Lemon chiffon cake with almond and kiwi

This year I wanted to make something special for Kaigiman's birthday. I decided to make a well-decorated birthday cake. It was really my first attempt at cake decorating. The (seems-to-be) easiest choice is to pour chocolate/ganache on the top of chocolate brownies (at least that was how my friend told me). For a chocolate lover like me (!), this option is of course the best option. However, Kaigiman doesn't like chocolate that much (which keep me questioning: how can? :p).

I changed my plan into something more.. healthy (well, no.. I don't really think so :D )
A cake with fresh fruits on the top of it. I thought a strawberry shortcake would do great (yumm!), until I realized that it was no longer strawberry season in Japan. I couldn't find strawberry in any market. I could only find kiwi, grapes, and.. banana.

I ended up making lemon chiffon cake and decorated it with almond and kiwi slices. I brought the cake to campus and everybody seemed to love the taste. Yokatta ne :)

Banana-choco pudding

Actually I wanted to make nagasari, an Indonesian traditional steam cake made from rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, and filled with banana slices. Considering that we didn't have banana leaves here (to wrap nagasari), I modified my wish (haha) into something with easier ingredients: banana-choco pudding.

The basic pudding was this milk pudding (my previous post). I added chocolate and used banana instead of orange and kiwi. As I expected, the result reminded me to nagasari without banana leaves. This pudding is definitely something that I will make again in the future.

Itadakima~su!

Braised banana with coconut gravy

Today's menu is another coconut-based dish: braised banana with coconut gravy (a.k.a. kolak pisang, hehehe).

Banana is easy to find in Japan. Almost all convenient stores (mini markets, e.g., ministop, seven-eleven, circle-K) sell it. Beside banana fritter (pisang goreng), I like to eat banana as "kolak pisang". When I showed my kolak pisang result to some of my Indonesian friends, they wondered why it looked so pale. I guess it was mainly because I didn't use palm sugar. But don't worry, this kolak pisang still tastes wonderful.

Try to make it yourself! ;)

Emergency bothok

Bothok (botok) is one of my favorite childhood dishes. I always love the savory of coconut flake (parutan kelapa :p) combined with small fishes. Yumm..

One day, when I wanted it so bad, I decided to make it right away. Of course we don't have banana leaves here (to wrap the bothok). We also don't have petai cina/lamtoro gung (how to say it in English??? --> click here if you're curious). 

But who really cares? Let's just call it 'emergency bothok' :D

Voilaa~

Finding more ways to learn Japanese

About three years ago, my sensei asked me why my English was good while I never went abroad. To be honest, I don't think my English was that good (not even now :D )
You, my reader, might have better English than me!
But at least, at most of the time, I can convey what's in my mind.

Back to my sensei, I think he has a point. I noticed that one of the most important things in learning a language is practicing. During my undergraduate study, I realized that I was not good in English. That was how I eventually ended up writing this blog (in English). Now that I'm learning Japanese, I'm considering to try the same way.

Yes. I've made two blogs (written) in Japanese. Come to visit!
1. A blog to read information surrounding me:
http://dokodemonihon5.blogspot.jp/
2. A blog to practice writing Japanese (my online Japanese diary!! :D ):
http://narunonikki.blogspot.jp/

See you there!