Habitat For Humanity

I always love to volunteer for social work. This time, I wanted to share some pictures with you from last friday, I went to Mauk, Tangerang and spent a night there with Habitat For Humanity Indonesia family. I was very pleased to volunteer on their project. Habitat For Humanity builds houses for very poor people. This time they worked together with their donors from PGTI (Persekutuan Gereja Tionghoa Indonesia).

This is one of the house that we're going to help. We made foundations for 18 houses that day. That house belongs to Pak Saman & Ibu Onih. I helped them with 1 professional contractor from Habitat For Humanity and 8 kids from PGTI. 
By the way, Pak Saman's salary is only 200 thousand rupiah per month, can you imagine?

Pak Saman & Ibu Onih

I was very happy to have a nice conversation with Pak Saman & Ibu Onih :) Ibu Onih is a very friendly lady.

It was an incredible feeling being there on that event. And Desa Mergamulya has lots of beautiful tall coconut trees and a clear blue sky :) More pics here.

Beeban Kidron: The shared wonder of film

Movies have the power to create a shared narrative experience and to shape memories and worldviews. British film director Beeban Kidron invokes iconic film scenes -- from Miracle in Milan to Boyz n the Hood -- as she shows how her group FILMCLUB shares great films with kids.

Pony :)

Another Boneka for goodiebags. This time is for Kyra...yes this little girl name is the same as mine :)

More here if you want to see more. You can order here: kukywakukywa@gmail.com

:)

Simple things :)

Dance...

Cook...

Run...

Simple things that made me happy this sunday :)

Nutella Cupcakes with Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting

Got this recipe from this site. It supposed to be a cupcake with triple cream cheese frosting, but when I made the nutella cream cheese frosting first...it's already toooo sweet, so I just stick with one frosting. Some of my cousins said that it's not too sweet. It's all up to you, for me...I love to make cupcakes or cakes...but not too sweet. Next time I'll change the measurement and make triple cream cheese frosting :p As you can see from this site it looks pretty.

As for the cupcake itself, it taste good, fluffy and light! I'll copy paste it for you...


For the Cupcakes:

2/3 cup Nutella
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups buttermilk (for butermilk you can change it with milk and lemon, 1 cup of buter milk is 1 cup of milk with 1 tbsp lemon).


Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
5 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
1 pound powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 cups), sifted
2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract*

Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting
6 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup Nutella
1 pound confectioners’ sugar (about 3 3/4 cups), sifted
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
black and brown food coloring, optional

Almond Butter/Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
6 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup Almond Butter or Peanut Butter
1 pound confectioners’ sugar (about 3 3/4 cups), sifted
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
*clear vanilla extract is used to maintain a purer white color. If this doesn't matter to you, then you may use regular vanilla extract.

 

 

Directions:

For the Cupcakes
Line 3 dozen muffin cups with cupcake liners or grease using non-stick spray. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar for 5 minutes, until it is pale and thick. Add in the butter. Mix until combined. Add in the nutella. Now, add in the buttermilk. Beat until well incorporated.

Add the flour mixture in 3 increments and beat until smooth. Divide batter into the cupcake tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not over-bake. Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream the butter and cream cheese in the large mixing bowl of a stand mixture. Add the vanilla. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar as you continue to cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat on high speed until fluffy and smooth, adding milk or additional sugar (if needed) to reach desired consistency.

Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream the butter and cream cheese in the large mixing bowl of a stand mixture. Add the nutella and vanilla and continue to cream. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar as you continue to cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat on high speed until fluffy and smooth, adding milk or additional sugar (if needed) to reach desired consistency. For a darker brown add 1 drop brown and 1 drop black food coloring.

Almond Butter or Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream the butter and cream cheese in the large mixing bowl of a stand mixture. Add the almond butter or peanut butter and vanilla and continue to cream. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar as you continue to cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat on high speed until fluffy and smooth, adding milk or additional sugar (if needed) to reach desired consistency.


I didn't use all the frosting though. I left some of the cupcakes plain. So I can eat with nutella spread too...it's nyummy! And of course...with vanilla ice cream or peanut butter hehehe :D

Go try it!

New Totebag :)

I made new totebags! Each for Rp. 75.000,-

More info : kukywakukywa@gmail.com

Tshirt

My cousin and I made this for Rp.75.000,-

We have 3 sizes....S, M, L

More info : kukywakukywa@gmail.com

“I Love You” Defined…

Got this one from The Tao of Dana's blog :)

Unconditional, unselfish but totally stable, true love defined in such a cool way :)

Josh Ritter - Love Is Making Its Way Back Home

One of my favorite thing to do is....making paper cut art & kirigami. And this video came across when I was browsing a few days ago. Nice video and song!

Raden Saleh

Love this exhibition. Raden Saleh's painting at Galeri Nasional. I took pictures of my favorite paintings, lytographs and drawings. Love the details...

Check the details on these two paintings below...the details for the sarung batik/kain batik...awesome!

Raden Ayu Muning Kasari

Potret Pasangan Jawa

Raden Adipati Kusumaningrat

Kuda dan pemandangan

Pasar di Banyuwangi

This one is my number one, "Pasar di Banyuwangi". I love it because of the details and it's soft in a romantic way....you should see it by yourself :)

Pemandangan di Megamendung

Pemandangan di Megamendung

Go check it if you can...till 17th June 2012. Bring your kids too! :)

Boneka for goodie bags :)

Another goodie bags for little miss S from Boneka :) This time with dolls and small dolls for pencils!

Rp. 25.000,- each for the dolls
Rp. 10.000,- each for the pencils (with dolls)

More info : kukywakukywa@gmail.com

Bedhaya Dirada Meto

I saw this traditional javanesse dance last friday, for the opening of  Indonesia Dance Festival. It was performed by 7 males dancers. It was beautiful I tell you that! Amazing that they can dance like that. Coz I've been learning traditional javanese dance now, and I know which part it's hard and easy....and those males really2 can dance. Makes me want to learn more and more :)

Bedhaya Dirada Meto is a historic dance. Coreographed by the king and artists of Mangkunegaran Palace. After 100 years stored in a script and almost forgotten. It was based from one part of the dramatic history of Surakarta: war in the area of ​​Rembang, North Central Java, in the year 1756. The dance was to honoured the 15 soldiers that had fought in that war. From there the meaning of the dance Dirada Meta: dirodo (elephant) and meto (Rampage).

I always love to see traditional Indonesian dance and the story behind it. Can't wait to see Matah Ati again. You should see it. Very recommended :)

My (small) Kids Yoga Class

I'm very happy to say that now i'm officially a Kids Yoga Instructor (one of my happiness list). I got the certificate yesterday morning! It was a great way to start the new month :)

So this is my yoga class:

My Yoga Kids Class with my nieces, the theme was "We're Going to the Zoo" :) I think it is necessary to encourage children to care for animals.

I compiled some songs that would make us feel the joy and fun of the exercise. Started with one of the song from "Where the Wild Things Are“ called “Igloo”. We began by sitting on our mat, rubbing our hands together, and breathing. It's funny to see them how they breathe through their nose. Not all kids can do that around the age of 5 (and I remember Fezia told me about it). So we tried to follow the "u u u u u" sound to practice our breathing too. So funny when one of the girls said "there's too much u u u u here in this song." But she did it anyway :) One of my nieces couldn’t do it, so I’ll practice with her more next session . And then we rolled our shoulder to the front and back, we put our head to the righ and left, up and down...we repeated it for a few times.

For stretching we did sun salutation, downward dog and cobra, we did this 3 times while the music followed us through “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles. Next, we did the warming up, imagining we are already in the zoo. We did the butterfly pose with the song "Fly like a Butterfly" ...they loved it as they sang along. Then we did the tree pose. After that, we did the elephant pose, then had big balloons breathe 3 times. And then the lion pose and the seal pose...all with sounds...their favorite was the elephant pose because they liked to swing it and said it was nice because they can make wind. The also enjoyed the lion pose because they can
stick their tongue out while saying "wwwaaaaaaawwwrrrrrrrrr" :p Then we stopped and had big balloons breathe again for 3 times.

After that we did the "Row boat" and the "Lotus flower" poses. The lotus flower pose was enjoyable, they kept on trying to do it....and finally they did it!

After that we did some breathing with the dolls on their tummy, and with the dolls...we made games on who can make the tallest and lowest mountain for the animals with their tummy.

Then, we lay down on our back while listening to some songs and had a quite time for a while. Then we sat, did a meditation and ending it all together by saying Sat Nam. I explained to them the meaning was to be truthful to yourself, parents and teacher and to other people too.

Here are some of the pics... 

tree pose

lotus flower

I think Yoga with children offers many possibilities to exchange wisdom and share good times. The greatest challenge with children is to hold their attention long enough to teach them to do yoga or the poses. Because actually the breathing exercise, balance control, self affirmation, relaxation and meditation are great for them. Mediation can be challenging for adults and children, but it really is needed in today's fast paced life. We need quiet time to look within ourselves and children do too.

I think with animal adaptations and behavior, adaptation from our surroundings, music and playing instruments, storytelling…together we’ll do it with our bodies and minds in a flow that could only happen in child's world or child’s play….we’ll make it fun!

I am very grateful to to join Fezia's Radiant Child Yoga workshop & training. I will definitely want to learn more (for myself too)....and going to use and pass this knowledge to help kids, to help them have a better quality of life…for their own good and others too. And let them  appreciate more about their body…and little things in life…like smile and breathe :)

SatNam :)