update on pizza night (02/27/08)
it came out great (the dough), but the sauce was a okay -- not too impressive. will make the dough again and gotta search for something different for the sauce.

this week is a long weekend -- so on Thursday I decided to go to Malang city with hubby and frenz. It was a wonderful trip * I must admit that I was a bit irritated in the morning. why? because i am easily offended lately, just small things could tick me of big time!!!!
anyway, the trip was memorable. 4 of us left 9AM, had b'fast (some nasi pecel and cold ice tea), then picked up some snacks along the road (fried sesame balls @ HTS, Chinese pastry @ Sensa), and reached Malang city around 2PM. It was raining but well, nothing could ruin our long-waited vacation.

i gotta write the place we stayed in. it's called Inez Apartment -- nice and budget friendly. For $60 a night we got 2 bedroom apartment, furnished, had kitchenette, fridge, 2 bathrooms, AC, breakfast for 4 persons, living room, and dining room. Hehehe it's kinda hard to beat the rate -- what a steal!!! Will stay there again!! Highly recommended. But for those who seek swimming pool, gym, business center facilities, hmmmm you can kiss this apartment good bye, coz they dun have em.

in malang city, what we did was driving around searching for the best food the city has to offer. First we went to Tugu Hotel to have dinner (http://www.tuguhotels.com/malang/index.html) and the place was.....*I don't have anything left in my dictionary to describe it. Go click on the link I provided and see it for yourself.
It turns out that we didn't have dinner there, cause the meals were not we're looking for. We wanted to sample local taste -- so we just spent like 45 minutes there admiring the hotel.

Next stop we're at Soto Lombok (it's chicken soup a.k.a soto and located in Lombok Road) hehehe go figure. The soup tasted very complex -- a concoction of coconut milk broth (i think), some herbs, shredded chicken breast, shredded raw cabbage, and some steamed rice. It was delicious and reasonable priced too. A portions cost less than $1.50

We left the place with a big smile and not fulfilled ......where's the dessert? Soon after dinner, we had frilled banana at Kawi street (or around that area) and the place was so damn-packed for such a small stall....but we manage to have grilled banana topped with sweetened condensed milk, chocolate rice (some people call it jimmies), and shredded cheddar cheese. If you haven't tried this kind of desert, well....what r u waiting for?you dunt have to be a rocket scientist to make one of there. trust me on this!

my stomach was full after chicken soup and grilled banana...i wanted to go back to the apartment and had some rest. i was ready for the next day plan....explore Malang city more!!!

the next day i woke up around 7AM and played some Bake Mania game on Nintendo DS Lite. I must warn you that the game was very addictive, be careful! I got stuck on some level, and gave up, went back to sleep till 9AM. When I woke up, hubby & frenz were already waken up and they already had their b'fast. The b'fast didn't look very appetizing -- fried chicken, fried noodle, potato suteed, banana, rice, cracker, and chili paste. I took a bite and surprisingly the food tasted good.

I didnt finish the whole meal, cause I knew that we're planing to sample the city's specialty -- it's Madurese style breakfast called Nasi Buk (FYI: Buk is a madurese word for Mam/Mrs, and nasi means rice). The place was *again* crowded (it was expected anyway) and I wished i took some pic of the food!!!

I will try to describe the food on my next post -- rite now gotta pack up and leave the ofiz

i woke up around 6AM..took my basal body temperature and then went back to sleep till 9-ish. i dunno what's gotten into me, but i rushed myself to take a shower and drove to ranch market nearby my house. i didnt know what to buy -- alas...i just knew that i wanted to cook something special for my hubby, and that was exactly what i was doing....grocery shopping....but the problem was, i did NOT know what i was gonna make *crap*

so i decided to walked around the cheese aisle first *call me crazy, but I'd love to look at the cheese selection over there, so many varieties: edam, cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan, swiss, to name a few. anyway, i continued walking toward the meat section and kept staring at the thinly sliced wagyu beef for shabu-shabu.............damn, have been waniting it for some time now, but no $$$ leh -- so i opted for aussie rib eye (thinly sliced) as i thought having bulgogi with him would be wonderful. i recalled that last week i read that bulgogi sauce needed kiwi fruit, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, vinegar, salt -- all of which i have them stocked in my pantry, i just needed the kiwi. so i bought 2 plump kiwi...yayyyy.

next stop, i went to fresh produce aisle and grabbed salad mix & enoki mushroom. Whoaaa.....all of sudden my brain was thinking so fast, and i knew instantly what i was gonna cook for dearest hubby:
Beef Bulgogi
Green Salad
Enoki Mushroom Sauteed with butter

yummy right??? but i was not stopping just there....not just yet, i was also thinking about lunch menu, created just for him *again*
Chicken fettuccine Alfredo

I can tell you rite now that he was head over his heels after having those meals.....it was a big success, i was 50% proud of myself though...not 100% why? because i implemented semi-homemade approach hehehehe....
the alfredo suace was store bought (it was in a jar) -- no wonder it's so god-damn cheesy, just the way we both like it
but the bulgogi sauce was made from scratch: kiwi, soy sauce, sugar, seasme oil,  garlic, salt, mirin. -- recipe courtesy of:
http://www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/issues/bulgogi.htm

you go girl!!!