While I was on my week-long business trip to Jakarta (I reached the shores of Malaysia late Sunday night), I made some friends there and they were determined to make certain that my body was stuffed with as much local food assortments as possible before I left their city.
Some of the local grubs that were partaken...
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Diverse array of dishes to pick and choose from, all of which are laid for you on the table the moment you are seated. A must-have for any visit to Indonesia.
This is a popular snack in Jakarta. It is made from mashed potatoes and chicken filling. As a lover of all things potatoes, this snack was right up my alley.
Chicken marinated with tumeric, fried in coconut oil and served with kremes (crispy granules).
I was told this snack was only available twice a year, once in June and once in September. It is made from duck egg - which is mixed with glutinous rice and desiccated coconut - made into an omelette.
Meat barbecued over brazen coals on bamboo skewers, and served with... sweet potato gravy (instead of the usual peanut sauce).
Incredibly airy and very fluffy dairy goodness.
Rice cooked with coconut milk and tumeric, hence the name "Nasi Kuning" (literal translation: Yellow Rice). Mine was served with Ayam Pok and Bergedil (fried potato patties).
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Related post(s):
Sept 16th, 2013 - 7:30am
PG > KL
KL > Jakarta
Sunlake Hotel -- 2 nights
View from the balcony of my room
Novotel Jakarta Mangga Dua -- 4 nights
Jakarta > KL
Sept 22nd, 2013 - 6:30pm
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Related post(s):
Got back to my hotel room after work, scrubbed every inch of the bath tub clean, filled it up for a hot and frothy soak... with Eddie Higgins' Alice in Wonderland resounding from Seanna.
All that was missing was a glass of red...
The Glamorous Life of Being A Jill of All Trades...
By Melissa - Sunday, September 15, 2013
... is that everyone assumes that you can do everything they want in their time.
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It doesn't matter if it was given to you at the eleventh hour, it doesn't matter if you've stayed more than 12 hours at work the night before.
In these past couple of weeks, I've been wearing so many hats that yesterday, when the project I was working on was finally launched, I could have sworn that I felt (invisible) tears of joy rolling down my cheeks.
Some of the hats that were worn:
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1) Event-planner-coordinator-plus-emcee
I snapped a quick shot of what I was looking at on the event day - less than a hour before the event: in my formal dress, flip-flops (pre-event, I needed the mobility and comfort that only flip-flops can offer), the emcee script on my lap and Evie in my hands.
Event planning was a walk in the park when I oversaw celebration outings for a group of 20 - 30 youths. But when you have to coordinate a product launching for approximately 100 people (of which more than half of the invitees include local and overseas VIPs, publications and press) from scratch, it is a whole different ball game.
My body was worn out, I was dashing through doors, sprinting through the corridors whilst doing 1001 things when I found out the day before the event that I had to take on being the emcee for the event.
I was this close to pulling out all the hairs on my head.
2) Social-butterfly-event-coordinator
After a hectic morning and (thankfully) successful launch, I zoomed my way home, showered, put on my fancy party dress, got dolled up and headed down for CM's product launching dinner.
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The past two weeks had been a mix of sleepless nights, mad hours and mental exhaustion. I'm now nursing my body back to health - every time I blow my nose, it sounds like an elephant stampede - and this upcoming week is a whole 'nother adventure on its own.
Updates soon!
Being a Christian in a Social Media Dominated Age - Message at Youth Impact (Sept 7th, 2013)
By Melissa - Monday, September 09, 2013
We are now living in an age where social media becomes a must in our every day life. There is not a day that goes by where we are not logged on to AT LEAST one or more social media platforms. The popular ones being:
- Facebook - a huge community with a HIGH amount of junk
- Twitter - where your status updates are followed, a short and sweet but VERY public diary
- Instagram - creative outlet for many, a photo journal of sorts
- Blogs - may be genre specific (food, fashion, combination of both, etc…) or personal musings (think e-diary)
- FourSquare - location based social networking
Having graduated with a degree in Mass Communication, majoring in Communications and Media Management, as well as interning in media-related fields and working in one now, I am very well aware of the POWER of media, particularly social media.
Wield it correctly and you will garner attention beyond your wildest dreams. Conversely, use it for purposes less than noble and you are able to tear down a person’s life, career or even a giant corporation.
I’d like to raise this question to you – What is your standard of being a Christian in social media?
Whether you like it or not, every status update, every tweet, every picture uploaded, every post written and every check-in logged IS and WILL BE SCRUTINIZED; either by those of the same faith as yourself, or your unbeliever friends.
Hence this message’s title: Being a Christian in a Social Media Dominated Age.
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1) God does not live in social media.
- Or in Facebook, especially for this matter.
- Rampant posts on Facebook – “God, I need You…”, “God, where are You?”, “Lord, intervene…”
- I wrote this several months back: “The greatest battles are not in the battlefield, but behind a closed door and on bended knees.”
- Freedom of expression belongs to every person ultimately, but do not use the name of God as a means to rant or seek pity.
- Reference: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)
2) Censorship is NOT overrated.
- As a Media student, censorship IS overrated. I am not fond of it. I do not like it when my work is being condensed to tell half-truths, or even worse, manipulated to sell even though the source of the news is half-baked.
- As a Christian, censorship is NECESSARY, What you post online is far reaching. You can never control who may share your post and deleting it may not undo your mistake.
- Think two, three, even ten times over if you need to, before pressing the ENTER button.
- Remember that tearing someone down on social media is a cowardly thing to do. (Reference: Ephesians 4:26 – “In your anger, do not sin.”) Solve it by doing face-to-face explanations and confrontations.
- Do not resort to using expletives to emphasize your point. There are over 1 million words in the English language, I am sure you are able to find a better and more accurate word for descripting purposes.
- Posting pictures of yourself in compromising positions, in unsavory locations doing less than pleasant things will cause more than your fellow Christians’ eyes to grow wide. You might have caused unbelievers to question the worth of Christianity.
3) Verify your sources
- This was a trend that was especially prevalent in the recent elections.
- Emotions were running high, so much was at stake and everyone had an opinion of how things should have gone down. There were SO. MANY. UNTRUTHS that were circulated through social media through bogus attempts made by people with bad intentions, who were rooting for uproars to happen.
- Be careful what you "share". Check the source and verify it is true before you share them on your wall. Lots of medical wonders, health benefits, political arguments, etc… are not true and we are guilty of spreading lies if we put them on our wall.
4) Express, Not CONFESS (or worse, CONVERSE)
- Social media is not your confession box. If you have issues that you need to set right or you are making an effort to turn over a new leaf, seek a PERSON that you can be accountable to and work on your issues with that PERSON. There is NO NEED for PUBLIC confession anymore in our age.
- Take personal conversation of affection and love private. The whole world doesn’t need to hear your love talk. "Expression" of affection is different from "conversations".
5) Be His example.
- Just as the real world that we live in, the social media world is also not a place that is less than bright. We need to be His light, His mouthpiece through this avenue.
- You are an example of what you do, and what you don’t do.
- Your REAL life is your best testament of who He is.
- You don’t win people over by godly statuses, quotes or sentiments on social media. It would be even WORSE if in real life, you are the complete opposite of what you profess to be on social media.
- Reference: 1 Timothy 4:12 & 16 – “… Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you.”
After a madly hectic work week (which will hopefully wait till Monday to resume), at 11:40pm on a Friday night-in, I am now scrubbed clean, in my favourite pair of jammies and writing tomorrow's message for Youth Impact...
My whole body is crying out for rest, my mind wants to go on a loooonnnnggggg vacation but right now, this is my happy place... leaning in to His presence, feeling His heartbeat and capturing it with words.
Sleep can wait, for now...
Sleep can wait, for now...
I learned some time ago that some of my best work was produced when I was given a limited time frame and placed in circumstances that many won't find pleasure being in.
I, for one, love being in such situations. I take pleasure in working on something with both hands full while taking large strides to meet yet another deadline, because I know that such instances will positively stretch my creative muscles.
However, all this while, I failed to see that my relishing of such times came because I was either working alone, or I was in a group that was confident; with each person manning up and pulling their own weight.
While I know that by the end of the day that I am able to deliver everything that is required on my own (which would mean that my job would be multiplied two or three times over), I've come to realise that working with a lazy prick for a colleague is no fun and terribly frustrating.
I am jaded from checking up on simple tasks that shouldn't require my attention, and ultimately landing myself into doing it because the person wields the best weaselling out excuse of all time, "I don't know".
I can't remember the last time I went to bed without a to-do hanging over my head, waiting for me to jump in and tackle it the very next morning.
My brain cells are so fried that today, after lunch, I clutched my glass container and trudged to my colleague's cubicle, thinking that it was the pantry. My colleagues broke into hyena-like laughter when I arrived at the cubicle; confused, a little disoriented whilst gingerly holding on to my bowl.
It took me five (costly) seconds to get my bearings right, five seconds too late, that is.
Now, at 11pm, after being at work for more than 12 hours (I clocked in at 7:25am and left the office at 8:30pm), I am more than ready to shimmy into welcoming arms of my comforter and leave the tending of emails to Tomorrow.
For now, just for tonight... Stick a fork in me, ladies and gentlemen, I'm done...
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Earlier today, while I was out for work
Weekday meal documents (homecooked, unless mentioned otherwise).
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On Saturday, my mother made the most unbelievable of roasts in her convection oven: Roasted pork belly.
When my knife plunged ravenously into the (very divinely) marinated meat, the crackling of the crispy skin was more heavenly than the sound of angels singing.
Feast yer eyes...
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I finished up every bit of my dinner that night (the lumps of fat that I removed from the meat doesn't count - lean meat is the only way to go for me).
