life is a journey...expect the unexpected !!! ;)

...

Ya Allah...
...yang menguasai hati semua manusia...
...yang maha berkehendak...
...yang menjadikan ada dari tiada...
...yang memungkinkan yang tidak mungkin...
...yang maha tau mana yang terbaik buat umat-Nya...

...saya pasrah sekarang...

*lieuuurrrr, dari 2 minggu lalu*

nnnyyyaaaammmm....

lagi 'ngidam' nih...'chocolate thunder from down under' nya OUTBACK...
kapan ya terakhir makannya? hmmmm....bulan puasa kemaren kayaknya sempet buka puasa di sana deh...

udah pernah nyobain belom...?

liat gambarnya...
yummmyyy sekali bukankah...?  Kalau belom nyobain, HARUS NYOBAIN !!! Especially you crazy chocoholics out there !!! This dessert is for us ! hehehe...Pokoknya gak rugi deh, worth the price...Awas aja ya kalo ada yang berani nanya 'kalorinya itu berapa ya Dek...?' *$*@*$&** !!!

Mari kita bahas satu persatu lapis demi lapis...biar makin ngiler...sluuurrrpppp...
dari bagian bawahnya dulu ya...
lapisan terbawah adalah hot pecan brownies...which is so deliciouuuussss...Panas-panas gitu, lembut di mulut (ndak keras yang jadi susah digigit maksudnya), dengan taburan pecan (a kind of nut, from the walnut family, with an olive-shaped and thin, smooth shell) yang kaya...pokoknya  hmmmm...

Lapisan kedua adalah ice cream vanilla...sebenernya rasanya rada standard, hampir sama aja dengan rasa ice cream vanilla di tempat-tempat lain, tapi digabung dengan hot brownies yang enak bangeut tadi, rasanya jadi DASHYAT !!!

Lapisan ketiga adalah whipped cream, yang rasanya kalo dimakan gitu aja, ya sama aja dengan whipped cream-whipped cream lain...

Ketiga lapisan itu terus diguyur dengan hot homemade chocolate sauce, which is... *speechless*  dan ditaburi chocolate shavings...

Pokoknya siapa pun yang menemukan resep ini, I BOW TO YOU, MISTER !!! hehehe
Gue pernah nyobain dessert serupa di Scoops, tapi mengecewakan...browniesnya keras dan biasa aja, udah gitu ice creamnya emang standard, whipped cream biasa, jadinya ya gitu deh...Tapi kalo ada yang tau ada yang lebih enak, yang gue belom tau, kasih tau ya... ;)

the power of my niece...

This posting is about Sekar, my lovely niece.  She was born in Jakarta, August 30, 2000.  Used to be my one and only niece, before she has a little sister, Rara, last August (yeah...august again...another LEO in my life ;)).  Sekar loves swimming, so sometimes I take her to the swimming pool in my housing complex.  Usually if she wants to swim on Sunday morning, she and her parents will sleep in our home in Depok on Saturday night.  One fine saturday, the family came.  I asked Cika (my oldest sister, sekar's mom), whether sekar wants to go swimming or not tomorrow (sunday), cause if she wants, I won't make any appointment with my friends, and just accompany her swimming instead.  Cika said sekar won't swim tomorrow, cause they need to go back to their home (in Tanjung Duren) early morning.  Cause Cika said so, I made an appointment with my friends to go out....

Then on sunday morning, sekar woke up (as usual she wakes up earlier than me ;p), preparing all her swimming equipment and woke me up to go swimming with her :(  confused, I was a bit upset with cika, and I told cika that I already have an appointment with my friends, cause I thought sekar doesnt want to go swimming that day.  Cika said that's ok, sekar can go by herself, or with her nanny.  I didn't say anything to Sekar, but maybe she overheard what we discussed.  She went to the backyard where my youngest brother was sleeping on the bench, and asked, with her sweet innocent voice, "Om Ari, are you busy today?  Do you want to take me to swimming pool?  Cause Tante Dedek wants to go with her friends...".  Really, I felt really really bad :(
Without second thought, I cancelled my appointment, and went with her to swimming pool.

Gossshhh, the power of my niece...
She is the only one who can wake me up early in the morning without me grumbling...
She is the only one who can make me cancel my appointment just cause I wanna be with her...
She is the only one who can make me spend my weekend accompanying her watching operet Bobo (untung ada Toranya hehehe ;p)

The bottom line is

I LOVE YOU, KIDDO !!!

6 days after Eid...

...
still gaining 3 kgs extra (now I am cheeks everywhere ;p)
still lazy to be back to work after one-week leave (kerjaan sih banyak :()
still bored with rendang
still have to do the houseworks cause my maids are still 'mudik'
...
but in the inside, am I still the old 'me'?
Eid is supposed to be a holy day, where we go back to our 'fitrah'...
Eid is supposed to be a victory day, after one month fasting, struggling to control ourselves from all our evil habits.

Now, after Eid, are we going back to our evil habits? 
Cause I think I am :(

For all,
Minal Aidin Wal Faidzin ya...
Maaf kalau saya banyak salah...
Semoga Lebaran kali ini benar-benar jadi hari kemenangan buat kita semua...amien...