Black Sweet & Sour Pork (Babi Kecap Asam Manis)

My mom loves to make this dish for us. I think you can always substitute pork with chicken or beef. If using meats other than pork, when stir fry, be sure to add a little bit of vegetable oil into the pan.

Seaweed Soup (Sop Rumput Laut)

I promised Ellen that I would post more recipes of food that I cook for Andrew. Here is one for you, Ellen. My mom likes to cook this soup for us. Most of the time, she uses beef or pork meat in the soup. I am using chicken this time. Oh, another tips, if you cook a lot of the Deep Fried Meatball (Bakso Goreng), you can also add it into the soup loves this soup. To avoid kids from chocking, please cut the seaweed first.

I was told by a good friend once that Korean people eat Seaweed Soup everyday and it makes their skin smooth. I also heard that eating Seaweed Soup everyday for one month after you give birth will help in reducing your hair loss (obviously I learned this after I lost lots of hair).

CARS - Lightning McQueen

I am sure everybody knows the movie CARS by Disney Pixar. If you have kids, especially boys, then I am sure that you know which movie I am talking about. Andrew is a big fan of CARS. See his collections in the picture here. Since we knew that he likes CARS, we bought him some of CARS stuff from hat, blanket, bed sheet, mega blocks, shirt, jacket, picture frame, storybook pillow and some others. Our family and friends who know Andrew’s favorite have also bought some for him. We have the tshirt and watch from oma, inflatable bed from Auntie Ling (Jq), plush from Yi Ma, all CARS characters stickers from Auntie Mel, big McQueen sticker from Dowdow (Uncle Alvin), set of plate, bowl, glass and utensils from Auntie Frida and backpack and watch from Auntie Anna. I am trying to capture all CARS stuff that Andrew has, hopefully I got them all in here. Well now that I listed all the items, I just realized that I missed some of the pictures. I will update the picture once I have them all.

Pork Potato Soy Sauce (Babi Kentang Kecap)

Just few minutes ago, I was arguing with Jq as to what to name this recipe. We finally decided to go with Pork Potato Soy Sauce. This is originally my mom’s recipe, but once again I have modified it to tailor my own family’s taste.

These Videos Touch My Heart

There are 2 videos that I like to share with all of you today. The first one came from someone in my mailing list. It was from one of Oprah’s show. The video was about the last lecture given by a Carnegie Mellon Professor, Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer.

The second one is a short video taken from Extreme Makeover show. This time, the Extreme Makeover Team chose a family with a young son, Patrick Henry, who was born with disabilities. Patrick is a very remarkable kid and this family deserves the new house that was built for them.

I hope they touch your heart as they do mine.

Hair Loss

Have any of you experience a hair loss? I am sure everybody does everyday. But what is consider a normal hair loss? Since I gave birth to Andrew, I have experienced hair loss and I heard it is commonly happen. It was a lot of hair loss and it becomes a lot more lately. First, I thought that it was ok, it was normal, nothing to worry. And perhaps, it was because my hair was too long. So 2 weeks ago, I had my hair cut, thinking that would help to reduce my hair loss.

But yet, this morning, I realized how I pulled around 15 hairs while shampooing. Then, when I dried my hair, I lost around 10 more. And when I combed my hair, I lost perhaps 20 more. And that was only in the morning. You should come and see my apartment by the end of the day. You will find hairs all over the place.

I got panicked and started to search online about normal hair loss and this is what I found. See quote below from American Osteopathic College of Dermatology:

“Many women do not realize that hair loss can occur after pregnancy or following discontinuation of birth control pills. It may also follow any sudden physical or psychological stress to the body. These types of hair loss are “Telogen Effluvium” and are usually temporary. It is important to remember that this hair loss may be delayed by up to three months following the change. Up to 8 months will be required for regrowth to be fully achieved.”

Hmmm…., it has been 28 months since I gave birth to Andrew. Is it still normal? The site mentioned Rogaine as a treatment option. Has anyone tried this product before or perhaps can give me some tips as how to reduce the hair loss. Help please!

Deep Fried Meatball (Bakso Goreng)

As promised, here is the recipe to my Deep Fried Meatball. Well, actually, it isn’t really mine. It is my mom’s, the best Deep Fried Meatball maker in the whole world. Thanks for sharing the recipe, mom! I love you!

Broccoli Beef

Broccoli is one of the few vegetables that Andrew likes and in fact, when I was pregnant with Andrew, it was the only vegetable that I ate.Arman and I also love broccoli, we often order broccoli beef at Panda Express. The good thing about broccoli is that it is a good source of vitamin C and Folic Acid. I remember how my mom cooked the delicious broccoli beef. She shared with me the recipe and now I am sharing it with you.

Jq’s Chicken Quesadilla

I refer this recipe as Jq’s Chicken Quesadilla, because this recipe originally belong to my sister, Jq. She made this when we used to live together. Then when I moved back to Jakarta and got pregnant, this is one of the thing that I was craving for. She was kindly sent me the recipe. Sometimes last week, after Andrew’s library time, we went to the nearest Albertson for grocery. When I saw the quesadilla wrap, I immediately took a bag and brought all the other ingredients. The recipe is as follow:

Zesty Oriental Beef

If you carefully look through my recipes collection, you will notice that all my recipes are easy to make. Most of the ingredients would be those that you would always have at home. Here, let me share with you another easy one. Arman likes this one.