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Showing posts from August, 2015

Food | #ICook | Chicken Tetrazzini

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I've had Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italy cook book for years and all I've been doing with it was just admiring the photos of the gorgeous foods he made with Italian mammas haha .. but for the first time ever I actually used it to make this pasta tetrazzini recipe few nights ago; yeayyy finally! ^^ To my surprise, I found out that pasta tetrazzini did not originate from Italy; it was invented in America circa 1900  and named after the person it was created for; Luisa Tetrazzini an opera star.  Basically, pasta tetrazzini is made using long, thin pasta; poultry, mushroom and cream. In Jamie's version, he used spaghetti , white wine, porcini mushrooms and fresh basil but as always, there are stuffs that I simply want to change up a bit / couldn't find / too expensive and of course being a Muslim I always have to leave out/ substitute the alcohol with something, so here's  my version of chicken tetrazzini.. I used: Half a pack of dried

Budget Travel Indonesia | Pulau Weh (Sabang) | Indonesia's Kilometer Zero

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After our hearty breakfast at Freddie's , our taxi driver was already waiting for us. We just booked the same taxi that we came with to take us around the whole day. The fee was Rp. 600,000 including fetching us again the next day to go back to the jetty  (I have forgotten a lot of details, I'll have to check this again hehe) . We directly went to the Kilometer Zero site before our sea activity at Iboih. It took us around 30-40 minutes of traveling on hilly terrain and bumpy road to reach this very western tip of Weh island and essentially Indonesia's :D.  We passed by the road to Pria Anak Laut waterfall and Iboih along the way too. The road next to this stream will take you to Pria Anak Laut waterfall A betel palm or Pinang palm plantation, seems to be one of the country industry here When we reached the site, there was a construction taking place. I think they were building a tower and renewing the site; but luckily we could still take so

Budget Travel Indonesia | Pulau Weh (Sabang) | Freddie's Chalet in Sumur Tiga Beach

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I learned about Freddie's from a couple of travel blogs when I was researching about touring Aceh. What attracted me the most about this place was the food :P But when we arrived, it has so much more to offer. We headed to Freddie's straight from Balohan jetty southeast of the island after about an hour ferry ride from Ulee Lheue Port in Banda Aceh . There were trishaws at the jetty for hire but since I came with my mom and sister (plus our luggage) we passed that one and went for a taxi van instead - shared with other passengers. The fare was Rp 50,000. The taxi van was full so my mom and I sat next to the driver :D We also made arrangements for our transportation around the island with the same taxi driver who picked us up again the next morning to take us around for sightseeing including to the snorkeling spot. But the trishaw could be fun though, if your destination is nearby and you came with friends. Just remember that Weh is a huge and hilly isl

Budget Travel Indonesia | Banda Aceh | Masjid Baiturrahim 10 Years After Tsunami

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The word bait  in arabic means house and Ar-Rahim means The All-Merciful; it is one of Allah's 99 names. Therefore, the name of this masjid means The Home of The All-Merciful. All mosques are in essence the house of Allah. As I've mentioned in my previous post , this mosque is located just around 100 meters away from the shoreline, so it's among the area that were hit first by the raging tsunami.  If you've seen any of the 2004 tsunami footage of mosques standing alone on 'cleared lands', this is one of them; there are a few others. However, the restoration works together with the rebuilding of the neighborhood surrounding it made the area look as if the waves never came. Of course it has been a little over 10 years since the black day, but still.. it looked like nothing happened here mashaAllah . Although the waves caused water to enter this masjid, somehow the building stood strong, managed to withstand the same waves t

Budget Travel Indonesia | Banda Aceh & Pulau Weh | Getting There & Staying Connected

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When we went to Aceh last February, we got quite a deal for our Air Asia air fares even though we only purchased the tickets 2 days before our departure date (even cheaper than what we saw a week earlier). We only spent something like 800++ ringgit on return tickets for 3 pax including 2 checked in luggage and another 100++ on parking for 4 days at KLIA2 car park. We did a 4-day-3-nighter in Aceh, spending the first 2 nights in Weh Island (locally referred to as Sabang) and the last night in downtown Banda Aceh. So when we reached Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport at 1.45 pm, we immediately hopped on a taxi (which were easy to get) and made our way to Ulee Lheue Ferry Port. The cab fares from the airport are already standardized according to destinations so for our trip to the jetty, we paid Rp 120,000. Saved our time and energy on price negotiation there hehe. Because there are only 2 trips to Sabang on the express ferry in a day, we had to catch the 4pm one. The o