RocketJim's

I found a new hobby: cooking! I think it is amazing to learn how to cook and get better at some recipes. There is something sexy about possessing an ability to turn flour or raw meat or vegetables or leftovers into a delicious meal. I used to enjoy drawing and painting when I was younger. Anything that involves my hands like remodelling clay, designing T-shirts and making cards? Totally up my alley. Unfortunately it is expensive and difficult to do these in Jakarta so the next best alternative is to improve my cooking!

I started to cook when I spent a year in Tokyo for an exchange program about 9 years ago. I found it fun and I frequently cooked for my fellow dorm-mates too. Unfortunately I didn't cook much after coming back from Tokyo. I baked cookies and cakes once in a while but no cooking. After I met Loverboy 7 years later, I picked up cooking again because he has the best stocked kitchen EVER. He has all sorts of pots and pans and beautiful plates of different sizes and designs. Sea salt? Check. Garlic? Check. Cayenne pepper? Check. Canola and olive oil? Check. No kitchen is stocked well enough if you don't have basic seasonings so imagine my joy when he lent me his kitchen to work my mojo on.

Now that I am a full-time housewife in Jakarta, it is my job to provide healthy (hopefully) meals for my hardworking husband. I spent about 2 hours everyday watching cooking videos on youtube and searching for recipes on the internet. No kidding! One of my greatest achievements this year so far is learning how to work the bittergourd (bitter melon). I knowwwwww....baby steps ok? I love love love eating bittergourd in cantonese restaurants but I didn't know how to prepare the vegetable. All thanks to youtube, I now know how to prepare bittergourds; make intermediate Japanese meals and clean a squid. There are people who are icky with raw meat and seafood. Not me. I even unclog sinks with all the hairballs. Do I deserve an award???? YES!!! Hahaha.

Some friends laugh and call me a 'siao nu ren' (a submissive lady who loves taking care of the household)...I guess it is good natured ribbing but it's not just that. I really do enjoy cooking and I love to see the look on people's faces when they eat something delicious. Cooking is a skill and everybody likes someone who can cook. Hahaha I do! Right now, I still have my hits and misses but it's all a learning process. Anyway picture time!


When I am not lazy, I would make pasta or omelettes for lunch. When I am very lazy, I just eat cereal...but no, I don't diet. I recently discovered that adding mirin to omelette mixtures make it very very tasty. I usually add milk to my omelette to make it creamier too. I also learnt that with bell peppers, you either leave it raw or you cook it more than 5 minutes because if you fry it for a short time, it gets kinda sour. When you cook bell peppers longer, they become sweeter. But raw is best!


Onigiri! I would make these from time to time to perk my husband up; especially for breakfast. I learnt how to make these while flying. We used to serve freshly steamed rice for our business-class passengers and sometimes, tons are left over and too sinful to throw away. So, the Japanese crew would make them into riceballs and offer them as snacks.


The first time I worked with bittergourd! It was a proud moment for me. I was craving this vegetable so much so I googled recipes with it and found this pinoy recipe called Girisang Ampalaya. Okinawan recipe has something similar called Goya Chanpuru; basically mixed bittergourd stirfry. You can add any vegetables into the dish. Very versatile recipe. After cooking it several more times, I found out that ginger and bittergourd go very well together! I also love how good for health bittergourd is.


The second time I made congee.....the first time was when Loverboy fell ill and made me excited hahaha. I used only a cup of rice and 6 cups of water but it's still so thick! Maybe Japanese rice works different. I boiled dried scallops first (mainly to clean them) before I added them into the congee. Again, bittergourd as a side-dish. Yum yum. I read bittergourd can be eaten raw but I am not sure where these were before I bought them (this, being Indonesia) so I prefer to cook them. Loverboy thought this was one of the best meals this year so far. *beams with joy*


My first attempt at onion rings. It was quite alot of work coating them with flour and then egg and then breadcrumbs. But it was all worthed it. Loverboy loved them. I thought he would reject eating them because he hates oily stuff but he enjoyed them. Yay!


Baked sweet potato wedges. I got this recipe from an Indian site haha. Yes, the internet is amazing. This was so good and so easy. I only cut them into semi-thick strips, rubbed them with olive oil and added some salt n red pepper. 15 minutes in the oven and voila!

More updates next time. In any case, I always have bell peppers, arugula, tomatoes, ground beef and eggs in my fridge. Garlic and onions (red and yellow) are also frequently stocked so last minute meals are usually not a problem. Dang, I feel so cool! Hahaha.

I think I am ready for a party!!!