day 1. managed to get out of the door and left before 9am. wow. it's amazing considering the usual chaos everytime we have to leave early morning. it was a long drive so we were anxious to leave early. we got to the campground by 8pm (it was an hour ahead in colorado so we lost an hour of travel time) and it was already getting dark, so we hurried and unhitched the trailer. managed to do it just in time. phew. oh i saw an english mastiff just like max sitting on a grassy yard in front of one house leading to the campground. i was so surprised i yelled "MAX". and the next day hubby heard from someone that that dog was actually named max. what do you know.. :P we kept looking for him again the next few days but no luck.

day 2. did nothing much. hubby was too tired to wake up early morning and baby was too fussy to sleep thru the night. so we woke up rather late, and then went out to grab a late lunch and let the dogs out to play in the lake. oh yeah, we stayed about 10 mins from vallecito lake. so the dogs had fun, we got a nice late lunch / dinner at serious texas bbq. pulled pork, beef brisket, sausage and ribs. yummy.

day 3. we woke up early today (regardless of baby's continuous screaming thru the night) and went on a scenic drive. the route took us from durango - silverton (there's a scenic steam train that goes between this two cities, i'll mention it later) - ouray - placerville - tullaride - cortez and then back to durango. this drive is called the san juan skyway. the view was spectacular and breathtaking. for the first half we got the mountain, valley and all the greenery of alpine trees and green grass. saw lots of cows, horses, sheeps, llamas. during the second half leg of the trip the topography changed from greens to deserts. different kinda trees and not much green grass. interesting. the drive took us the whole day so by the time we were home we were in a hurry to cook dinner (grill some steak).

we didn't have enough days to do the scenic train. and besides, there's a lot of difficulties: where to leave the dogs while we're on the train, and my baby's still a lot too small for trains. so we opted out.

day 4. again we woke up a bit late. but no hurry this time as we planned to go to mesa verde. it's an hour away from durango. but when we were just about to leave durango hubby saw a trailer dealer so we stopped by. our trailer is too small for 2 huge dogs, 2 adults plus a baby. so we're thinking about buying a bigger one, preferably a 5th wheeler. this dealer sells raptor, a brand which right now is #1 in toy hauler 5th wheeler, so we wanted to check it out. by the time we finished it was almost 2pm already. so we hurried and head to mesa verde. got there around 3. was a bit dissapointed that we couldn't take the tour to 3 of the biggest cliff dwellings there because they involve strenuous trek and lots of ladders, but at least we're able to see 2 of them from a far.

we went home on day 5, so there's not much to tell except that we left the dog fence behind. :P i was so tired of the ride that i was glad to be home, eventhough the house was messy and dirty. at least it's not moving. haha. can't wait till hubby buy a bigger trailer though. it would be nice.

colorado let's go

most people i know would consider me as lucky, cos i get to travel to various places quite often. last month we (that's hubby, me, baby + 2 dogs) went to utah. this time we're spending a week in colorado, a town called durango. it's officially arund 9 hour drive from safford but because we made lots of stops for the dogs and baby, it took us almost 12 hours.

compared to other touristy towns i've been to (moab, sedona, san antonio), durango is the prettiest. not too busy, not too touristy... just pretty. and all the open space makes me wanna live here. within one town you get lake, mountain, open fields... dalam bbrp hari ini udah ga terhitung berapa kali liat deers, elks, sheeps, goats, cows, llamas, horses, donkeys... one time i even saw a bear crossing the street. and here in the campground we're surrounded by the san juan forest.. and therefor lots of chipmunks running around, unafraid of humans.

makes me want to live here.

ok, full story and photos gonna have to wait. i still have 1 more day then we're heading home. semoga pas sampe rumah pantat masih berbentuk....

jalapeno garlic tilapia

oh i just found a new recipe that i quite like. but i accidentally closed the website i 'stole' it from so i'm gonna write it quickly before i forget.

jalapeno garlic tilapia with pasta

ingredients:
pasta (i use spiral ones but you can use any kind, really) secukupnya, cook al dente
tilapia fillet (i bought mine frozen, looks something like this:)

to cook the tilapia :
mix 1/3 cup margarine, melted + 3 cloves garlic, chopped.
dip the tilapia in the margarine and then toss in flour (just regular flour). fry in 2 tbs olive oil for about 5 min, turning once. roughly until brown on each side.

i added some shrimps too, cooked the same way.

spinach leaves (de-stemmed) about 5 ounces, but i didn't measure.
1/4 cup heavy cream
2-3 jalapenos, sliced
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt + black pepper
2 1/2 tbs lemon juice
1 tomato, chopped

once the fish and shrimp is done, add the remaining margarine & garlic sauce into the pan, plus the heavy cream, lemon juice and the paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, salt and black pepper into the pan, cook until sauce is reduced a bit. add the spinach, cook until wilted. then add pasta and tomatoes, toss until covered in sauce.

mine looks horrible but taste good. (if my husband adds a second helping, that means he likes it, and that's good for me.. :P).

update: oh i know why mine looks horrible. apparently you're suppose to fry the fish then take it out of the pan. grrr. no wonder my fish was ruined when i put in the spinach (cause i have to stir, see?). oh well. it's still good enough for me. and i also forgot the tomatos, and omit the jalapeno cause i don't have it.

baking under the heat

akhir2 ini kok lagi banyak maunya tapi malasssss banget. belom lagi patrick rewel (ntah kenapa. jangan tanya deh..) jadi kurang ada waktu buat bikin2 yang di luar kegiatan rutin. jangankan yang gak rutin, yang rutin aja keteteran kok. tapi walau begitu kok ya masih sempet baking2 dan bikin camilan sedikit. simple2 aja.

mini cheesecake
ini gampang banget, sayang lupa ambil foto karena emang bikin buat dibawa ke kantor suami.

ingredients:
nilla wafers yg gede (18-20 biji, plus bbrp untuk di crush)
2 butir telor
2 cup (@8oz) cream cheese
3/4 cup gula
1 tbs lemon juice

caranya
panasin oven sampai 375F (190an C kali ya)
cemplungin 1 nilla wafer ke dalam muffin cup (dilapisin paper cup ya) untuk jadi dasarnya. bagian rata ngadep bawah.
isi: kocok creamcheese + gula sampai lembut. masukin lemon juice dan telur satu per satu, kocok sampai agak putih kayak krim. isi ke dalam muffin cup kurang lebih 3/4 penuh. taburi dengan nilla wafer yang sudah dihancurin... panggang 15-20 mnt (sampai kecoklatan). dinginkan di kulkas.

note: bisa juga dihias pake buah kalau ada.
warning: very addictive. makan 1 ga cukup.

habis ini masih mau bikin apple pie, bakpao, sama churros. untuk churros ini kebetulan nemu tepungnya di asian grocery, jadi pengen bikin deh. yumm yumm. trus masih mau bikin es krim buat makan apple pie nya. hadoooh, kapan yaaaaa?

anyhow, how are things?
things been going pretty well here. we go boating every week now (not during weekend though. i can't stand the crowd, neither can my husband). the weather's been so hot that every family who owns a boat would spend the day boating and skiing and swimming. those who don't have a boat buy a swimming pool (i have one too, cheap small plastic ones... just in case patrick wants to play in the water.. hee hee) or simply install a sprinkler in their yard. i prefer to stay indoors but of course it's not possible when hubby's not working. and i know it's not healthy for patrick. :p

yesterday we went to tucson to grab some things. originally we wanted to grab dinner at takamatsu, the korean bbq resto. but when we got there it was closed, with police line on the front doors. apparently the restaurant caught on fire a few weeks ago. darn. but we found a thai restaurant we rather like. so it's all good.

i also found another indonesian family who lives in this town. imagine that!! another indonesian. haahaa.. . i heard them speaking indonesian in walmart. i was so shocked to hear indonesian language being spoken that i blanked out for a few minutes. we exchanged numbers and planned to have dinner together or go boating.. i dunno. yay!!

now, if only i can find the time to declutter the house.

morning notes

if you buy a present for someone, and he turned out .. err.. not really excited about it, what would you do?

i don't buy presents cos i know i suck at it, but when i do feel like giving presents i think and think and think about it for quite a long time before deciding on something. this is probably why when he/she doesn't like it i get sad and a bit offended.

oh well. maybe gw sensi aja kali ya?

yesterday we went to lake roosevelt and went boating and swimming. it was so hot! had to slab on extra sunscreen on patrick. and i went for a short swim in the lake to. a major achievement knowing i have phobia about swimming in murky waters. must be the heat. patrick went in too, wearing an infant lifejacket. so cute.

shame on me..

abis ngebaca tulisannya adhitya mulya tentang mbak heni... kok gw jadi keinget waktu dulu pegang acara built in frisian flag. acaranya sih seru, intinya fun and educative games untuk infant and toddlers. biarpun bikinnya cape setengah mati (karena kurang orang, no producer and no effective executive producer in charge, dan research writer pun cuma seorang sajah.. oh gosh masih keinget capenya ampe sekarang) tapi gw seneng dan puas dengan program ini. berasa banget hasil jerih payah gw.

hubungannya dengan tulisan adhit.. begini. frisian flag ini punya maskot. badut .. aduh siapa ya namanya, lupa. marilah kita panggil dia dengan boneka baba. nah pada saat itu mbak klien ngotot si boneka baba ini ikutan nangkring alias in frame di setiap episode. ga akan jadi masalah kalau kita berhubungan dengan anak2 umur 5 ke atas, yang notabene udah cukup gede untuk berani salaman sama badut. susahnya adalah susu bendera target utamanya adalah untuk anak umur 1-3 tahun... which mean buanyaaaakkkk banget anak2 umur segitu yang takut liat si baba. boro2 salaman, baru liat aja udah mundur teratur duluan. frustasi deh, karena pas audisi banyak bgt bocah2 yang oke (pinter dan cameragenic) tapi takut ama baba. terpaksa ga lolos audisi karena gimana mo tampil satu frame sama baba kalo dari jarak 100m aja mereka udah nangis kejer2?

singkat kata untuk beberapa episode terakhir kita ngadain kompetisi antar TK, dan kita syuting di outdoor locations. lokasi pertama adalah ancol... kebayang kan puanasnya kayak apa? gw yang cuma pake kaos ama celana pendek aja udah kringetan setengah mati, gak tau deh gimana nasib si bapak yang 'berperan' jadi baba. padahal dese mesti joget2 senantiasa.

nah pas lagi ngadem di tenda ber ac gw sempet ngobrol2 sama si bapak tukang badut yg jadi baba. pertama sih ngalor ngidul basa basi aja. tapi di satu kesempatan dia sempet curcol, bilang kalau anaknya yg SMP malu kalo bapaknya tukang badut. padahal si bapak di sini berpanas2 ria demi anaknya bisa sekolah, supaya gedenya nanti ga cuma jadi tukang badut kayak bapaknya. gw jadi terenyuh, ikutan ngerasain sedihnya si bapak. tugasnya ngehibur anak2 tapi anak sendiri malu sama bapaknya. belom lagi mesti berpanas2 joget2 hanya untuk bayaran yang buat gw biasa abis dipake sekali makan di foodcourt. sekarang gw berdoa setengah mati jangan sampe anak gw nanti malu sama (kerjaan) bapak emaknya.

life's unfair but you make the most of it.

bella .. without edward!!

i was bored today (or had too much time in my hands, .. or simply too lazy to do any house chores.. :D. well, either way.. ) so i surfed thru netflix.com and stumbled upon a movie called bella. i saw the trailer about a few months back but didn't really pay any attention to it until now. it turned out to be a really good movie. me likey.

the one thing that made me cry is when the main character (the guy, jose) told the story how he hit and killed a little girl. it was an accident but it robbed him of his passion. now i can't imagine what it must've felt like to have hurt, let alone kill, a little child. but now that i've got patrick i see it from a different perspective. i can't imagine what it must've felt like to lose a child.

before patrick was born i was not a baby-child-kid-friendly person. i get tongue-tied infront of a child. hand me a baby and i won't know what to do with him. not that i ever want to voluntarily hold a baby in my arms, oh no. i'm scared of them.

nina, the main female character in this movie was scared when whe found out she was pregnant. she wanted to abort the pregnancy, thinking she won't know how to care for a baby. when i was pregnant hubby used to tease me, because i worried so much that i won't know what to do with the baby. well... i still worry too much, but at least i'm not afraid of babies anymore. now i have other things to be scared of: losing my baby or hubby. i pray hard that it would never happen. i don't know what i would do without them.

anyway... i'm rambling. i should be doing some cleaning up. besides, my baby's woke up from his nap. time to get him his bath. whoopee! fun.

ps: when i googled bella poster, the top page came up with kristen stewart's poster from the twilight saga. duhhhh!!! i'd always wanted to name my baby girl (if i ever have any) bella, but thanks to twilight... i change my mind.