Home (1): Now, where to shop?

When my mom teased me about cooking at home for our household back at home here in Jakarta, I answered back, "But Mom, I've always been cooking by myself for the last few years!!" (well, it's her first time to see me being a fully capable adult. Hahaha) and I noticed how in addition to a PhD (which technically speaking is not currently being used) living by myself the last few years in a faraway country has polished me to a living-capable-adult. Yaay. You see, I guess for Indonesians, and maybe Indonesian who came back home from living outside the country, there's a sense of, "if you live abroad, it means you're sort of a rich person" which is really really not the case. If else, I learn about being more economical.

For example, shopping in supermarket. Ladies and gents, this is actually a very important skill. You see, Jakarta is a metropolis city where excessive consumption is the norm. I guess people here are so freaking tired with the city and the working pace that they just need a break from it. Some people frequent shopping malls, latest famous restaurants, hanging out spots, where for me is unbelievably pricey. Truly coming home after some years, I can really feel the inflation of how much Rupiah worth 5 years ago compare to now. I am suddenly paying as much money in the supermarkets here compare to when I was in Berlin (of course, the food which are used to be expensive there, is cheaper here, but also the reverse applied). We're living for two people now, so too much buying food from restaurants etc is out of question (especially as we're still testing the water for our first month here). So of course the best thing is to cook our own food. And this is where all those years in Berlin started to pay off (don't just buy anything! check the price! check how much the same product cost for the same amount, and if you're being economical, go buy the cheaper one per 100 gr, for example!). If I can't cook, this would be really terrible. Because I have to adjust local ingredients, consider husband's appetite and mine, trying to add more meat in his diet while considering meat price here in Jakarta, apparently it's a bit of a tricky work, but thank God for the training! For example, last week I bought minced beef meat, half a kilo, which turned into Japanese Hamburger, Spaghetti Bolognaise and Indonesian Meatball Soup (bakso sapi! :D). Quite proud of myself about that! :)

We still don't have a large oven now, so for dessert, I have to retort to steamed recipes. And well, hail to Creme Caramel (Leche flan)! And I also found this old recipe in my recipe book, a mung bean pudding mixed with cinnamon and some lemon zest! Yumm! Anyways, when we got an oven, the green tea creme brulee is my next on the list! I'll have to look for more traditional options as well, there must be plenty of non-baked recipes out there! :D

I also found a place where I can get coffee! That was super important! Ha-ha. I brought 5 packs of coffee which I usually drink in Berlin because I know this type of coffee must be expensive here in Jakarta. And I am still against going to cafes too much here because in addition being too crowded, too noisy, they're just too damn expensive! I even brought home my coffee machine (plus a mocca coffee maker) just to make sure I'll be quite coffee-sated. But mom showed us a traditional market where they sell grounded local coffee! Aah, I'm saved! :D

The tools I got in Berlin which I brought home was pretty life saving as well. We're both lucky that we have an apartment to stay here, all furnished by my mom, and she even equipped us with plenty of dish set, pans, cooking tools etc, knowing we're just a newly starting couple. But I was also happy that I took the effort to buy and send some of my kitchen tools as well. Precious knives, hand mixer, not-yet-usable baking pans, IKEA plastic bowls, manual milk foam maker, and hopefully when my packages from Berlin arrives, more books, my favorite pan, and more stuff for the kitchen. Funny enough, I even brought home some of my cooking ingredients, like vanilla extract, cinnamon powder, yeast powder, baking powder, just in case I'm too confused on where to find them here. Mom and Rizki said, "In the bakery shop, naturally!". Hahaha.

I was also shocked when I realized that German electronics have such high voltage. Well, rather than that, maybe Indonesia simply has much lower voltage in most households. But there goes my awesome hair dryer and my mobile water heater! I can't use you, at least for now!

I've also found local small shops which sell cheaper food material, compare to the  fancier supermarket (the chain mini markets don't usually sell fresh food like vegs or fruits). I won't tell you in details because it'll freak European friends, but I can get vegetables, rice, sugar, well most of the basic stuff 25% cheaper than the ones sold in the fancier supermarkets (which are also pretty far away from my place, especially since we don't have a transportation means here yet, plus if I take public transportation to the nearest fancier supermarket, it'll take around 30' so I'm not frequenting it unless for big monthly shopping). So that's pretty economical! I just need to find a place where they sell fresh fruits. I know a place but it's near my mom's house, so it will take another hour to get there. No way jo se!

My fancy on cold sweet tea which they also sell in the chain mini market here in the apartment, when I think about how much I'll spend if I buy it too often, made me decide to make my own tea, less sugar, tastier (Dad said, it's already tasting alike to one of the famous sweet tea product here in Indonesia! Yaay!), and in a much more amount any day. So we're also safe on that area!

I sometimes think about how much a slob I was 7-8 years ago (I'm still a slob, but I've trained myself with some running-a-house skills ;D), it'll be a disaster if I have to run a household back then! I'm also grateful that my partner is also skillful and very generous with his helping hand in running a household. He lived for a while alone, so he had to take care of himself as well, and his personality is one who also have concerns about making sure that a home is comfortable, clean, etc. So I'm truly grateful that we can do this together. I probably won't get married if my partner will leave all household responsibilities on my shoulder. Hahaha.

Since I have quite some freedom for now, in addition being busy due to adapting to life back at home, I also managed to quicken my reading pace. I'll start writing more regularly as well, so many thoughts left after leaving Berlin, and the transformation of moving back here. Am I worried about being jobless? Well, I was more worried being separated from my family just a month ago in Berlin, so I guess I'm in a good spot now. I haven't even been meeting up with plenty of friends yet. But that can follow a bit later.

I'll write some more tomorrow! Gotta go back to a bit more reading before sleeping! :)