John Steinbeck on Falling in Love: A 1958 Letter

I don't know whay I just love this letter and would love to check the book. Got this from Brainpickings website.

New York

November 10, 1958

Dear Thom:

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First—if you are in love—that’s a good thing—that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.

Second—There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you—of kindness and consideration and respect—not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had.

You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply—of course it isn’t puppy love.

But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it—and that I can tell you.

Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.

The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.

If you love someone—there is no possible harm in saying so—only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another—but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it.

We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.

And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens—The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

Love,

Fa

Simple Tomato sauce recipe (without beef/meat)

Wanna try this simple recipe? It's light because we don't use beef or meat. It's kinda nice if you serve it warm. With this rainy season, you need some comfort food for you and your kids hahaha...and it's healthy too :)

All you need:

Cloves garlic (or according to taste)

1 can tomato paste (for the color)

6 chopped tomatoes 

...and another 6 tomatoes you blend it until it is smooth...
(basicly how many tomatoes...it's up to you to taste)

Salt, pepper, sugar ( or according to taste)

 thymes

oregano leaves

Salads

Olive oil & balsamic oil

Spaghetti

Parmesan (to taste)

How to make:

Boiled the spaghetti first, with water and a bit of salt. Then while we're waiting for that, we can make the sauce. Sautee the garlic with olive oil, and then toss all the tomatoes and tomato paste. Then put salt, pepper, sugar, thymes, and oregano leaves. How many? it's up to you to taste. I like the smell and taste of herbs, so we put more of that :)

Everything is ready? here it is....

Serve it warm, with salad, balsamic and olive oil as the dressing...and top with parmesan :)

Self portrait

My portrait by a good friend of mine, the talented miss Sari :)

Can't wait to frame it...and i'm going to hang it in my room :)

"Inspiring people" from TEDxtalks Indonesia

Didik Nini Thowok is a famous and highly celebrated dancer from Indonesia. He specializes on traditional cross-gender dance, with a comedic style. Talked about cross gender dancer, overcoming discriminations and signs of love :)

CNN HERO of 2011, the compassionate,caring and gentle Ibu Robin. I would love to visit her clinic Bumi Sehat. Talked about "Peace begin with a birth.."

Musdah Mulia is the chairperson of the Indonesian Conference for Religion and Peace. She is a strong advocate of human rights, gender equality, tolerance, democracy and peace, from an Islamic perspective. And the Inspiration for gender Equality". She talked about "Is religion still necessary?"

Zaini Alif is one of few (if not the only) Indonesian scholar of traditional games and toys. He is also a social entrepreneur in the same field with his "Komunitas Hong" where children can learn and teach others about traditional games and toys.

Inspiring people :)

New Year's holiday :)

Happy New year 2012!! Again....I went to Bali with cousins and friends. Bali never fails me :) Check some of the pics here, maybe next time if you're in Bali, you want to try these places. Thank God I got to stay at my friend's house...so it's free right? :p So I got to spend my savings for this trip to go to the beach and do some culinary tours :p

This is fried crispy duck with rice and veggies from Bebek Tepi Sawah, Ubud. You should eat it with "sambal matah". Nyummyyyy :)

This is Bridges,  Jl Raya Ubud, (near Museum Antonio Blanco) Ubud 036 197 0095. It's a very soothing place....and a cozy place to have drinks, especially after the rain :) It has nice view...

We passed this beautiful orchid farm and rice fields :) Ubud never fails me...with it's own green fields and old villages...

This is Karma Kandara's beach. It has clean sand and a quite environment. I went there only to play on the beach and enjoy the view hehehe. Couldn't afford it to stay there haha! But the view from up and down...it's beautiful...blue clear oceans, clean white sands...green hills...

This is from Bali Nikmat. Cooked by a professional Hong Kong chef, Bali Nikmat Restaurant offers a fine selection of Chinese cuisines and life seafood with affordable price. Jl. Raya Kuta no. 40 Kuta-Badung, 0361 75517.

Love this place and it's full with fuschia color (my fave) hehehe...and I love burritos & quesadillas too! Jln. Petitenget, Gang Prana, Seminyak. It's Mojos Flying Burritos.

Vegetable lasagna at Biku. Biku never fails me :)

Cafe Moka's chocolatine never fails me for breakfast :)

For heavy lunch, maybe you want to check "Naughty Nuri's Warung and Grill". Good pork spareribs and martinis. It's a small (not too small no too big) warung on Jl. Raya Sanggingan, Around Town, Ubud,  0361977547. They served chicken too. But you should try the pork spareribs...nyummy :)

This is Kou Cuisine. A cute place for homemade jams and seasalt. It's on JL. Monkey Forest, Ubud. Phone number: 0361972319

This is Semara. It's on Jalan Pantai Selatan Gau, Banjar Wijaya Kusuma, Ungasan 80362 Bali, Indonesia. 03618482111. Again, I went there only to play on the beach and enjoy the view hehehe. Couldn't afford it to stay there either haha! The view from up and down...it's beautiful...another clear blue oceans, clean white sands...green hills. As you can see...it was a very beautiful villa....the view...oh my God it was really breathtaking :)

These two are from Mama San  by Will Meyrick. They served Asian food. The fresh juice: carrot, strawberry, cillantro and ginger....it's very strong yet healthy...the indian food was good too :) It's on Jl. Raya Kerobokan No. 135 Br. Taman, Bali. 0361 730436

And this simple "nasi warung Pak Malen" never fails me :)

Lot's of food ya? hahaha...it's okay...I was on holiday anyway. Now that I'm back in Jakarta, I have to get back to my healthy food again...life is about balance baby....balance :)

For more pictures from my new year's holiday click here...
...and for more nice places in Bali click here :)

Kou Cuisine

I love homemade food, I love jams and I love cute packagings :) Kou Cuisine has been one of my favorite place in Ubud. If you go up the Monkey Forest Road, after the soccer field, there's a cute small white shop on the right side. At the entrance of the store, they got this long table with jams to taste...

They sold several kinds of homade jams and homade sea salt. For jams they have mango, mill & caramel, apple cinammon (my fave), passionfruit & tangerine...and more.

So next time you're in Ubud, check Kou Cuisine. It's on JL. Monkey Forest, Ubud. Phone number: 0361972319

My fave :)

This is What Happens When You Give Thousands of Stickers to Thousands of Kids

Got this article from this site, from my good friend Ara. Love it! Let me just copy paste it :)

This December, in a surprisingly simple yet ridiculously amazing installation for the Queensland Gallery of Modern Ar, artist Yayoi Kusama constructed a large domestic environment, painting every wall, chair, table, piano, and household decoration a brilliant white, effectively serving as a giant white canvas. Over the course of two weeks, the museum’s smallest visitors were given thousands upon thousands of colored dot stickers and were invited to collaborate in the transformation of the space, turning the house into a vibrantly mottled explosion of color. How great is this? Given the opportunity my son could probably cover the entire piano alone in about fifteen minutes. The installation, entitled The Obliteration Room, is part of Kusama’s Look Now, See Forever exhibition that runs through March 12.

If you liked this you’ll also enjoy Roman Ondak’s Room of Heights and Karina Smigla-Bobinski’s helium-filled kinetic drawing sculpture.

The first four images courtesy Queensland Art Gallery and photographer Mark Sherwood. Additional images from Stuart Addelsee and heybubbles.

Kutakatik Art & Craft Class Holiday Program December 2011

Another 2 weeks holiday program from Kutakatik Art Cratf Class :) We had fun for sure! Check all the pics here....

More pics here :)