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I feel like a lone wolf - though I am not, necessarily, lonely.
Seriously!
Another thing is that I have always been a homey person, which likely limiting my time for social life for staying in alone instead of social outing - for staying myself. I love staying at home, doing house chores (despite a messy kinda personality of me!), being 'lazy' all the time, indulging myself in endless me-time (along with good music, great books, homemade delicacies, and, probably, daydreaming). There is no stopping me from spending my time in everywhere I call home.
I always feel secured being at home. Whenever I go out following my wanderlust sentiments, I always feel happy at the most to come home, at last! It is quite an oxymoron thingy as I love lingering indoor at home, yet keen on travelling outdoor to the (almost) unknown world full of breathtaking adventures, like, yeah, YOLO, you really really only live once! So, there is no time and nothing to waste!
Being a loner is sometimes a lonely state of mind. I find it quite miserable to realize that I am literally alone. Not that I badly need to be surrounded by my few friends, but I want to get myself involved in a crowd. Not necessarily nor actively getting along - just being there to soak up the bright of cheered up social atmosphere. Or else, simply following my outdoor mood. Sometimes. Only sometimes.
Most of the time? Feeling like a lone star, and being like one, is never too much that I live for in my life. It is one of the best things happening to me!
When I am all alone doing what I love, two of them are being a cook, and cooking. A home cook - of course. Homemade cooking - of course. Indonesian menu - of course.
Born and raised in Javanese family, I develop unbeatable local taste buds. While I prefer the simplicity and fancy-looking breakfast in Western style, my choice for heavier meal (lunch or dinner) is mostly Indonesian food.
I am a big fan of complete meal consisting of carbo (white, red, or brown rice), protein (chicken, beef, fish, tempeh, or tofu), and vitamins (veggies). Preparing complete meal is challenging - not only because I have to decide what to cook based on what I want to eat, but also because I have to come up with a list of grocery shopping which is simple yet demanding. I could go crazy when hitting farmers' market then couldn't get what I have filed in my checklist. I kinda feel sour to alter my choices of cooking preps and meal I want to have. It always takes a while for me to rethink every single thing while trying to match up every dish I savor. Though it always succeeds in the end, I would rather to go smoothly with what I have planned.
One of those blissful things about being a home cook making homemade meal is the prep.
I love the idea of prepping for cooking!
Having hit the farmer's market, I would take my groceries out of my shopping bag happily - and, of course, with anticipation to treat every single thing like something so precious.
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The next feelin'-good thing is when I start to cook after every ingredient is prepared: slicing, cutting, chopping, sauteing, frying, stirring, boiling, seasoning, and finally plating - alone, quietly, and happily!
Sometimes, when finding out something seasonal at farmer's market or deeply inspired by typical culinary of certain region, I definitely try out a dish I haven't prepared before. That is merely one of the reasons why I love cooking: out of my curiosity.
When trying out new recipes, I give chance for my taste buds to develop some unusual twists. Whether or not I agree with the taste in the end, I feel satisfied for experimenting and experiencing brand new things.
Still, nothing beats dishes which are known to me since I was a little girl. Not only that I feel familiar, but also that I long for my childhood memory - missing what I ate as I was growing up, such as tempeh and baby corn.
In my point of view, culinary enjoyment knows no frontiers. I always posses inside of me that feeling of excitement about getting myself to know kinds of food from all over the world. I have some small-scale religious-based restrictions as well as certain food tolerances, and I feel grateful to be able to enjoy food more than I could ever imagine. It makes me not being a picky eater and being a culinary enthusiast - leading me to things I have never known before (such as spices and ingredients), and most exciting, to amazing people I have never "met" before (such as those chefs, food lovers and bloggers I know from Google+, Instagram, Williams-Sonoma, Epicurious, KOKIKU TV, and many more).
Preparing Indonesian menu is perhaps my aliby to go against those who always accuse me of not being Indonesian enough. It's a long-time concern of mine. Learning English is not only challenging because English is not my mother-tongue, but also because I have to deal with people's unexpected reactions when I start to speak, listen to, read, and write in English, when I start to show my tendency of favoring everything English (movies, music, books, even food from abroad). Those people (ironically, within my small circle of outsiders) with unexpected reactions question why I prefer things which are not Indonesian, and wonder whether I care about Indonesia at all.
My Indonesian specialty is homemade to make sure that I get the experiences of preparing my favorites. Of course, it is homemade because I need to spare my time alone doing what I love!
Happy tummy is always the end of the story - no matter how I start it!
pictures: private documents
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