Foreign Food

This week's Weekly State Department Roundup is being hosted by Lauren at Global Geraghtys. The theme this week is "I've Never Eaten That Before." Be sure to click over on Friday to find out what strange things people have eaten during their travels.

I have always been open to trying new food, unless of course it came out of the ocean. I don't like most seafood, so fish are safe around me, otherwise it is fair game. Growing up we raised a lot of our own meat. In addition to the standard cow and pig a year we also raised ducks, chicken, geese, guineas, turkeys, rabbits, goats and occasionally other birds if my mother found something new in the poultry catalog. Yes, you can mail order live poultry. Dad hunts so we had venison most years. Dad also fancies himself a gourmet so we would eat any weird meat he found for sale: rattlesnake, bear, alligator, crawdads, frog legs, you get the idea.

Lest you think we ate only meat we had a large garden and we grew what ever weird thing was in the Burpee seed catalog. Blue potatoes, kohlrabi, yellow tomatoes, spaghetti squash. If something strange showed up in the catalog it was a safe bet it was going to show up in our garden that spring.

When we moved to our first post in Jakarta I was ready to try new things. I very quickly found out that tropical fruit is an acquired taste. By tropical fruit I mean tropical fruits other than pineapples and mangos. There are bunches of fruits that are available in every market in SE Asia that you will never find in your average grocery in America. There is salak (snake fruit), mangosteen, dragon fruit, jackfruit, guava, jambu air (water apple), longan (dragon's eye fruit), rambutan and so many more. Some of these I liked, usually the ones with mild flavors, most I found repulsive. The flavors, smells and textures were just too weird. The kids quickly grew to like them all.

There was one fruit none of us were brave enough to try. A fruit that smells so bad, it is illegal to take it on trains, planes, or into hotel rooms. A fruit so vile that even Andrew Zimmern of Bizzarre Foods can't stomach it. The man eats bugs and likes it, but he can't eat this fruit. And yet this fruit is considered a delicacy.

The undisputed queen of asian tropical fruit is of course the durian. It looks like a big spiky melon of some sort. It actually grows up in trees. I can only imagine it would be fatal to have one fall on your head. The smell is pungent, overwhelming, nauseating, and totally unforgettable once smelled. Shortly before we left Jakarta we finally decided we couldn't leave without trying durian at least once.



Dave found the taste a cross between diesel and overripe pineapple he managed to swallow his bite. I can't even describe the taste but I won't willingly put that in my mouth again and I spat it out much to the amusement of the gathered drivers, pembantus and gardeners. Alonzo and Dakota refused to taste it. Colin and Grayson claimed to like it but I noticed even they didn't line up for a second bite.I just couldn't swallow the durian. Blech!

David didn't like it much either but he did better than me.

I am sure there will be many other culinary adventures in our futures, some good, some bad. I can tell you one thing I won't be eating though, mouse on a stick! Not. Going. To. Happen.

Kopi Tubruk

Last week our coffee pot gave up the ghost and died. This is a tragedy of major proportions in this household. Tea just doesn't cut it as a morning drink, at least not for me. Don't even suggest instant coffee. YUCK! We could go out and buy another pot at the commissary, or if we want a 220 model we could, of course, go to any of dozens of stores here in Frankfurt. The thing is, none of these places carry the brand we are looking for. We ordered one from the states and are now waiting on it to arrive. I know you are wondering what is so special about a stupid coffee pot. We use a Bunn, it has a built in hot water tank so it takes less than 2 minutes to brew a full pot of coffee. Still about a minute and half too long, but about the best you area going to get. Of course the volcano has slowed down shipments, but we are hopeful it will arrive soon.

In the meantime I am dying for a decent cup of morning coffee. I finally remembered a drink I used to indulge in when we lived in Jakarta, kopi tubruk. I am now enjoying a brutally strong cup of coffee. All is right with the world.

Oh you want to know what's kopi tubruk? Basically you put a spoon full of coffee grinds into your cup, add boiling water, it is important that it is boiling, then give it a quick stir and wait until the grounds sink. Enjoy. It isn't exactly good to the last drop, in fact of you aren't careful that last drop can be quite gritty, but it makes a tasty, strong cup of coffee without any fancy equipment. Yummmm.

Wordless Wednesday- Dreaming of Warmer Days

Wordless Wednesday - Who is that?

Sizzling Summer Vacation Spectacular '08

First lets get business out of the way. Kristen at We Are THAT Family is hosting the Sizzling Summer Vacation Spectacular today, complete with door prizes. Make sure to stop by and see what all the fuss is about! You really don't want to miss all the fun!

So how do I fit a summer vacation that encompasses three continents, two states and the District of Columbia into one blog post? I don't know either, lets find out together.

My summer started and ended with boxes. Lots and lots of boxes.  I loath boxes! I loath packing! I loath unpacking!  All you FS, military, NGO and other global nomads, I know you feel my pain! But in between all the boxes was a glorious, sunny, fun-filled summer!

We started the summer in Asia.  Jakarta Indonesia to be specific.  We celebrated the end of our two years there with one last trip to our favorite place, anywhere.  The Sailing Club at Tanjung Lesung.  As always we had an absolute blast.  Thanks to Dave and Sophie for making our last weekend in Indonesia so wonderful.  I hope to make it back again someday.  There is no place else quite like it.

I love this place!  

A week later we were on the other side of the world hanging with freinds and family in San Antonio, Texas.  We had so much fun seeing everyone, going to the river at Guadalupe River State Park, watching the parade and fireworks on the 4th and of course girls night out at the Melting Pot!  We even made it to the circus and got to watch Grandma Sheila show one of her Japanese Chins.

David step away from the camera and no one gets hurt!

Everyone loves a parade!

Look, No Kids!

Wonder what they are looking at?

GO GRANDMA! 

Our time in San Antonio was too short and by mid-July we were in Kentucky letting our red-neck side hang out and enjoying a week-long crazy-family get together hosted by fellow blogger and sister-in-law Terio.  We ate ice cream, had fun in the sun, went four wheeling, and the boys learned a little archery from Uncle Kevin.  The best part was just watching all the cousins spending time together! 

Cousins everywhere!

Keeping cool in the heat!

Volleyball family fun

Uncle Kevin arms the kids, nowhere is safe now

Obviously Paul was at the wrong place at the wrong time!

From Kentucky we headed off to DC where we did much sight seeing, enjoyed a visit from a good friend, and David even managed to accomplish a bit of work. 

Yeah, that's original! Not!

Doug and Dave smile for the camera.

Our last stop and final destination this summer was our new home Frankfurt Germany.  We arrived August 1st.  It is the first time any of us have been to Europe. Well to be fair David visited Norway when he was in the navy but he has never been to Germany before! We are still settling in but I am sure we will have lots of new adventures to share with you.  We are looking forward to exploring castles, Roman ruins, and German culture. 

Woo Hoo Frankfurt at last!  No, that's not our house!

Our first Roman ruins.  Notice the jackets.  It's still summer and we are freezin' y'all! 

Wordless Wednesday-Leaving On a Jet Plane...

...don't know if I'll be back again!

(sniff, wiping tears)

GOODBYE INDONESIA! IT'S BEEN FUN!

This and That and Everything Else

This is supposed to be my Project Support Beauty In Nature post, and I will get to that in a bit, I promise. If you are a regular reader you know the last few weeks have been very, very, busy in the Cyberbones household as we prepare to move from Indonesia to Europe.  Last week all our worldly goods were loaded into boxes and shipped off.  If all goes well those same boxes will eventually show up at our new house in Germany where I will get to unpack all those boxes.  It has occurred to me perhaps we should minimize our junk, as we seem to have far too much stuff.

Today the last of our pets are gone from the house and the only inhabitants left are human.  The fish moved last week to their new aquarium at the office.  The ongoing meal worm experiment was returned today to the classroom from whence it came, and now Mrs. Wolff can find a new home for the creepy crawlies.  There seem to be no shortage of volunteers to take a box of bugs. I will not miss the darkling beetles, the meal worms, or their great great great grand grubs, but I suspect the boys will. 

The cats also left today, although we are not giving them away. They are off to stay with the crazy cat lady, AKA Aunt Teri. They will enjoy hanging out in the Kentucky wilderness, bird watching, squirrel chasing and being spoiled rotten.  Sort of summer camp for cats.  Lucky cats.  They will rejoin us in DC to head to Germany.  Actually we will rejoin them in mid July when we head to Kentucky for some family fun.  Fluffy and Bing are well traveled felines.

My poor babies look so unhappy! 

Bye Bing, Bye Fluffy! Say Hi to Teri for me.

Now on to project support beauty in nature!  Lotus at Sarcastic Mom posted today about toilet paper and the waste it creates.  I guess we do kill a lot of trees in the interst of keeping our bums clean, but I do like a clean bum. 

 Since moving to Indonesia I have learned the solution to the toilet paper crisis, just don't use toilet paper.  Most bathrooms here don't have toilet paper, instead they are equipped with this handy little sprayer you see on the wall.  After you do your business you use this sprayer to clean your private regions.  Voila! No toilet paper waste!

The fancier bathrooms sometimes have a little sprayer hidden under the toilet seat so that when you turn the little knob on the side of the seat it will come out and spray you in the... um... yeah... this is a family blog so we will just say it sprays you where you need to be sprayed after using the toilet.  It is called the Eco-Washer and provides endless fun for my three year old son.  There is even a model called the Washlet featuring heated water, warm seat, anti slam lid, air freshener, and blow dryer.  My husband is fond of saying "For that price it better wipe my bottom!"  Well this toilet seat will!  Truly, this isn't a joke, think of it more as a bidet and toilet all in one. Now you can have that shower fresh feeling all day long.

While I am on the subject of Supporting Beauty In Nature I saw a wonderful segment this morning on CNN eco-solutions about a recycling project in the Philippines.  Did you ever wonder what happens to the big billboards when they change out the pictures?  I know I didn't. Well a group in the Philippines is doing amazing things with this often wasted material.  Take a moment to watch this video.  It is inspiring and well worth a few minutes of your time! 

American Food

I was cleaning out a few of the 1000s of messages in my e-mail inbox this morning when I found this e-mail I sent to David back in October. It was so funny I had to share. Hope you enjoy!

Dwi cooked.  She made chicken cordon blue, sort of.  When I came in she showed me what she was making and asked if I knew what it was.  After a glance I said chicken cordon blue.  She glowed!  I recognized her attempt at western cooking so it must be pretty close.  Normally it has ham and swiss cheese tucked inside chicken.  Tonight it had cheddar and Oscar Meyer salami in chicken.  It actually was pretty good, salty, cheesy, and crispy on the outside, but I think I understand why chinese people say Americanized "Chinese" food isn't Chinese!

Strange Tropical Fruit #3-Jambu Kluthuk

It has been a while since I posted about the cool fruit here. When I did the first post on rambutan I envisioned a series of posts about all the produce available here. There are so many fruits I have never seen before. Many of them I have not had the chance to taste and since we will be moving soon I guess I never will. I will try to do a few more posts, I have promised myself that I will not leave Jakarta with out tasting the dreaded durian! That should be a fun post!  Oh well, onto the jambu kluthuk or as we call it in the west, guava!

I had heard of guava before moving here, and have even had it in fruit drink blends back in the states. While I like the juice fine (in a blend) I find the fruit itself to be a bit overpowering, or rather I find the smell of the fruit to be a bit overpowering. The smell permeates the kitchen when there is one of these in the fruit bowl. For me it is not a pleasant smell, it always reminds me to put on deodorant (yeah, that's my way of saying it smells like stinky pits!).

The flesh is a bit gritty sort of like a pear, actually like pears it doesn't have a very strong flavor, slightly sweet but not very strong. I think it tastes like....hmmm....well... it tastes like GUAVA!  My tropical fruit book describes it as "crisp but not very sweet" I often see guava slices sold with a dipping sauce. I guess the sauce adds some flavor. I have had it with a sweet, hot (very hot) sambal over it and it was yummy, I liked it much better that way. Sort of disguised the smell for me, I was too worried about my taste buds going up in flames to care about the smell.

My boys like the fruit fresh from the tree. I think this is mostly because we have a guava tree right outside our living room window and sometimes I will hear a noise, glance out the window and see legs hanging out of the tree. The guards, pembantus, and gardeners have all climbed that tree at times to grab a quick snack. This is usually a signal for my kids to run outside and beg for a guava. As I am typing this on the compound guards is outside using a long piece of bamboo to knock down a ripe guava from the tree. Grayson is standing on the piano bench yelling through the window and waving his half eaten guava. I think he is telling the guard "Me too, I like guava too!"

Last Saturday I was sitting inside alone, enjoying a moment of calm, when I heard a loud thump from the roof.  This usually means that someone has climbed onto the roof from the tree and is picking fruit.  I glanced out the window and what do I see? Colin in the tree yelling up at someone on the roof. Now Colin was either harassing a gardener in hopes of fruit, in which case I should probably intervene, or my husband was up on the roof. I grabbed the camera and ran outside. This is what I found:

Yep it was my husband on the roof trying to spot the ripe guavas. Usually who ever climbs the tree looking for fruit ends up on the roof because the tree is crawling with ants. Stepping to the roof gives you a moment to spot the fruit before climbing onward. Sitting in the tree while trying to spot the fruit gives the ants a chance to crawl all over you. ICK!
Once Dave spotted the fruit he wanted to pick he climbed back into the tree and climbed even further up. Between this picture and the last Colin jumped out of the tree and did the I-have-ants-in-my-pants boogie. You can see what a great example we set for safe play!

Alonzo is holding a half eaten (dirty) guava. Fruit bats ate this one last night. The bats like the guava too. The fruit bats will grab a fruit and eat a bit then when they are tired they will drop it, it will land on my roof with a thump, and slide to the ground. I love to watch the bats but I can understand why fruit farmers hate them. They never finish the fruit and every morning we find bits of half eaten fruit in the compound.

Bubble Drink

I found these weird drinks at the grocery store the other day. Even though the only thing I want floating in my drinks is ice I bought them for the kids. Hey they were cheap and cool looking! When they came home I gave them these drinks along with string cheese for a snack.

Alonzo (usually my picky eater) "Mom buy this again! I like it."

Colin (usually will eat anything) "Yuck! Can I put it in the fridge for Daddy?"

Grayson (the baby) drank half, poured the rest out to get to the bubbles inside, then cried because he didn't have anything left to drink.

Here is what I found out:
1. The drinks aren't carbonated, don't know why I thought they were.
2. The "bubbles" are firm and solid, not liquid filled.
3. They are really hard to sweep up. They stick to the floor, the broom, and your feet.
4. If you step on one it feels gross!
5. There is no way Daddy is going to taste Colin's drink, it's still sitting in the fridge.

Ken Pattern

There is an artist here in Jakarta who is a transplant from Canada, his name Ken Pattern. His medium is mainly stone lithographs, but he also does oils, acrylics, etchings and ink drawings. We have seen a lot of his works in various places like businesses and friends houses. We went to our first showing in early 2007 at the Gran Melia Jakarta. We were not in a position to buy any of his art work but we were able to get some calendars for our friends back home. Each summer Ken returns to his shop in Canada to produce new pieces and each fall upon his return he has an exhibition. When he returned last year it was at the Hadiprana Gallery. At this exhibit we purchased our first two litho’s. We got “Cow” for Shannon’s mom and we bought “Family Outing” for ourselves. We saw some great oils and acrylics, but the prices were way out of our range.

Last week we went to the grand opening of his current exhibition at the Gran Melia and as fate would have it we found a picture that said “buy me”. Talk about a statement… this picture really does speak a thousand words. It transcends all cultural barriers and really hit me close to home. As most of our dearest friends know, Shannon and I are some what of naturalists. When I lived in Washington State, I use to go hiking and mountain biking off the fire roads in the mountains. It was so picturesque driving to the parking area, all the tall green trees; they seemed to go on forever…until I got on the fire roads. It’s not until you get onto the fire road and away from the main road that you see the true forest, the partially burnt stumps and rotting remains of what once use to be a forest. This is happening to forests all across this great world of ours. The painting that we bought shows a kind of surreal image of what I might see if I were to drive down the road where the forest once stood.

I hope everyone enjoys the picture.

"Habitat"

Wordless Wednesday-What's so interesting?

Wordless Wednesday-Leaping Lizards!

Botanical Gardens

The boys are off from school this week for spring break. David took this week off as well. This year we are foregoing the sailing club and checking out some of the sights closer to home. Today we went to the botanical gardens in Bogor.

David and I went there before Christmas without the kids. We got lucky and one of the gardeners showed us around and pointed out cool trees like cinnamon, rubber, and nutmeg. It was really interesting. Today with kids in tow it was more like "Wow that's a lot of trees. Where are the bats?" Yep folks we go to the Indonesian national botanical gardens to see freaking BATS! It's that inner Corwin thing again! *Sigh* Yes, Mom, I know you told me to have a little girl instead of all these boys, but they do keep life interesting, besides was I really any better??



These are flying foxes. Are they as big as they look? No, they are way bigger! They are HUGE with wingspans up to 6 feet. The boys were awed. We got right under the trees and spent a good 15 minutes staring up at them as they moved around the tree tops. They not only fly to get to a new roost but can scramble along the branches amazingly quick, like an upside down monkey. Totally Cool!

Colin saw a weird caterpillar in the orchid exhibit. "Yeah those are orchids. Hey check out this caterpillar! It looks like a snake!" I was left alone to admire the orchids while the Corwin wanna-be's admired the bug. I will really miss orchids when we leave here. I will not miss the bugs.


While looking at the aquatic collection Cody made a cool discovery, a baby water monitor swimming between the plants. Watching this little one zip about the pond I suddenly understood how the big monitors could swim between islands.


Even at a place dedicated to plants my men can find enough creepy animals to keep themselves happy. Only one thing marred the fun, as we were eating lunch Grayson grabbed the paper towels when I asked for one and ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction hoping I would chase him. Instead karma caught up with him and he tripped and fell head first into a bench. He has a big "owwie" but is otherwise OK. Tomorrow off to the zoo.

Art Work by Cody

Pulau Putri

Easter weekend marks the first weekend of spring break 2008. To celebrate we took a family trip to Pulau Seribu (Thousand Islands). This is a chain of small islands just north of Jakarta. There aren't really one thousand islands, but there are whole bunch.


We went to Pulau Putri (pulau=island) one of the northernmost islands. Which means one of the farthest away from Jakarta's ever present pollution. We all had a great time. The water was astoundingly clear. There was a walk though underwater tunnel, a sunset cruise around nearby islands, and a glass bottom boat ride. We could (and did) rent a paddle boat and paddle out over the reef. One of the best things is it's so close to home. Thirty minutes to the marina, about an hour in the boat, and we were there.

Of course, for our family the chance for the boys to channel their inner Corwin is always a priority. There was lots of wildlife to see above and below the water. Colin and Alonzo had lots of fun paddling about near shore looking at fish with their swim goggles. They are already planning where to go diving when they get scuba certified (in about a decade). There was a penned area that had a several sting rays, small sharks, and schools of small fish. Grayson spent a lot of time pointing and yelling "Sting Ray! Sting Ray!" I think it is his new favorite fish. Cody, having freshly passed his scuba test and being one dive short of full certification, paddled for a short time with the boys and then retired to the pool, as anything less than actually diving is suddenly beneath him. And of course the tunnel aquarium was a hit with everyone.

Above the water Cody spotted a Prevost's squirrel, one of the prettiest squirrels anywhere. Sadly I have only seen one at the San Antonio zoo, I never managed to catch sight of a squirrel on the island. We saw huge monitor lizards. These were monsters, well over 5 feet, large enough that Colin refused to walk to the pool by himself for fear of getting eaten, hmm...maybe I shouldn't have let him watch that show about Komodo dragons. They are so well fed, hanging out behind the kitchen for scraps, that there was no real danger, but it was startling to come across something like that unawares. However I think the coolest animal was the flying fox. Stellaluna has long been a favorite bedtime story at our house and to see a real live Stellaluna made the kid's day. I can't wait until we take them to the botanical gardens later this week and they can really get a good look at a flying fox colony.


It was a great two day trip. The sailing club remains my favorite escape from Jakarta, but this was a wonderful opportunity to see a little something different, closer to home. I am glad we went.