Raisin' Em Right

   One of the things about being from North Carolina is to make sure you're fully convinced about the goodness of NC BBQ and also which you're partial to (Lexington or Eastern Style).

   So we've been making frequent stops to our local BBQ establishments to make sure the kids learn to appreciate it...

Devil's Spicy Noodles

   There is a popular noodle place in our city.  There's always a line backed out to the street in order to get these noodles.  We decided to forego the long line and get them delivered.  Even though I got level 1, the lowest level of spice, I still suffered and sweated through the experience.

   Kristi got the level 3 and handled it well.  She even tried a few bites of the level 5, the spiciest option available.

Sweet Mung Beans

   There was a knock at the door... my neighbor had informed me that his wife had just finished making a huge batch of mung beans.  I was excited!  I gave him the biggest cup I had, and he came back shortly with it full of mung beans.
   Here in Indonesia, even though mung beans are a bean... and green... they are still traditionally prepared as a dessert.  So that means they are mixed with brown sugar, white sugar, a little ginger, some coconut milk, and other goodies.
   The result is pretty tasty.  It's sweet, but you're still eating a bunch of green beans, so I tell myself that it's healthy eating (kind of like when I eat oatmeal cookies or carrot cake).

Magic Cookie Bars

   My mom makes these things called Magic Cookie Bars.  It's a mix of chocolate, coconut, graham cracker crumbs, nuts, and pure magic.  I love them.

   Usually mail takes about 2-4 weeks to get from America to Indonesia.  Despite this fact, my mom baked some of these magical bars and sent them over in an airtight container.  Despite all odds, they arrived in pristine condition.  It was a great day!

 

 

Kaelen's Favorite

   Kaelen's favorite place to eat is, unfortunately, McDonald's.  It's been stated before on this blog that McDonald's is not famous for its burgers in Indonesia.  Their fried chicken is what draws everyone in...

   Kaelen's favorite is a chicken nugget happy meal, which costs about 29,000 rupiah (a little over $2.00).

   If she's been good, she sometimes gets an ice cream.  Although McD does offer a very tempting mango-chili pepper McFlurry, Kaelen goes with the traditional vanilla cone.

Jaiden's Favorite

   There is a Balinese dish called Betutu.  It is a chicken dish (sometimes duck) with a rich blend of spices and coconut and almost always has a super spicy sambal (salsa) served with it.
   It's really popular in Bali and is found all over the island.  Different regions of the island serve it in unique ways, which reminds me a bit of how NC BBQ is unique according to the region of the state you're in.

Cleaning the Plate

  Betutu is Jaiden's favorite, and she usually asks for extra sambal because Jaiden, and Kristi, somehow enjoy unnatural amounts of spiciness.

Kenan's Favorite

   Kenan loves roasted corn.  It's his favorite.  He talks about it quite a bit.  Although there are corn roasters all over our city, he doesn't get it as often as he'd like.
   Here it is usually served with a slathering of spicy, buttery sauce.  We've had some really bad stomach episodes from eating the spicy sauce, so now we just order it plain.
   Kenan is happy either way.  He finished this in about 90 seconds.

Harvest!

    There is a jambu tree right across the street from our house.  It recently had tons of fruit on it.  The tree is not technically on anyone's property, so all the people in our neighborhood (especially kids) have been picking from it.  To make things easier, they made a tool to pick the jambu.

   The tool is basically a long bamboo pole with a big soda bottle at the end.  The soda bottle was cut in half and attached to the bamboo upside down.  It creates a little mini-basket in order to twist off and catch the jambu.

   Kenan and Jaiden would often help themselves to the jambu from the tree.  Kenan got better and better at using that bamboo picker.

If you want to see what the jambu looks like, you can click here.

Who Needs Jimmy Dean?

   The Balinese people love their pork.  The signature Balinese dish is Babi Guling (roasted pig), and a favorite ceremonial food is Lawar... both consisting mainly of pork.  It causes lots of problems for those who don't keep it balanced with other, more healthy choices.  Many of the patients that Access Life Bali helps have suffered strokes and other health problems related to high cholesterol and high blood pressure.  Even the governor of Bali came out last month, urging the Balinese people to cut back on their pork consumption for the sake of their health.

   With all this in mind, I want to share one of my favorite foods from here in Bali.  It is homemade pork sausage!  It is spicy, salty, and delicious.  One of my friends who owns a small shop up in the mountains, started making the sausage everyday.  He makes about 20 pounds of it, selling it to local folks in the area.  It's really good.
   Last week, I arrived about an hour before the sausage was ready.  One of my friend's neighbors was helping stuff the sausage to get it ready for frying.  I got a quick video of him doing this... just in case you wanted to know what it looked like to stuff a pig's intestines with meat, spices, fat, and other 'assorted items'.
   I stopped by an hour later.  Paid 10,000 rupiah for an ounce (that's about 75 cents), and it was awesome.  Really good and really spicy.

Bakso!

   Throughout the day, men push small food carts up and down our street (and streets all over Indonesia) selling a mysterious meatball soup.  It's called Bakso, and it's delicious.  It's an "everyman's food"... the food of the people.  However, in much of the same way that hot dogs are widely denigrated due to their 'mystery meat' status, Bakso also has a certain degree of ambiguity when it comes to what the ingredients of the meatball actually are.

   They are available in a lot of different varieties: chicken and beef are common throughout Indonesia, but pork is a favorite here among the Hindus in Bali.

   As with hot dogs, I don't want to know what the ingredients are.  I choose to eat and enjoy without worrying about the actual makeup of what I'm eating.  And let me tell you, ignorance is bliss.

   Bakso is usually served with noodles, egg, tofu, some type of vegetable and something fried (to add crispiness).  Soy sauce, hot sauce, and Indonesian sambal are usually added to the mix as well.

Where's the Beef?

   I haven't eaten any meat today.  It's 5pm, and I may eat a small amount of meat for dinner... but maybe not.  That's a normal day for me.  For most Indonesians, there is lots of rice, beans, vegetables and soy-based products (tofu and tempe) in their diet, but not a lot of meat.

   I just read a short article about how Indonesia is among the lowest consumers of meat per capita in the world.  Far less than America or Australia.

   There are lots of factors, economic and religious being some of the biggest.  You can read the article by clicking here.

   This chart shows the correlation between meat consumption and personal income in various countries.

Eight Legs

   I've eaten plenty of octopi here in Indo, so I wasn't surprised to see one for sale.  However, it was the first time I've ever seen an octopus for sale in an indoor setting.  It was even nicely wrapped in plastic and clearly labeled with the weight and price.

  
  

Es (Ice)

    One of the kids' favorite treats on their way home is stopping at our local market, Pasar Agung, for a cold treat: es buah (fruity ice).  The standard way it comes is with chopped up avocados, melon, mango, watermelon, papaya, tomato, jackfruit, topped with shaved ice, sweetened condensed milk, and seaweed jellies.

   We usually pass on the avocado, tomato, and papaya.  I'm not sure if it would meet any hygiene requirements in the States or Australia, but it's awesome...

   Click here to explore a Google Street View of Pasar Agung.  Who knows?  You might see us at the fruit stand...

Going to Carolina...

Do you see it?

   I was at the market looking for some good snacks...  We had some friends visiting, and I wanted to find something good to serve them.

   Kaelen was with me, and when she's at the market, she turns into a busy bee that will go anywhere that looks interesting or approach people that she might want to say hi to.  So I was mostly focused on keeping her close to me... and finding some snacks.

   It was a sea of Indonesian labels and words but then something stuck out in the middle of it all: gorengan, camilan, pisang goreng, ladrang, kue kering, kerupuk, CAROLINA, kacang koro, kacang tanah...

   I didn't have time to find out who made the snacks or why they named them Carolina snacks, but it was nice to be reminded of the other place we call home.

Dangerous Fruit

    This is a sad story...
  
   Two newspapers here on the island reported last month that a 49 year old man in East Bali had been killed by a falling durian. 

    The fragrant (smelly) durian fruit can weigh several kilograms and is surrounded by rock-hard sharp spikes that give this fruit its name (duri = thorn).  Falling from a high tree and striking an unsuspecting passerby, a durian can indeed be deadly.

    The man's name was Komang Supandi, and he was discovered in a field by a passing schoolboy at 7:00 am.  Police theorize that Supandi was struck by a falling durian at 7:00 pm the previous evening. A severe head wound and the position of a nearby durian served to strengthen suppositions of accidental death by durian.

   Supandi’s body was taken to the big hospital in Denpasar to confirm that his death was in fact due to the falling durian and not foul play.

Bizarre World

   I got a message from a friend tonight, she said that she was watching a show about Indonesia. I couldn't watch it because I don't have access to the Travel Channel, but I was able to find some of the videos online.
   If you can watch OnDemand programming, look for Bizarre Foods: Indonesia from the Travel Channel. (I didn't watch it, so don't hold me responsible for the content)

   I wanted to post one of the videos because he left some of the more touristy areas and was in a market in downtown Denpasar, which is the city we live in. I think you'll like it... You can see some of the other videos by clicking here and here.

Betel Nut - Sirih Pinang

   There is a unique combination of nut and leaf that has been chewed and celebrated in Southeast Asia for nearly 4000 years. Most people refer to it as 'betel', but it's actually a combo of betel and the areca nut.  It is an extremely bitter (in my opinion) and juicy concoction, and it creates a distinctive red juice that stains the teeth of the 'chewer'.  

   In many places in Indonesia, this combination is presented to all guests as they enter a home.  I visited one of these places last week, and I made up my mind to try it again (I actually tried it about 6 months ago but failed to keep it in my mouth.  I was ridiculed by a 90 year old man and a 5 year old kid who witnessed my failure).   This time, there was a group of older men that were all sitting around chewing the stuff, red teeth and all.  They gave me tips on how to mix it and chew it.  I clumsily combined the betel, the areca, and some chalk powder.  It all went in my mouth and stayed in for at least 5 minutes.  Success!
  
   The price of success was a bitter aftertaste that stayed for much of the day and stained teeth which required several brushings in order to get back to my standard yellowish-whitish tooth color.

Yum!

McDonald's is everywhere... well almost everywhere.  They serve about 68 million people a day in 119 countries. 

They succeed for lots of reasons.  One of those reasons is their flexibility.

For example, here in Indonesia, McD (as it's called here) is not famous for its burgers and fries.  Big Macs are not the big seller.  McD is known for its awesome fried chicken.  This flexibility stretches to every corner of the menu, but I saw something the other day that really took this adaptability to a whole new level. 

There is a new McFlurry flavor.  Double Red Bean.  Yes, that is vanilla ice cream with kidney beans blended in and and sprinkled on top.

So next time you've got a hankering for ice cream, look for that can of kidney beans in the cupboard and mix it right in!

Jambu Time

We have several fruit trees in our yard.  One of our kids favorite is the Jambu tree.  I'm not sure how I could explain what it tastes like, maybe like a watery, bland apple?

Jaiden has to climb the tree to get them down, but she always grabs a couple for Kenan and Kaelen too.

Ants like to build their nests inside the fruit, so you have to make sure you get all the ants out before you dig into the jambu. 

After a long day of hiking up to water sources or wrestling goats, nothing quenches your thirst quite like drinking straight from a freshly picked 'young' coconut.

Young coconut still has lots of water inside it and the edible parts on the inside aren't too hard yet.  It is one of my favorite drinks here in Bali.  It's called kelapa muda in Indonesian or simply kuud in Balinese.

The tough thing about kuud is that if you want to drink it, you have to be willing to go up and get it.  I have tried to climb a palm tree, but I made it about three feet up.  I was too scared and too weak to make it any higher than that.

Recently I was delivering some goats to our friend that helps us raise goats, and his dad offered me some kuud.  I thought he had already some at his house, so I accepted the offer.  I didn't realize that his dad would have to go climb the tree...

About 10 minutes later I was walking from one goat pen to the other and I hear some rustling up in a palm tree.  I look up, and about 45 feet up in the air is my friend's 64 year old dad, getting coconuts for 32 year old me.  I felt pretty guilty, but I'm not gonna lie... I enjoyed the drink.

Can you see Pak Wayan in the photo on the left?