Learning

As described by John Guttag (MIT OpenCourseWare), with slight modification:

Learning curve is very steep in the beginning, but then it does flatten out. And somewhere along the way most people have.. somewhat like an epiphany, “This is not as hard as I thought it was”.

And then they feel really good about themselves as they should.

… 

So give it a fair shot. You know, don't quit too early. Hang in there. Almost everybody who really does the work gets it 

... 

The main thing I would encourage people to understand is it does get easier. Most people who get through the beginning find they do just fine thereafter.

Italian pasta dishes

Here is a list of Italian pasta dishes

#	Nickname (from me)	Real name	Japanese name (romaji)	Explanation
1	Carbonara	Spaghetti alla carbonara	Karubonara	Based on eggs, cheese, bacon, black pepper
2	Peperoncino	Spaghetti, aglio, olio, e peperoncino	Aario oorio / peperonchiino	Garlic, oil, and chili pepper
3	Vongole bianco	Spaghetti alle vongole in bianco	Bongore bianko	Clams in white sauce (plain): garlic, oil, parsley
4	Vongole rosso	Spaghetti alle vongole in rosso	?	Clams in red sauce: garlic, oil, parsley, tomatoes, fresh basil
5	Primavera	Spaghetti alla primavera	Purimabeera	Fresh vegetables (chicken is sometimes added)
6	Melanzane	Spaghetti con le melanzane	Merantsuaane	with aubergines (eggplant)
7	Pascatore	Spaghetti alla pascatore	Pasukatoore	Fisherman style: with clams, scallops, mussels, shrimp, and squid
8	Arrabbiata	Spaghetti all'arrabiata	Arabiaata	Angry sauce: garlic, tomatoes, red chili peppers cooked in olive oil
9	Bolognese	Ragù alla Bolognese	Boroneeze	Meat sauce from Bologna: minced meat, carrot, celery, onion

Pasta

I'm always confused when my friend bring me to an Italian restaurant. I have no idea what's the different between carbonara, pepperoncino, etc (not to mention that the menu is always written in Japanese :p Imagine a katakana word like "aariooorio" comes from Italian word "aglio e olio", hehehe)

Anyway, now I decide to resume what I've got from the net (wikipedia :D ).

Starting with pasta, here is a list of some common pasta:

Number	Name	Image
1	Bucatini
2	Fusilli
3	Spaghetti
4	Fettucine
5	Lasagne
6	Fettucine
7	Rigatoni
8	Conchiglie

Dapur masak

I've just made dapurmasak account to document my recipes. You might want to visit :D
http://dapurmasak.com/user/profile/49927
https://cookpad.com/id/pengguna/2009573

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! ;)