coriander in pho

not a food blog

(Leftover) chicken porridge with sweet pumpkin

June 21, 2022 12:42 pm

I suddenly remembered one of my colleagues once asked this question: “Do you have any tips on how to combat post-lunch sleepiness?”

This is one of the tips.

Recently, I’ve been taking a liking to pumpkin and sweet potatoes. My favorite is steamed sweet pumpkin with soy sauce and a bit of white pepper.

Just now, I noticed we have a leftover from our Sunday lunch: Korean fried chicken with honey coating (by Kyochon 1991.) The chicken was on the fridge, so I went with my usual route: Add it on oatmeal porridge.

I took 4 pieces of chicken wings and pulled all the meat/deboned it. At the same time, I boiled a quarter of sweet pumpkin (the smaller variety.) Once the pumpkin is soft enough, I put them aside.

Then, I prepared for the porridge: Four tablespoons of oatmeal, water, and chopped green onions. As for the seasonings, I added garlic powder, MSG, and half package of instant noodles seasoning (Maggi noodles. My son once made a couple of Maggi noodles soup and he left one seasoning package so the noodles won’t be too salty.) I didn’t add any salt because the seasoning powder is salty enough.

As I stir the porridge, I put some of the chicken and the pumpkin into the porridge to add more flavor. I put aside some of them as toppings.

Once the porridge is ready, I put the rest of the chicken and the pumpkin as toppings. Garnish it with green onions.

This gets me through the afternoon without feeling lethargic and hangry. Highly recommended.
Kecak Dance at Uluwatu Temple, Bali

June 20, 2022 5:03 pm

Watching this IRL has been one of my bucket lists. As of now, Youtube should suffice.

Kecak dance is telling a story of Ramayana ballad — a story about a prince (Lord Rama) with his wife, Sita (in Indonesia, we named her “Shinta”) and their battle against evil force: Ravana.

The story opens with kecak dancers singing and dancing when Sita and Rama entered. Soon, a golden deer entered (with jingling and twinkling sounds.) Unbeknownst to them, the golden deer is actually Ravana’s lackey, being sent to lure Rama and Lakshmana away from Sita so Ravana can kidnap Sita.

Lakshmana joined Rama and Sita, then both Rama and Lakshmana chased the golden deer — but before that, they created a holy circle to protect Sita so no harm can come upon her.

Enter Ravana (you can hear the gasp from the audience.) Ravana tried to pull Sita, but the circle protecting Sita (the kecak dancers wave their hands and standing up — symbolizing protection.) Ravana, defeated, decided to withdraw. Sita was safe, for a moment.

Enter a rekshi, an old holy man, asking for Sita’s help. Sita, sweet soul she is, wanted to help the holy man so she opened up the circle, only to find out the rekshi actually Ravana in disguise.

Jatayu, a garuda (giant bird) swooped down, realizing Sita is in danger. Jatayu looked around and tried to attack Ravana to no avail. Jatayu got defeated.

Rama and Lakshmana enter the scene, clearly distraught with Sita gone missing. Then they received a help: Hanuman. The all-powerful white monkey.

Hanuman, dude, this guy is like the OG. The superhero. Iron Man who WE ARE TALKING ABOUT OUR BOI LORD HANUMAN HERE. You can hear the literal gasps from the audience when Hanuman enters the scene — twice. Hanuman tends to move freely too, even sitting with the audience and taking selfies.

Hanuman, hell-bent on rescuing Sita with Rama and Lakshmana, decided to take a drastic approach: He burns down Ravana’s kingdom (there is a special dance for this: Hanuman Obong. Obong means burned/burning/burns/lighted on fire.)

The mission went successfully. Rama, Lakshmana, and Hanuman managed to defeat Ravana and bring back Sita.

Ramayana story is a full Hindu epic from India — and thanks to the trading activities between Indonesia and India at the beginning of civilizations, Indonesia is really familiar with Hindu stories and epics.

The featured image is taken from here.
“Friday Nights” — John OFA Rhee w. Bottle Gods

June 20, 2022 3:43 pm

This song is peak pandemic + introverts + geriatric millennials (“alright, it’s 10 PM! Time for me to go to bed.”)

I never relate to a song this much.

But wait, do I really have to go outside?
All them people they drive me so damn crazy
Tryna tell me they’re something they’re not

Oh wait, do I really have to go outside?
Driving through LA traffic, man that’s crazy
I’m still stuck, fingers up, on the 5

Leave a message, after the beep
I’ll reply as soon as I can
You can leave me a voice mail or two
But no guarantee that I’ll get back to you

Saw your message, after the beep
“Dude, come out as soon as you can”
Guess I’ll have an old fashioned or two
But the drinks are on you

Some might say I’m old and crazy
But I’m sick of friday nights
Dancing with a stranger
Under the disco lasers

Pointless conversations that are filled with TMI’s
I just called my Uber
I’m headed home tonight

I don’t wanna go outside (I don’t wanna go outside)
I don’t wanna go outside (I don’t wanna go outside)

Oh wait, a new colorway that caught my eye
Spending another day, another dollar on things I shouldn’t buy

But wait, do I really have to go outside?
I’m laid out on the couch, tired and lazy
I just got done with my 9 to 5

Leave a message, after the beep
I’ll reply as soon as I can
You can leave me a voice mail or two
But no guarantee that I’ll get back to you

Saw your message, after the beep
“Dude, come out as soon as you can”
Guess I’ll have an old fashioned or two
Still the drinks are on you

Some might say I’m old and crazy
But I’m sick of friday nights
Dancing with a stranger
Under the disco lasers

Pointless conversations that are filled with TMI’s
I just called my Uber
I’m headed home tonight

I don’t wanna go outside (I don’t wanna go outside)
I don’t wanna go outside (I don’t wanna go outside)
Morning drink

June 14, 2022 10:01 am

Not a beer. And yes, Daft Punk forever.

It’s a non-alcoholic malt drink with peach flavor. Also, it’s 10 AM ?

I found myself liking the non-alcoholic counterparts due to taste. Alcohol is a refined taste, and it takes experience to fully enjoy it. For me, I still can’t get beyond the bitter taste or the burning sensation, so I’m settling down with the non-alcoholic version (also, it’s sweeter.)

Beer is one of the oldest beverages in the world — presumably, after mead. I found it really fascinating that the starting point of human civilizations seemingly started from “accidents” a.k.a. Fermentation. Thousands of years ago, someone forgot to bring back a bunch of grapes and wheats and left it out for quite some time, letting happy bacteries doing their job, and ta-da, we got wine, mead, beer, and bread.

If that kind of story/history is your jam, I highly recommend you to read “A History of the World in 6 Glasses” by Tom Standage.
“Time Traveling” — Anthony Lazaro and Sarah Kang

June 13, 2022 8:56 pm

My two favorite humans.

This song was made during the height of the pandemic — telling a story of long-distance lovers.

‘Cause when you have your morning coffee I’m turning out the lights so I could dream And when you smile through the screen I wish you could be here with me

Quick blurbs

Saw this site mentioned the other day on Slack: neocities.org.

Scroll down and you will see “Featured Sites”. Never knew it brings back early 2000s, and it makes me so, so happy.

April 23, 2026