Pleaded: Guilty

Champ .. you know what?

When I just arrived at the meeting place, my boz (Ms. P) called and said that she'll be running late 'coz she gotta do an EXTRA work on the report presentation, which apparently caused by me...

Yesterday I tried to make the presentation looked a lot better and more sophisticated by applying some features from 2007's ppt. Turned out my boz wanted to keep the original format for some reason... And thus... BAAANNNGGG!!!! I ended up feeling guilty for creating a hassle for my boz.... guilty...guilty...guilty...

Anyway... this work really turns my eating habit into a worse one. Before I left home I already ate tahu bacem and pecel and some beef dish my mom made. At the meeting place, since the office is adjacent to Omah Sendok Restaurant, my boz (Ms. P) and the office owner (Mr. B) can easily order food, drinks, snacks anytime they want.

Since it was very hot after riding Buddy, I ordered Es Dawet Ayu without coconut milk in it (trying to be healthy, yeaayy...) while waiting for Ms. P to arrive. When she finally arrived and order SOME foods and SOME beverages (to conquer her appetite and thirst), I ordered another beverage to quench my thirst... this time I ordered Es Cincau Hijau, which I-forgot-to-request-not-to-put-any-coconut -milk-but-I-still-finished-it-anyway. Since I felt a bit hungry I ordered Gado-gado (Hey... don't judge me there, Champ... I'll be working until late at night today and it's better for me to avoid dinner, no? *hihihi).

Ms. P always has a thing for Diet Coke. She says she needs the caffeine from it. Thus, when Mr.B's office boy came back bringing 4 cans of Coca Cola Zero, she didn't like it coz there's no caffeine in it (according to Ms. P). Mr.B finally told his office boy to go further and get some real Diet Coke while also buying Ketoprak Ciragil as well (gosh, they really have a THING and SPACE for food... hahaha). Since I don't really like Ketoprak Ciragil due to its' small portion and unfavorable taste to my taste bud, I didn't order the meal although I LOOOOOVVVVEEEEEE ketoprak very much.

In the end there were some cans of Coca Cola Zero left abandoned in front of me and I finally surrender to my desire to drink it... Yeah.. I'm pleaded guilty, Champ (for not working as well while Ms.P is actually sitting in front of me... hahaha). But, it's been such a long, long, a very long time I haven't lay my hands and tounge on sodas though.. A can won't hurt me, no? *hihihi... trying to get some justification.

Sigh... gotta go back to work now... translating, translating, writing, writing and sit around listening to my iTunes (Champ, Ms. P commented something when a specific song was selected... I will discuss this on our next session, ok?)

Meanwhile, take care...

you know I love you,

xoxo,

Cho

Part One: Road Trip to Java - Surabaya

Few weeks ago, when I was granted a permission to take some days-off from the office, I went to visit my sister who now runs a business in Surabaya (in Gedangan, Sidoardjo to be exact).

While getting to know her business, I also had a chance to explore a little bit of Surabaya as well. We (my sister, me and my brotha) went to Tunjungan Plaza, known as the biggest mall in Surabaya, and some other places such as Pakuwon Mall, Sports Club, ACE Hardware and Hypermart (gya..ha..ha..ha. LoL).

We did not visit any tourism attraction since my siblings were not really interested to explore them. Only, we accidentally passed Jembatan Merah (red bridge) district, without the ability to see the bridge since we were in a car and had no intention to park and walk down... (sigh.... poor me....)

While my siblings were interested to taste the famous Soto Ambengan Pak Sadi (established since my father lived there before settling down) or Savory Donuts Lines (BBQing, Mushi-Mushi, Chicken Ragout) from Ring Master; I was the only one who had the courage to try the authentic Rujak Cingur, a traditional dish from Surabaya which mixes cow's mucus membranes (snout) with fruits and vegetables garnished with dressings made out of petis (dried shrimp) and other ingredients such as nuts, chili, Javanese sugar, etc.

In Javanese language, cingur = snout.

I've been longing to taste the dish ever since I heard it from a friend in 2004. Although I wasn't able to find the famous rujak cingur from Delta (a restaurant), I liked it and willing to eat it again whenever I return to Surabaya.

Pretty much, that was my experience spending 2 nights in Surabaya. Not really fun, eh? The day after that, we went on a road trip to Jogjakarta.... Now that's when the fun started to begin....

(to be continued)

the famous dish from Surabaya, Rujak Cingur
(image was taken from here)

Soto Ayam Ambengan Pak Sadi
(Mr.Sadi's Ambengan Chicken Soup)
(image was taken from here)

I just remember that while I was in Surabaya I also became a handyman, helping my sister built a TV deck and cabinet for her clothings... a bit time-consuming.. that's why we didn't really explore Surabaya... hahaha (LoL)