Missing Hometown's Food (Pontianak Culinary)

A throwback to my last year's post, I have promised to share my hometown's food to this blog. FINALLY! I could fulfill my promise. I will share 9 of hundreds delicious foods of my hometown. 

I was born and lived for 18 years in Pontianak, West Borneo (click here if you don't know about Pontianak). Pontianak (坤甸, Kūn diān) is close to Malaysia, so people generally speak Bahasa with Malay accent. Chinese-Indonesian generally uses Teochew and Hakka for daily conversation. It's also used by the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia. So, don't be confused if the name of some foods sounds weird and not familiar. 

Chai Kwe (Choi Pan) 

First food, Chai Kwe (also familiar as Choi Pan)! It has been my favorite hometown's food. I never miss to eat this food when I go back. Chai Kwe consists of 5 flavors: soybean, yam, chives (kucai), bamboo sprout and  bengkoang. Yam, bengkoang and chives are my favorite. This food is easy to  be found, you can find this in the morning at the market or in the afternoon and evening at restaurant or cafe.  Anw, I can eat 20 pcs in one meal :> oops. 

Koi Sai Tin Kwe

Next is Koi Sai Tin Kwe. I'm not sure about the name, but my mom told me that is indeed the name and she said that there is no Indonesian name as Indonesian doesn't really eat this. Koi Sai means chicken's sh*t and kue means cake, so Koi Sai Tin Kwe means... umm (fill the following blanks by yourself). The names of this food are super weird and disgusting, but the taste is good. Mom said that the black color was made by Daun Kentut (Fart Leaves). Omg, the facts about this cake are too silly. This cake is a little bit difficult to be found, I found this in the morning at the market. It also reminds me about the trend of black colored food in nowadays. 

Egg Tart 

Egg tart is the third. Pontianak's egg tart is quite similar with Hong Kong's egg tart but it has a bigger size. It is baked on a plate and cut into 8 pcs (click here to see original size). I love this egg tart more than Balinese or Portuguese as it has a bigger size of the custard. I can easily find this in the market or traditional cake shop. Nowadays, there are chocolate, green tea, oreo flavor, but my favorite is always the original one,

Crab Noodle (Bakmi Kepiting) 

Pontianak's Crab Noodle (Bakmi Kepiting) is quite famous in Jakarta. There are 2 options to enjoy this noodle, with soup and without soup. Mostly, the restaurant also serves Kwetiau and Dumplings. And, I prefer the noodle with soup. This food could be enjoyed at breakfast or lunch. 

Chicken Rice (Nasi Campur) 

In Pontianak, this food is called Chicken Rice. I don't know the story of its name, but it's totally different with Singapore Chicken Rice (hmm.. the roasted chicken is almost the same btw). There is no Hainanese rice in this chicken rice, and there are many pork with less chicken inside. In Jakarta, this food is called Nasi Campur. Until this time, many friends of mine ask me why it's called chicken rice in my hometown, and I just answered with laugh haha. I enjoy this food for lunch, btw. 

Tiam Mie (Sweet Fried Noodle)

Sweet Fried Noodle? Weird? It tastes good, guys. The sweet taste was made of palm sugar. It's quite difficult to find this food since not every person can cook this noodle. My mom has ever tried to make it by herself, but it was too sweet. Btw, I enjoyed this for lunch. 

Che Hun Tiaw + Bongko

Che Hun Tiaw is just like Indonesian Cendol with plain color, and Bongko is just like Selendang Mayang with green color. It can refresh me up in the super hot weather of my beloved hometown. Mix up two of them is an option, some people enjoy Che Hun Tiaw or Bongko only, but I love to mix them up. I can easily find it in the afternoon.

 Lek Tau Suan (Green Beans Dessert) 

Sharing about Lek Tau Suan reminds me to my dearest ex-roommate. She made this for my friends and me when we were living in the dormitory. Lek Tau is green beans that have been peeled off and Suan means diamond as the beans shine like a diamond, they said haha. The best part of this Lek Tau Suan is the Chakwe or dough fritter, I won't eat it without chakwe. I can easily find this at the market, but it's definitely cheaper to make this at home. This is so easy to make, the ingredients are simple and easy to find. There are many recipes about it on the internet. 

Tofu Pudding 

Last but not least, Tofu Pudding! It's a combination between pudding and Soy milk. Sweet and soft are perfect are two words that suitable to describe it. Tofu Indonesia has many variants of their product, such as tofu tart, tofu ice cream, tofu bean curd with many flavor and topping. And, they have opened their store in Kemanggisan, Jakarta, but I have never gone there. Maybe I should go there and introduce Tofu to Fili :)

That is my story about my hometown's culinary. Hopefully, there will be part 2,3,4 and 50, I hope you guys will never get bored about my hometown hahaha. Well, for those who are going to have a culinary trip in Pontianak, you should follow Kuliner Pontianak on Instagram. This account was made by my friend ((and I was helping her to make the logo :>)). And, I got my references about Pontianak Culinary from there. The caption of the photos is detailed enough, location until prices. The way she describes the food is fun. Hopefully, I could do a collaboration with her someday :)

Btw, me and Fili are in the last term of our university life! We are doing our final project now. We pray that this project will be completed smoothly and finished on time, yohooo! Wish us luck! :>

Yey! 

Yelny

Best Moments of the First Year by Filicia

On the first day of August 2015, we were celebrating the first anniversary of this blog. Yay! Well, even though we were honestly not that discipline on following our posting schedule, we managed to publish about 50+ posts during one year.

This time, we will be reviewing some of our favorite moments and stories that made it to the blog and share it with you guys again here. So, please enjoy the best moments according to Filicia! 

((from oldest to newest))

1. Emon Kitty Cafe - Tanjung Duren

This post is and still remains the most popular post out of all other posts. Many of the visitors also come upon our blog because of this post. One of the reasons, in my opinion is because there are not too many people writing about this restaurant on internet. Also, Tanjung Duren is an are that is not as popular in terms of culinary scene. Anyway, I have not visited this place again yet, and sure things there have changed. If I had the chance, I might want to visit it again.

2. #IndoestriDay - Opening of The First Makerspace in Jakarta!

This event is special to me because it was my first time doing a volunteer job with no one that I know beforehand. But it turned out to be the best experience ever! It was the best feeling to be in a place filled with passionate and energetic people! Going there has left me inspired and motivated to do something and to keep moving forward. Today, Indoestri has grown bigger and even better! I totally recommend you guys to come visit and join the class!

3. SHINee World III in Jakarta

I just have to include this you know, guys. I mean like, how can I not? This is SHINee that I have been loving for seven years! Well for the concert, it has been more than a year, and I still think about that day every now and then. Go and read my ramblings to find out more about how I felt back then.

4. The Painters : Hero

Another Korean act, but this one is totally different. Unlike SHINee who I have been watching closely since I was a teenager. I had no idea about The Painters at all when I first went there. But once I watched their performance, I craved for more! I also posted a short video about them which can be watched here.

5. Planning a Budget-Friendly Picnic Party!

Well, basically all the picnic party series. This is where it all started and went down until we finally released the e-magazine! The e-magazine can be read online and downloaded for free here. Making serial posts like this sure take more preparation, time and money. But seeing the result, it definitely paid off. I am thinking of doing another series this year, any suggestions guys?

There you go, the best moments of the first year according to me. I do have an honorable mention for when I did this campaign though. Also, the Intermezzo posts that I have been doing from time to time. I think this post can be categorized into Intermezzo as well haha. It felt good to look back to older posts and it definitely motivated me to write more!

Now, how about you? What are your most favorite posts from Candy After Dinner and what would you want to see in our future posts?

Cheers,

filicia

Happy First Birthday!

Oh, how time flies when you had lots of fun, right? Last month on August 1st, 2015, we celebrated the first anniversary of Candy After Dinner! Whoop! Even though we have been blogging on and off due to our lack of discipline ((which we should totally fix)), but it has been an amazing journey so far and we have learned a lot.

Though we are nowhere near responsible in following our schedule, but we are so glad that there are you guys ((yes, each one of you)) who keep on supporting on what we do, encouraging us to continue writing and even just paying a visit to this little blog every now and then. We are very humbled to have you guys spare your precious time reading about our daily musings, inspirations and life in general.

Of course, one is still a very small number for an online site like ours. That's why, we are looking forward to what the future holds. There are so many things we had in mind that we wanted to share for our future posts. But we also want to hear about your feedback. Is there anything you would like us to cover, share or make? We are more than happy to hear your comments and suggestions.

Anyway, moving forward to the D-day, we celebrated our blog's first birthday with Japanese food. Yay! We also continued the Crafty After Dinner session and this time we did brush-lettering. It is something that we have been attracted to lately and I ((fili)) got to learn during a workshop with Living Loving previously.

The thing about brush-lettering is, you really just need brush, ink and paper. So, even if it looks like lots of stuff, we really did not bring too much stuffs for this crafting session. But the downside is, it can get a little messy especially with the black ink since it would totally stain your hands.

Thanks to internet, we can have access to online learning for free! And thanks to nice people on internet who are generous enough to share their knowledge with us ((again, for free))!

And, not just brush-lettering, we definitely have to take commemorative pictures of the first anniversary. The restaurant we went to happened to have a decent wall for taking pictures ;D

Well, once again, we would like to thank you all for visiting this little blog of ours all this time. Please keep on visiting in the future! We would also be very happy to hear your feedback about anything! Also, don't forget to share it with your friends haha. After all, sharing means caring right? ;) 

Yeey,

cheers!