Amuz--ing splurge!

We used Memere as the great excuse to go out for a great dinner mid-week.  We had been hearing about Amuz for awhile.  French chef, French food.  See http://amuzgourmet.com/.  We had a GREAT meal.  And Zeric chose an awesome wine..

Zeric's 'boobs and wine' shot



yum on a fancy potato chip



cauli gratin and onion ring



scallop carpaccio



seared scallops



satiated, happy girls :)



Let us know when to make reservations for when you visit!

Taman Anggrek

With Zeric and Memere (and kids) in tow this time, I headed back to the orchid garden in Jakarta.  I hadn't bought anything the first time I was there because I knew better; I knew I should wait for the crazy-about-plants people in my life.  So there we were, and it wasn't too hot or too crowded. Hooray!

I spent most of my time taking pictures of the flowers' beautiful faces!

as big as Zeric's hand, and smelled lovely!

orchid babies!

Mem and Zeric debating orchid purchases, we ended up with one each.. we have all colors and kinds!



Mem's Papuan orchid



The ladyslippers!

Hanging with friends!

Jaffa, Eben and Malvy.. lucky boy!!

Jaf and Malv on the floor of a fancy building downtown.. tired of waiting for grown-ups!

Girls gossiping on the stairs: Lou, Jaffa and Malvy

"What's that stuff??"

At the invitation of our friends Lou and Kutty (and their super cute daughter Malvy, who happens to be one of Jaffa and Eben's best friends), we went to a fantastic sushi restaurant for dinner a few weeks ago.  The restaurant flies in its fish from Japan every day.  Wow.  When we walked in, we were some of the very few non-Japanese people there.  We ordered a big plate of sashimi, and then another.  Zeric and I are psyched that Jaffa and Eben like sushi as much as we do.   

Memere was dubious.  At the outset, she ordered tempura.. and when the sake came, she asked, "What's that stuff??"   That was the beginning of the end of Memere's non-sushi-eating days.  First, Kutty fed her the sea urchin.  And she REALLY liked it.. and then it spiraled from there.. she ended up trying and re-trying and very much enjoying everything on the sashimi plate!

And then came the sake... she liked that quite a bit too.  Apparently enough to drink it with a straw!

Go Mem!! Eat sushi!!

G&S redux

Geckie and Sophia visited again.. and we really enjoyed hosting them.  They are:

- easy, no walks necessary

- easy, they come with a jar of crickets that is their meals for the whole weekend

- entertaining, they swallow their food whole and eat their own skin

- entertaining, they look back at you and lick their lips when you talk to them.. wonder what that means?



well fed at the Breslar-Smiths!



catching some shut-eye

We got lucky and have them again this weekend! 

We are waiting for some eggs and babies so they we can adopt one or two and have our very own lizards.  I'm sure Theda and O will be thrilled to have more...er, siblings. 

What to do with ripe guavas?

In spite of the fact that cream cheese is not the most readily available ingredient here, when the guavas started to smell up the whole kitchen and attract fruit flies, we decided that cheesecase was the only logical way to get rid of them.  So we boiled them down and strained and strained and strained.. and swirled them in.. and yum!  Breakfast for a week :)

"Charm Offensive" [ahem]

The week before last, things almost got ugly all over Indonesia as the government was threatening to remove the subsidy on gasoline.  There were very large demonstrations in the center of Jakarta, and the police response was immediate.  They tried some pretty creative techniques to keep things non-violent (see below).  Of course, the women's libbers aren't all too impressed...

The Jakarta Post, Surabaya | Thu, 03/29/2012 7:23 PM

Charm offensive: Women police officers dance to diffuse the tension at a fuel price hike rally in Surabaya, East Java, on Thursday. The police later fired tear gas into the crowd to disperse the rally.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/03/29/charm-offensive.html