Jamu

Rey Lasano 9:58:00 PM
Musim panas, kupu-kupu hinggap di jendelamu.
Bingung, dia menatapmu yang sedang meramu.
Meramu apa? Jamu, katamu.
Yang akan kau kirimkan padaku saat nanti dingin menyerbu.
Mungkin jahe, usul kupu-kupu.
Lebih hangat dan harum untuk hatiku yang mulai membeku.
Ah, tidak juga, tukasmu.
Dalam jamu sudah kutuang seribu bubuk cintaku.
Masa begitu, ragu si kupu-kupu.
Hati-hati kawan, jamunya jadi batu.
Karena terlalu lama, terlalu lama jua kau ramu.
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Keretanya Lama

Rey Lasano 9:51:00 PM
Keretanya lama!
Lama itu apa?
Pemimpin Buddha di Tibet sana.
Bukan, bukan, itu Dalai Lama.
Memang Dalai Lama itu siapa?
Pemimpin Buddha di Tibet sana.
Kau ini sebenarnya berpikir apa?
Tidak, hanya tentang kereta dan manusia. Sama-sama tertahan di dunia nyata.
Nyata itu, cinta, ya?
Bukan, bukan, cinta itu mitos saja.
Ah, mungkin kamu lupa!
Apanya yang terlupa?
Lupa kalau keretanya lama.


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Move On, then Do One Good Deed a Day, then Be Happy

Rey Lasano 9:35:00 AM


First of all, Happy New Year, people!! I hope your new year was reflective and fabulous in the same time and your first week of 2013 have many wonderful surprises for you!

 So I had a MARVELOUS new year. Most of it accounted on my uncles who brought the whole fireworks you can get in the world to my house.
okay. Exaggerating. But it is true to some point! I think they kind of modify my house to a fireworks station or something. Not that I mind, I love fireworks!! :D
Then... we had corns and salmons and sausages and chicken satay so..... we had our first barbecue ever as a big family! YAY for those salmonsss!!! Slurrrrp. :9 :9

 It was really fun having everyone around. I was in Japan last year, so 2013 was actually the first new year I was home without Dad there. I must say it was.... a mixture of emotions I am not sure I know how to name them. Sensing a little sadness, but also peaceful. It felt a bit lonely, but it was warm. I just thanked God so much that my family was still gather around in new year, and still choosing my house to do it, so it didn't feel like too much different. My brother was not here though, and that makes it 2 years in a row of celebrating Christmas and new year without him *sigh*.

 Ever since I knew what new year was, it was the equality to family time, even when I am all grown up and have, um, had, boyfriend, new year is still family time. So I would most likely to be found chit-chatting around my family in new year and go out celebrate it with friends on January 2nd, er, 3rd, perhaps. So it was disappointing that my brother could not make it here but I know he's out there for a greater good so I won't complain.

 My family and I prayed and sang together around 30min before 12am, and usually we finished it right on 12am so everyone will literally start screaming "happy new yeaaaar!!" and hugging everyone
*big time rush. there were little, tiny, small people aged 3-5 around. Need to keep an eye not to stumble upon them*
so.... we did. and my uncles and my cousins were just had fun with those amazing fireworks and then i looked at the clock in the kitchen and realized that...... it wasn't 12am yet. it wasn't new year yet. technically it was 10 minutes away before midnight.
so i laughed hard and tell everyone the fact that it was still December 31st and for a brief second everyone stopped and stare at me and my uncle asked:

 Uncle1: It's not new year yet?
Me: not yet
Uncle1, Uncle2, Uncle3 and all cousins: WHATT!??
Aunties & my mom: Get over it boys. you spent half of your fireworks stock and it's not even midnight yet.
Uncles and all cousins: NOOOOO.

 hahahaha.
But well, everyone was real happy and they looked like they didn't care it was not new year yet and continue with their "toys" for the next half an hour so i guess we were okay and the fireworks was really cool, it was one of the best i've ever seen in my life (probably because everyone was there) so i could say that i closed the year of 2012 around my family once again and it was really amazing and i would not trade it with any other new year's fun the world can ever offer me with.

 so then, the resolution of 2013!!
I think that this year, I realized that my resolutions are actually made of one or two broad concepts, and that the rest of it... they're actually set of lists of things I want to do. It's kind of different with last year resolution. I guess to look at it, it's actually pretty simple. This year, I would want to move on from things I haven't yet and should have done from long ago. Now, most people probably would attribute it with moving on from brokenhearted in a romantic way, and yes I admit that it's one of them. But moving on also have this broader meanings of... taking steps, sometimes maybe painful to let go of things i couldn't have anymore. And to believe that the best is yet to come, in almost all aspects of one's life. Moving on from mourning of the lost of loved ones, moving on from old love, things like that.

 So, moving on. That's one issue. Next, I would like to do one good deed a day. So far, it's been amazing. When I am committed to bring something good to other people, to nature, to everything around me, somehow in the end of the day I could always reflect to it. That no matter how hard my day was, there is this tiny piece of goodness I've done today, and it could make a big difference in my perspective of how hard my day really was.
So that one is highly recommended. I actually got inspired by her:

Zashiki Warashi
image courtesy of animevice

 everybody, meet Zashiki Warashi. She is from Japan, and she is a ghost.
Yep, you read it right. This cute little girl is a ghost. Her name has the meaning of "child" and "room" in it. So basically her name means "child in the room". It was said that she is "child-like" in nature. She loves to play, sometimes get too excited and do all the mischief little children used to do.
the good thing is, this ghost is a sort of.. nice being. She brings joy and luck to people whose house she's haunting. It's been said that all her life both as a human (she was a little kid who died because of unknown sickness) and as a ghost, she always do good things, always strive for making people around her happy. Because of her child-like nature, it is also said that she is visibly seen by little kids who are still innocent. Although on many cases kids don't report of her presence because they did not realize she was a ghost (her appearance suggested that she was a child also so probably those kids thought that she was a friend of theirs)
I don't know if she really does exist. But the legend of her being nice to everybody, always do a good deed everyday and wants everybody around her feel happy kind of inspired me to do my second resolution this year. Well, that, and the fact that the world does need some goodness in it.

 That would conclude the post of new year resolution! I'll see you around.
Be nice today, everyone :P

 cheers,
Rey


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Christmas Miracle: At Your Service

Rey Lasano 12:06:00 AM
Dear you, who's reading this at the moment,

 Last Saturday, I happened to went to a shopping centre in Jakarta with my family to do some late Christmas shopping. We had some fun times and finally, tired and hungry, we went to the nearest food court for some lunch.
I quickly ordered my lunch, meatballs soup with rice and I saw the others were ordering their food in another stall. It was a Chinese food stall, and surprisingly everyone but me ordered their lunch at that stall.

 I remember, I went back to our seat and my mum whispered,
"the guy who took our order, I think he has some mental disability."
I also remember, I responded with, "Really?"

 This guy then came back to our seat and he confirmed all the orders once again. When I saw him, I realized that he was somewhat "different", but then, been learning Psychology for this past 4 years, I kind of used to...prevent myself from labeling anyone anything. So, noticing that he probably does have some mental disability, I ate my meatballs in silence.

 Then it happened.

 There were 5 of us and we used an extra chair just to put all the shopping bags. This guy saw that and he reacted by pulling another table so we have some good extra space. My mum and auntie tried to tell this guy that it was unnecessary to do that.
He did it anyway, stating it would be tiring to eat your lunch where you have no space to move.
Then my family start laughing, I stared at them, I wasnt quite sure what they were laughing about, then it turned out they were laughing at him.
I guess they laughed because he was so "weird", his speech was strange, he could not maintain eye contact, his pronunciation of words were unclear, and his body language.. it's stiff. Put those altogether inside one person and you probably understand why my family was laughing at him. They laughed even harder when this guy left.

 I said, "He is a good kid, a very descent waiter, and he shows sincerity in working to serve his guests. Yes he is not perfect, why are you laughing at him?"
I was angry, naturally.
But my family did not stop laughing, naturally.

 Somehow I understand. I learned the science of human mind and behavior, I know how society will act when they are faced with this kind of situation. I know that there is this certain stereotype about people with mental disability, or mental disorders and I know, that they looked funny in the eyes of others who perceive themselves as "normal".
On the other hand, understanding why they think like that doesnt make what they did is right.

 I think this guy noticed that my auntie was wearing a cross necklace and he made an assumption that we were Christian, which is right, and he asked, "What is your Church? I go to *church name*"
Then the atmosphere changed so quickly. Everyone started to look like they're not comfortable with his presence. Suddenly they looked like they wanted to say "just..shoo. go away."

 I started to -cant help it- preach on everybody about how rude they were.
I said, "he was working really hard. He tried to be friendly. What is wrong with you??"

 Long and long after that, the guy came back and he gave us the bill (sometimes they do it here -- giving the bill first).
take a wild guess on what he wrote.
On top of the bill he wrote,

 "Merry Christmas 20012 and Happy New Year 20013"

 then, on the bottom part, he signed it,

 "May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you, Amen,
-Samuel"

 He blessed the people who could not stop laughing at him in the name of Jesus Christ.
He misspelled the 2012 and 2013, indicate that he probably didnt finish school. His writings looked like my little brother's writings when he was 5 or 6.

 But on top of that, I thought he, of all people, is one of the most sincere person I've ever met. I thought it was a really sincere Christmas and New Year greetings.
He, more than most Christians I've met and known, show the image of his God clearer. Simply. Beautifully.

 Then, this is part where it became even more.... wicked. As soon as I finished reading his writings, I heard a song, a gospel song I cant remember its title and I lifted my head, searching who was singing that. No one was singing, there was no music and... no one heard what i heard.
I would not force anyone to believe that what I experienced was real, because i have a hard time on believing it was real either.

 But then there is this... peaceful feeling, more peaceful that anything I've ever felt and it spread some mysterious warmth in my heart and it was very beautiful, very peaceful I'm so at loss for words. It was just unexplainable.

 I showed everyone else what Samuel has written in our bill and they got so quiet, but then their attitude was so much better toward Samuel after that, for which I'm so really grateful.

 I dont know if Samuel really does know Jesus, I dont know whether he is really a Christian or not, I dont know if he really went to church, I dont know any of that. But I do know I've been blessed by God through him that day.

 See, I've been facing some major problems in my life. Mostly involving friends who lied to me over and over again, and that I felt so lost, I did not remember why I chose to learn Psychology from the very beginning. That, would be because recently, my fellow student, a friend, committed suicide and I still thought that we, his friends should've been able to do something before he did that.

 Those things made me completely in doubt, whether I am walking in the right direction or not. That my place was truly here at the university studying Psychology and somehow stuck with all the theories in my head but have no use at all to help a friend.

 But through the meeting with Samuel today, I felt like God was talking to me.
It is for people like Samuel, it's worth it to study Psychology.
It is because there are still so many people like my family, laughing endlessly while Samuel trying to serve his best, that I am obliged to study Psychology.
It is because it's worth it to learn how to help people like Samuel to have an equal quality of life, or at least to ensure they are given the chance to have a decent life.
To become the extension of God's arms, to serve the Lord through those kind of things. 

 It feels like God open my eyes that He has plans, and He is always right, including my placement here, at this particular university studying this particular major.
I told a priest at my church about this and he said, that Jesus revealed Himself in so many forms we often do not realize it.

 He is the wind blowing your hair softly after the rain.
He is the hummingbird wakes you up in the morning.
He is the stars that you happened to see at the black night sky.
He is the snow outside of your window.

 I think, God has just visited me through Samuel that day.
I think, I have been blessed.
And I think, I am responsible to share that blessing. So I'm writing this hoping whoever you are sitting there and reading this, will be able to feel the Peace, and that you too, will be blessed by the story. and look around, there are other Samuels around you.

 This is my Christmas miracle. And it is the most wonderful Christmas present ever.
I hope you too, will find your little Christmas miracle. Because then again, Christmas miracles are applicable and accessible all-year round, it's the best offering ever made for us, the human race.

 So, be blessed.
Christmas miracle is ready, at your service. You just have to look.

 With prayers,
-Rey 

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on your journey home, i hope it would be in the arms of the angel

Rey Lasano 1:09:00 AM

When your friend committed suicide, you start imagining the pain he had been through. What was it that was so wrong in his life, what was it that push him to the edge... What was it.. That made him believe he had no other way out. That he has nothing, nothing left in life for him worth to fighting for. That death would bring him peace.

"Spend all your time waiting
For that second chance
For a break that would make it okay
There's always some reason
To feel not good enough
And it's hard at the end of the day"

You try to imagine, how hurt he was. How maybe it was not an easy choice, but he could not see any other escape route.
You try to imagine, how tired he was. How many tears he shed in silence, how many times he probably reached out for help, and how desperate he was. How... maybe he wished that things were different.

"I need some distraction, oh beautiful release
memories seep from my veins, let me be empty and weightless,
and maybe.... i'll find some peace tonight"

You start remembering the times you were with him at the uni's corridors. You start remembering how many times you walk passed him, not noticing anything but his usual smile and happy face, ready to put his hands in the back of your neck, just because he knows that will make you yell at him, and hat he could use a good laugh from that.

Then you start wondering where were you. Start wondering if you could've done something. Start wondering if a simple "hi" probably could've done a difference.
You know you haven't seen him around so much. You know that little room seems somewhat unusual because he wasn't there strolling around commenting on how big your garfield face-shaped bag is.

But.

That was not enough to move you to try to text him. Just to say, "hey, where have you been?" Something, anything, that shows him somebody was waiting to see him around, You start wondering, again, if you could've done something. And again you think of that, and again and again and again.
Then you are left with regret, on how selfish you were.

"in the arms of the angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear"

You are sad. You confront him in your heart, why would he forfeit his life when there are people out there struggling to survive.
You are angry. You try to tell him that he was being unwise, and even if it turns out that he skipped all the melancholy things about suicide and embrace his doings of ending his life as a way to a greater good, bigger peace or brighter blaze of glory........ you still angry.

You feel like you don't understand a thing, and that you are disappointed, and somewhere deep inside, you are scared. Scared to admit that this kind of things existed in life. Why, one of the person you know have just done it.
You are scared, because you know now it is real. It is not a mere case studies you read over and over and over again in your textbooks. It is not a mere story from your lecturers, trying to tell you the real picture out there. It is real and it is near.
You know now that people truly could do suicide. You know now that depression is real.

Still, it is amazing to see how people changed their point of view after his departure. How I changed mine. Turns out his death bring people to realization to something important; we, each one of us, are not immune to depression. Sure we will always have reason for not being there for the people we care about, we are busy, we have so many things to take care of, we can always visit him or her later and so on and so on and so on..
But, see, a simple act of accompanying could have done a big difference.

I heard he said this once. "I, forever, will be where it is more peaceful."
Well, that place could be there, at his closest people's heart, right?
Probably, at your heart.

Lost God's masterpiece of a philosopher, and a very fine thinker yesterday. 
See you on the other side, kid. 
May you find some comfort there, that your flight would be in the arms of the angel.

*song lyrics from Angel by Sarah Mclachlan* i personally think that maybe, just maybe, it describes how someone feels before they decided to just.. leave.
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Kitchen's Note: Frittata and Muffin: hell yeah gimme those!

Rey Lasano 10:13:00 PM
I believe that one of awesome's definition is when you have enough time to make healthy Potatoes and Veggie Frittata for grams and gramps, and then bake the famous Nutella Muffin for dessert.
This is, people, is awesome.

I mean, i finally got the free time, which is super rare, and was able to use it with something... um.. productive. Actually, i think it's probably have something more than mere "free time". See, i tend to bake cakes and cook when i feel not good, sad, or angry. I entered the kitchen and shut all the negative emotion and pray that God would turn it into something good.
Thing is, i cook better when i'm angry than when i feel okay.

 Weird. Hahahahaha... :D

 So then, I found the recipe for Frittata here and it turns out to be pretty pleasing. Pleasing your taste bud, i mean. I decided to share it with you guys (and girls. *giggle*) because it is an easy recipe and... delicious. And, it's real healthy. My grandparents have these issues with their health so if i ever want them to eat my cookings without contribute to worsen their health status, i have to cook something healthy and delicious. Since my knowledge of delicious food nearly have no correlation with healthy, i was a bit lost. But after i did some research here and there i found an easy one, and with some serious change, i present the Frittata! Mwahahahahhaa.

Trust me, it's not a toast. Even if it looks like it. xD xD
See, Ms. Ida, whose recipe i borrowed cleverly put the Frittata's ingredients inside a muffin plate so it turns out beautifully. I used a pyrex plate because i though i didnt have any muffin liner............ and realized later that i actuall have it, hidden in mum's cupboard.
xD

 Well, it's still delicious, so here's the recipe if you want to try it out.

Potato and Veggie Frittata


You will need:

- 2 carrots, peel and slice them thin
(dua buah wortel, kupas dan potong tipis-tipis)
- 2 potatoes, peel and cut them in medium dice pieces
(2 buah kentang, kupas dan potong-potong dalam ukuran dadu sedang)
- 1/2 broccoli, cut them small
(1/2 brokoli, potong kecil-kecil)
- 1 onion
(1 buah bawang bombay)
- paprika and tomatoes
(paprika dan tomat)
- pepper and salt
(lada dan garam)
- 3-4 eggs
(3-4 butir telur)
- 100ml milk, or you can substitute it with fresh cream
(100 ml susu, atau bisa diganti dengan fresh cream)
- some oil
(minyak)
- parmesan cheese and quick-melt type of cheese
(keju parmesan dan keju yang tipenya quick-melt)

How to:
1. Boil the broccoli with salted boiling water. Dont do it too long, or it will be too soft.
Boil the potatoes with salted water too, just until they are soft enough.
(Rebus brokoli dengan air mendidih yang sudah diberi garam. Jangan terlalu lama supaya brokolinya tidak terlalu lembek
Rebus kentang dengan air garam juga, sampai mereka lunak.)

2. Sauté onion (you'll know you have sautéed it by the super nice smell), add the carrots and season with salt and pepper.
(Tumis bawang bombay hingga harum, masukkan wortel lalu beri garam dan lada. Aduk rata.)

3. In another bowl, beat egg together with milk (that will result in super fluffy and super delicious egg, highly reccomended when you're making omelets!!), add salt and pepper. You can also add powdered paprika if you like. Mix well.
(Dalam mangkuk lainnya, campur telur dan susu (ini akan membuat tekstur telur nya sangat fluffy dan jadi lebih enak! Super super direkomendasikan kalau kalian membuat omelet! yum.), tambahkan garam dan lada. Kalau suka, bisa tambahkan paprika bubuk. Aduk rata.

4. If you have muffin liner, use it! Hahahaha.. If not, you can use pyrex plate. Arrange the veggies and the potatoes, then pour in the egg mixture. You can garnish the top with tomatoes and fresh paprika, then finish it with quick-melt cheese.
(Kalau punya cetakan muffin, pakailah benda itu, saudara-saudari! Hahahaha.. kalo nggak punya, pkai pyrex aja. Oke, susun sayuran dan kentang di wadah yang digunakan, lalu sirami dengan campuran telur tadi. Lalu kalian bisa menghias atasnya dengan tomat dan paprika segar, lalu selesaikan dengan taburan keju quick-melt).

5. Bake in the oven until the egg mixture and the potatoes are well cooked. It should take you less than 1 hour. Halfway of the cooking open up the oven and garnish the top of the Frittata with parmesan cheese.
(Panggang ddlam oven sampai campuran telur dan juga kentangnya matang. Seharusnya waktu memanggang tidak lebih dari satu jam. Kalau sudah hampir matang, buka oven dan kamu bisa menaburi keju parmesan di atas Frittata.)

That's all! Your fresh, healthy Potatoe and Veggie Frittata is ready to be served. :)

Yaay for the Frittata!! As I said before, i didnt realize that me, (or my mum), actually have the muffin plate. I thought i would feel better than stupid if i use the muffin liner to cook something light, easy and delicious.
after (again) searching the internet here and there, finally found the recipe i would want  to try!! Papaararaaaaa............

 *drum rolls*
the NUTELLA MUFFIN!!!!
*clap hands*

 Muffin. Nutella. I dont have anything more to say, so here's the recipe! I took it from here, with a little modification (added the chocochips, just cant get enough of chocolate. im a choco junkie, i clearly am. *proud face*)

NUTELLA MUFFIN


 You will need:

 140 gr butter, at temperature room
(140 gr butter, pada suhu ruang)
1/2 cup white sugar (100 gr)
(1.2 cup gula pasir) (100 gr)
3 eggs
(3 butir telur)
1/2 tsp powdered vanilla
(1.2 sdt vanilla bubuk)
1 1/2 cup flour (192 gr)
(1 1/2 cup tepung) (192 gr)
1/4 tsp salt
(1/4 sdt garam)
2 tsp baking powder
(2 sdt baking powder)
Nutella

 How-to:

 1. Pre heat oven (170 C)
(Panaskan oven pada suhu 170C)

 2. Prepare the muffin liner and the muffin paper, will do with 9 or 12 type of liner
(Siapkan loyang muffin dan kertasnya, loyang berisi 9 atau 12 akan sangat cukup)

 3. Mix butter and sugar for aproximately 2 min, add eggs one by one and keep mixing untill they're blended well, then add the vanilla powder. At this point, dont worry if your batter doesnt look smooth enough.
(kocok butter dan gula selama kurang lebih 2 menit, masukkan telur satu per satu dan kocok hingga tercampur rata, lalu masukkan vanilla. Jangan terlalu khawatir bila adonan nya tampak tidak halus)

 4. Stir in the flour, salt and baking powder until the batter is uniform and, this is important, until there are no flour remains.
(Masukkan tepung, garam dan baking powder, lalu kocok hingga semuanya tercampur rata dan, bagian yang paling penting, pastikan tidak ada butiran tepung yang masih kasar tersisa)

 5. Turn off the mixer then add your choco chips, mix with a large spoon, like a wooden spoon.
(Matikan mixer dan masukkan choco chips, lalu aduk dengan sendok besar atau sendok kayu)

 6. Fill the muffin liner until 3/4 full, then top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp Nutella.
(Isi muffin paper yang sudah diletakkan dalam muffin liner hingga 3/4 penuh, lalu tambahkan 1 1/2 sdt Nutella)

 7. This is the FUN part. Swirl the Nutella with a toothpick, make sure you fold a bit the batter up over the Nutella. Garnish them with some more choco chips.
(Ini bagian yang paling SERU. Dengan sebuah tusuk gigi  aduk Nutella perlahan dengan gerakan "swirl", pastikan kalian "melipat" sedikit adonan ke atas Nutella. Hiasi lagi bagian atasnya dengan chocochips)

 8. Bake for 20 min, or until they're cooked.
(Panggang selama 20 menit, atau hingga muffin matang)

 9. Allow to cool completely, and there you go, your very own Nutella Muffin..!!
(Biarkan muffin dingin, dan Nutella Muffin mu sudah siap!!)

 Okaaay, so that will cover he Frittata and the Muffin's recipe. If you're not sure how many grams there is in a cup and vice versa, go to this site, they have a quick and complete conversion, very handy when you came across recipes with various measurement. 

 p.s. They got even more delicious when you share and eat them with people you love. And the feeling after you see them smile after tasting your cookings, it's an incredibly joyful feeling! So go ahead and try the recipes, then share them.

 I'll see you all around. :D
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