Welcoming my baby niece Elin Sidarto

Elin Sidarto

Born 12/12/2011 at 7:33PM

Weight 3.015 kg

Height 48 cm

I love you Elin!

Hugs & Kisses from Ai Kathy & Iliao Richard

Canada Trip - December 2010

We went to Canada last December with other loving couple Ci Irene and Ko Herman... and we had a lot of fun...ate a lot of good food... which I gained gazillions of lbs.... The photos below were taken by Ko Herman hehehehehe...

The gondola at Whistler... It was snowing hard that day.. And it was on Christmas day.. a white Christmas!

totem poles at Stanley Park

Parliament Buildings at Victoria

Saw this beautiful scenery and made a brief car stop..Taken otw from Whister to Vancouver

1 Year Wedding Anniversary

Hahahaha.... I know now is in April, my wedding anniversary was last December.. but anyway, I just want to treasure this moment that we had last December. We celebrated our anniversary at Plumed Horse at Los Gatos. We chose the tasting menu, it's super pricey, but we only did it once in a while. I love both souffles (black pepper & parmesan and the chocolate souffle). But thinking of it, I think next time I would very much prefer weekend getaways rather than fine dining for anniversaries. Cheers to the happy couple :)

After the 3 hours dinner: full & happy

I Survived My first week @ work

Hahahahaha... Thank God! I had 3 days orientation in San Francisco with the rest of the new hires, which started at 8AM!! That means I needed to wake up VERY early, drive to Fremont and catch Bart at 6:50. I didn't want to drive to SF, even though Deloitte will reimburse parking & mileage, because I know it will be stressful to drive up there, plus the traffic. So waking up at 5:45 is quite a burden.. Then, I arrived back home at 7PM.. So tired & exhausted! And there are gazillions of training! I'm kind of missing my good old times where I woke up really late, enjoying myself, having plenty time to bake & cook, watch movies, do groceries, well..you name it.. Now, after work, I desperately need to eat & sleep. It's definitely a different experience from corporate life (i.e. SanDisk).. But I guess I can't complain.. It's a Big Four life!

It's a Bitter Sweet Vacation

Last April or May (I forgot), after confirming that my sister and her hubby are moving to Singapore for good in July/August, we decided to go back to Indo for summer vacation.. I feel that it's time to get together with my family since after wedding, I went straight to Japan for our honeymoon.. so it's the perfect timing.. and Denny too is having his summer break. So all of us can be together for a while.. Plus, I get bored of staying at home doing nothing for several months already. This is because I've finished all classes in February but my job will only start in October..

The vacation is bittersweet because I'm happy to reconnect with my whole family, but I'm sad that one additional family member is leaving me to a different continent.. It does make a difference! Anyway, I transitted Singapore for 18 hours and stayed at its newest hotel: Marina Bay Sands. It has a cool architecture & infinity pool in the skypark. The hotel also has casino, but the weird thing is: foreigners can enter casino for free, but Singaporean needs to pay S$100 to go in. Haha.. weird right? Poor singaporean.. We managed to swim & take picture at the infinity pool.. Yes, it looks cool huh..

From infinity pool of Marina Bay Sands

While the rest had breakfast at the hotel, Richard, me & Lily ate chicken rice for breakfast

Given the short period of time of transit, we were able to EAT a lot, SHOP a lot, WALK a lot.. Lucky me.. I still have another 1 week in Singapore to explore in the month after.. Next is Jakarta & Carita trip ^^

Farewell Monkey & Hippo.. till we meet again!

My dear sister ceki & her hubby are leaving to Singapore for good last July.. hiks hiks.. I am so sad.. she has been a dear sister & friend to me.. We have lived together the longest among other family members.. from Jakarta, Singapore and USA.. maybe a few months of separation because of holidays and Beijing's study.. but.. this will be the longest time we'll be separated.. So I'm so sad.. I'll miss her.. So with this, my bible study group organized a farewell trip to Bodega bay in June.. it was so fun & memorable.. we had a great fellowship, good foods, but most importantly, she and her hubby love the surprise farewell trip & bodega bay a lot.. and US of course.. haha.. We also made a Hippo & Monkey T-shirt as a farewell favor for everyone.. It was so cute when we walked around downtown Petaluma and people started noticing us.. and even asked us about the T-shirt.. Btw, monkey = evan, hippo = vicky.. they called each other hippo and monkey.. that was why we got the idea.. And of course.. farewell won't be complete without a farewell video... It's a funny & crazy video.. but we enjoyed making it.. hahaha.. Too bad I cannot upload the video here because we are so shy to show it to public :P

Monkey & Hippo

The peak of the night = hawaiian luau theme

Great decor as always by ci irene... when we (sisters) met.. we do crazy things..

Lovely siblings

I know you'll miss us :)

All photos are courtesy of Mr. Herman Yudi

2010 Graduation

I am so glad that my academic years have finally ended.. no more homework, project, exams.. unless.. i take Phd hohohoho... i am very proud of my accomplishment.. graduated with Masters in Taxation.. i was so scared when I first decided to take this program.. well becoz it's tax.. who really likes tax? it's hard & a lot of readings.. tax laws are frequently changing.. tax codes are hard to read ><> but by God's grace, I am now done with school!! Thank you God.. Thank you to dear parents, loving hubby, lovely sisters and brothers and friends who have supported me.. See you soon real world taxation!! :)

H1-B is approved!

This is long overdue because I've been too lazy to write one hehehehe.. Anyway, previously mentioned here, I am so grateful that finally I got my H1-B.. After praying for an H1B since 2007, at last God answered my prayer. Even though this year's applicants is way lesser than in 2007 or 2008, no matter what, His timing is always perfect. And God graciously give it to me this year. I will work for Deloitte starting on October 4, 2010. But before that, I'll be vacationing to Indonesia & Singapore for 1.5 months. What a life :P

Homemade Roti Boy

My friend introduced me to this kind of bread a while ago in Beijing. Well, the brand name is not roti boy in Beijing, but the shape, texture and taste is very similar to Indonesian Roti Boy's according to them. So curiously, I tried it, and I instantly fell in love with this bread. But, my friend said that Roti Boy is better than that. Of course, once I stepped my feet in Jakarta, I immediately asked for a taste of Roti Boy. And it's true! The taste is so awesome.. the fluffiness, the cute round shape, the coffee & butter taste, it blended so well..

Too bad there's no Roti Boy in the US.. until one day Yossi made it and posted the picture and the recipe on her blog. One sunny day, I decided to give it a try. It took a long time though since the dough needs to proof several times for a couple of hours. But the result is definitely worth it! My roti boy is not as chocolate in color because I didn't use any mocha/coffee/chocolate paste.. but still.. the taste and texture are satisfying :)


As soon as the bread came out fresh from the oven, Richard just get home. So he's so lucky to try freshly-baked roti boy....Yes, he liked it so much!! Yayy!! The butter melted right in your mouth, the coffee aroma.. yum yum!! The recipe yielded approximately 15 buns. There was no way we could finish it both (according to me & to reduce weight). So I asked richard whether I can give some of it to family & friends. He agreed right way.. I thought if he liked it so much, why doesn't he mind to give most of it to others? Confused for a while.. and asked him again.. "kok tumben boleh kasih orang2 padahal kamu suka banget sama rotinya?" then he said back: "Loh, i thought you are going to make it again tomorrow.." Hahahahahhahaa..

Katsu Don

Katsu Don has been one of my favorite Japanese dishes. It turns out that making it is not so hard and really good.

Ingredients for the tonkatsu:
5-6 pieces skinless & boneless porkchops
flour
2 eggs, beaten
panko bread crumbs
salt, pepper and meat tenderizer (optional)

Method:
Sprinkle salt, pepper and meat tenderizer on the porkchop
Put flour and tap the excess flour
Dip it into the egg
Put the panko onto the pork, and pat them well
Put it into the oven 425 F for 8-10 minutes each side
Once done, sliced each tonkatsu about 1-1.5 cm wide.

Tonkatsu, fresh from the oven

Ingredients for the katsu don:

1 sachet Dashi No Moto powdered soup stock, mix with 1 1/2 cup of water

4 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs mirin
1 tbs sugar
1/2 onion
3 eggs, lightly beaten

Method:
Put the stock into the pan in medium heat
Add in sugar, soy sauce and mirin

Put the onion and simmer for a few minutesPut in the tonkatsu slices into the pan, simmer for a few minutes on low heat

Pour the eggs over and cover the pan with lid. Simmer for few minutes.Then it's done! Place the pork on top of Japanese rice. Enjoy! :)