Cuisine ; Tteokbokki (떡볶이)

Hello there! Now in this post I'd like to introduce to you a food that my family and I enjoy a lot. It is called tteokbokki (떡볶이; or also known as teokbokki, ddeokbokki, topokki, dukboki or simply tokpoki). It is a street Korean food which has gone worldwide. Tteokbokki is made out of soft rice cake boiled with korean sweet spicy red chili sauce. It tastes so delicious for my family and I that we often buy it so much. It tastes sweet and spicy at the same time and with various variation it has much more distinct taste. There are many variation of tteokbokki apart from the original one, there are cheese tteokbokki, ramen tteokbokki, noodle ttekbokki, and many more. We can also add many more ingredients to the mix to simply enhance the taste. The topping can also be altered to add the delicious taste. we can add vegetables, noddles, eggs, fried treats, fish cakes (reccomended),and so much more.
Tteokbokki originated back there in Korea, it was initially a royal food for the Korean royal family, the Joseon dynasty. But as time goes by globalization happens and this dish turned out to be very popular. Tteokbokki can also be found in medical records: a book called “신뇨찬요 (Shingnyo chanyo)” written by Jeon Sunui, a medical officer in the Joseon dynasty (1460). The purpose of the book was to cure people through food and tteokbokki was part of it. Nowadays we can find this dish in street vendor or high class restaurant.

Here is how you make 2-3 servings of this dish:

Ingredients:

1 pound tteokbokki tteok* (about 24 3-inch long rice cake pieces)

1 sheet of eomuk (fish cake – aka oden)

4 ounces cabbage

1 – 2 scallions

*You can find these types of rice cakes either fresh, refrigerated or frozen, (in order of preference for this dish), at Korean markets.

3 cups anchovy broth (or water)

3 tablespoons Korean red chili pepper paste(gochujang)

1 – 3 teaspoons Korean red chili pepper flakes (gochugaru) – optional for extra heat

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon corn syrup (or 1 more tablespoon sugar)

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)

Make anchovy broth. Cut the fish cake, cabbage, and scallions into about 2-inch long pieces.

Add the anchovy broth (or water) to a large pan. Stir in the sauce ingredients, except the sesame oil and optional sesame seeds. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat, stirring to dissolve the red chili pepper paste (gochujang). 

Add the rice cakes. Boil until the rice cakes become very soft and the sauce is thickened, about 8 – 10 minutes. Stir frequently so the rice cakes don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Add the vegetables and fish cakes. Continue to boil, stirring constantly, for an additional 4 – 6 minutes. Taste the sauce, and adjust the seasoning if needed. Add the sesame oil and optional sesame seeds right before turning the heat off. Serve immediately.  

http://www.koreanbapsang.com/2012/03/tteokbokki-spicy-stir-fried-rice-cakes.html

Holiday of 2014

(Hi! So this is the very first entry I make in this year so I am very excited! Anyway, go on)
So, it’s holiday season again. Already done with the current semester when I was just getting the grip of it. Anyway, this holiday, christmas and new year (there’s gotta be some jolly yippie coming out of me somehow but really, nothing comes up) was spent with my families back in a scorching, hot city named Karawang. The weather was normally hot, believe me, I know since I spent a few years there, but recently the city has become an industrial area, making it even hotter somehow. Maybe because the fact that I got used to the chill weather of Bandung, so really, the scorching weather was utterly unbearable. My mom and my sister  went to Karawang by car in the morning, the journey lasted for 2 hours, more or less. When we got there it was conveniently on 12 o clock so the temperature was practically burning the nape of my neck. We stayed in my aunt’s house during our visit there, so I darted toward the house once we reached the house, seeking sanctuary from the burning heat inside the house. After having a painfully long kiss and greet session, I discovered the fan standing gloriously in the corner, excusing myself I scooted toward it and turned it on, gosh it felt like heaven breeze. So after that we unpacked our luggage and loaded them into the guest room. After that I took a bath because I simply needed one. Then my cousins and I watched a drama which titled in seasons.
The next day, after finishing the drama current season we were watching, my cousins and I wanted to stroll around the neighborhood, so we took the motorcycle and rode around. Well actually, I wasn’t the who was in the driving seat because can’t ride a motorcycle. Knowing this fact, my cousin cracked up and announced that I should learn how to before I leave from there. So after a journey to the nearest convenient store and buying some ice cream and much much chilled beverages required for everyone in the house, my cousin and I had a quick how-to-ride-a-motorcycle session. You might ask, why was it quick? Did I master it quickly? Well sorry to disappoint you, but it was a quick learning session because I fell too many times and cakes in dirt and can barely continue so I called it off. After that we took a bath (separatedly) and continued watching the next season of the drama.
I spent the next day by visiting my relatives in the town. We covered the area quickly and then my cousin from another line of relative (so many relative I lost count) told my cousin and I that there was an expo in the town’s  square. So we decided we should visit the expo. The expo was made to commemorate somekind of an annual event. There was a large group of things there, I bought some lenses for photography. My cousins also bought the same thing, they also got themselves some shirts. After that we did some more sightseeing and got back home.
The next day, my cousin had an appointment to make a driver’s license with our uncle. We woke up early and got ready to go. Why was I coming together? Because she thought I might need to get out of the house and do some more sightseeing, even though the temperature outside was reaching boiling point, huh. To make the said driver’s license we got to the traffic police’s department there and took a queue card. When her number was called she got into the room and did some tests and filled some forms too. After that we were told to wait a few more minutes for the license to come out. We had to wait a solid 3 and a half hours but finally the license was out and her photo came out funny so we had a good laugh at it, well, I did, ha ha.
So the next day was the last day we were in town. My mother, sister and I visited the graveyard of my grandmother. After that we visited the many relatives (once again) to bid goodbye. And then we took off to Bandung.

Amazing Structure : The Great Pyramid of Giza.

Hi! Now in this post I want to share a short story about a building with a great structure, which is The Great Pyramid of Giza.
The Great Pyramid of Giza, also known as the Pyramid of Khufu, according to the king who instructed the construction of the said pyramid.
It is  the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact.
Scientists believe that the pyramid was built as a tomb over a 10 to 20-year period concluding around 2560 BC. Originally, the Great Pyramid was covered by casing stones that formed a smooth outer surface; what is seen today is the underlying core structure. Some of the casing stones that once covered the structure can still be seen around the base.

There are many  theories about the Great Pyramid's construction techniques. But the most accepted construction hypotheses are based on the idea that it was built by moving huge stones from a quarry and dragging and lifting them into place. The Great Pyramid consists of an estimated 2.3 million blocks of limestones, the Great Pyramid of Giza is located on the northern edge of the Giza Plateau, located about 10 miles west of Cairo.

A Journal : Matswapati

So last Saturday on September 27th my school had a festival. The festival was also to celebrate the 204th anniversary of Bandung, so the festival was heavily imbued with Sundanese culture, because obviously Bandung is the capital of West Java. The title of the festival was Matswapati taken from a 'wayang' (somekind of dolls made from leather or wood and played with our hands) with the same name. Like I mentioned before, the festival was heavily imbued with Sundanese-ish culture shown by the decorations and foods available there. The festival took place at Bali St., in Lapangan Bali (Bali Field).
So at 7 in the morning, a parade that circled around Bali St. opened the festival, next there was a speech given by our headmaster, the mayor of Bandung, Ridwan Kamil also came and gave a speech.
Next there was some performances I think, I couldn't remember what was which because I was busy keeping the decorations from falling apart. Moving on, at 12.30 there was a performance by our school's theatre kids, or also known as T'sT. It was hilarious, the performance was about a man who was being promiscuous but then he was discovered and yeah, followed by some more drama afterwards. But nonetheless it was fun watching it.
After that, hours passed by. At 5 pm the show was coming to its climax. The gate to the festival was about to be closed so there were many visitors who came around this time.
After a break, the guest star of the festival, Glen Fredly came along around 6.30 PM. He sang a number of his hit songs such as 'Terserah' and many more. Around 8 PM, I think, the festival was coming to the end, but sadly I couldnt see the closing ceremony because I went home earlier.

An Utterly Unforgettable Experience

So I'm here to tell you something about me, well, my experience to be exact. So last year around July or August my family and I decided to have a trip to Singapore. It's a 3 days and 2 night trip. We departed from Husein airport in the first flight on that day, which was in the dawn and me not being a morning person of course woke up late, which could have jeopardized our whole plan. But thank god I packed well last night so we weren't late despite me waking up late. We arrived at Changi airport on 7 or 8 o'clock I forgot. This is probably something that many people had said about it but I need to say it myself, Changi airport is awesome. Seriously, free wifi, cozy place, library and mart not too far away and awesome beanie chairs? Heaven. But the outside world offers more fantastic and diverse entertainments... So we departed from Changi to our hotel, with the help of a friendly tourist guide. He explained every basic things necessary to survive the next 3 days. Such as the local mosque and the restaurants with no pork near our hotel.

So after checking in and dumping our luggage to the hotel, we planned to explore our surroundings. Here's a fun fact : riding the subway is fun. Well I must sound a bit immature, but I really did enjoy going in and out of the subway, plus it is very convenient. Nevertheless, we reached the Merlion, statue with a fish for the lower body and a lion for its upper body and head. There we did some sightseeing for an hour or two, then we walked around and took more pictures. My sister and I acquired ourselves a map from the vendors around, we found the location of Chinatown there, so we went there, again by subway.  The Chinatown is a busy place that was always buzzing with life, it was so crowded but we managed to trudge our way through. We bought some souvenirs there, I bought myself a watch, it was a vintage and I really liked it. Oh yeah there my sister and I found a store that sells everything about Tintin, we got really excited there, there was this real life size statue of Captain Haddock and we took many photos with it. We spend the remaining day eating and sightseeing through the town, and when we got really exhausted we went back to our hotel.

The next day my uncle had a plan for us, we were going to the universal studio of singapore. We departed from our hotel at 8 or 9 o'clock. We arrived soon and as soon as we reach the venue my sister went mad taking photos. Inside, we were welcomed by a costplay parade, there were Betty Boop, Dora, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Cleopatra etc. Again, my sister went into a frenzy of taking photos again. Going farther, a huge twin roller coaster just literally burst into existence. It was huge, full of loop, and seemed very scary. I rode the ride. It was exhilirating, and refreshing. My sister threw up when we got off the ride, too much for breakfast I guess. After that we passed through more themed areas such as The Madagascar and The Mummies. Oh, there was also a ride at The Mummies area, to get onto this ride we had to go underground through a series of tunnel, it was dark and gloomy so it was a bit scary, but it was exciting though. After riding that the elders and my little sister got exhausted so they got a place in the near restaurant so I circled around more with my sister. There were many street performances and it was awesome. We went back to our hotel when we got exhausted, but we were satisfied and happy.

The next day wasn’t so much fun because we were busy packing and preparing going home, not to mention we got school and homework waiting for us. So we got onto the noon flight and arrived safely in Bandung around 3 o’clock.

Describing a Friend

Hullo there, now in this second post in my blog I’d like to describe a bit of my friend, Yazid.

Well, his full name is Naufal Yazid. And since Naufal is a common name and many people will respond in the same time when I call ‘’Naufal”, I call him Yazid to differentiate him. His was born on August 6^th 1999. And he is a Moslem. His dream is to become an architect.

And one thing that stands out about him is his brain. He is ridiculously s Yeah he likes AKB48 so much he is always watching their performance video whenever we have free period.

mart, like he effortlessly got first rank in class and even at school. And while managing to maintain a perfect score, he is a certified fanboy of AKB48.

He lives at Komplek Permata Kopo Blok A No.60 40227 Sayati. It is a bit far from our school, oh and by the way, we graduated from the same junior high school, 5JHS. So yeah I know a bit about him earlier. He has one older sister, her name is Salma Fauzia. She is a student at Telkom University.

So, here is a photo of him, feast your eyes, thank you for reading, bye!

My Biography

Hi! Welcome to my blog, my name is Muhammad Ramadhan Sulaiman but you can just call me Rama. I go to Bandung's 3 Senior High School. I was born on January 15th 1999. My father is Sundanese and my mother equally has Javanese and Sundanese blood runs through her veins, hence making me confused which race do I actually belong. But since I am currently living in Bandung, capital of beloved West Java, I declare myself as Sundanese. Moving on. I have 2 sisters, one older and one younger. My older sister is 5 years older than me, she is in college, she learns about tourism and hotel. My younger sister is 5 years younger than me, she is in elementary school, she is in 5th grade.
My hobby always changes depending on my curiosity at the time. One time I got interested in knitting so I literally mastered knitting, even though I have never accomplished knit anything afterwards. I also play an instrument, violin. I never really got the chance to get a higher level of formal education for violin more than the basics, so I am not very confident in this particular hobby, ha ha.. Moving on. Oh I actually do have a constant attraction toward reading novels and collecting poetry. I usually read novels when I have nothing to do. I am a bit picky about my books to be honest. And about poetry, I collect them in my phone and sometimes write them down myself. But usually it turns out bad so I rarely write poetry anymore.
My one and only dream is studying overseas. I'd like to picture myself 5 or 10 years later overseas with a good job and happy life. So to achieve that I plan to enlist on a good college and then I will work/study my head off to get a scholarship so I can go oversea. And I really really do hope getting a job that I will enjoy doing it.

Me and cousin

There is really nothing worth writing about me, so #ahem I do have a difficulty in expressing myself in words, and I am currently trying to overcome that, while I continue to struggle to survive high school. That is all from me thank you for reading my rattle.