4 Alasan Garuda Indonesia Maskapai Terbaik Untuk Flight Sydney-Jakarta

Sebagai residen tetap Australia, tentunya saya selalu kangen kampung halaman dan sebisa mungkin sering pulang ke Jakarta (finance permitting, hehehe). Ada tiga airlines yang bisa saya pilih untuk pulang ke Indonesia, yaitu Singapore Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, dan Qantas. Di antara ketiga pilihan tersebut, pilihan pertama saya adalah Garuda Indonesia. Di postingan kali ini, saya ingin mem-point out...

Pregnancy: 40 Week Update

I actually have three different due dates depending on how it was observed. According on my doctor, I'm supposed to be due by August 12th. According to midwife, I'm supposed to be due by August 14th. And according to my last ultrasound, I'm supposed to be due by August 19th. If following my doctor and midwife, I'm either due today or overdue by 2 days. But bubba decided that it's comfier inside mummy's...

Desperate Writer

Photo by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash Kadang saya kepikiran, "kamu nulis blog buat apa sih Dit?". Selama lebih dari seminggu lalu saya berusaha keras untuk menyelesaikan tiga tulisan yang tidak kunjung selesai. Entah karena saya merasa alurnya berantakan atau isinya kurang bermanfaat dan cenderung ke arah riya'. Apalagi setelah blog-walking ke blog orang lain yang banyak di-share di...

Dari Pak Anies: Nilai Yang Perlu Ditanamkan Pada Anak

Photo by Robert Collins on Unsplash Beberapa hari yang lalu jujur aja kaget bahwa telah terjadi re-shuffle kabinet Jokowi di Indonesia. Saya bukan pengamat berita Indonesia, tapi saya pengamat setia timeline Facebook (siapa bilang Facebook udah ga jaman? hihihi...). Dan dari timeline Facebook itulah saya mengetahui bahwa presiden Jokowi "memecat" pak Anies dan pak Jonan dari posisi...

Mayo Clinic Guide to Healthy Pregnancy

During my pregnancy, I knew I needed a source for all things related to pregnancy because scouring the internet will just complicate things even more as there will be heaps of conflicting articles. Basically, the effort to filter the information will be very overwhelming. I searched for a good pregnancy book and stumbled upon the "Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy" book. I checked the...

Why You Should Get Married Young

I got married in my early 20's - one month before my 24th birthday, to be exact. Not too early, but by most people's standard nowadays, it is considered quite early. I got married early for plenty of reasons apart from finally finding the perfect match (hopefully), some of it being wanting to be one of the first in my class to get married, getting married before my dad goes for retirement (alhamdulillah...

Pregnancy: 38 Week Update

This week I'm in my 38 weeks, which means I'm due in two weeks! But bubba can come out any time now. I had the regular check up with the midwife on Thursday. As usual, I got weighed in and the scale was reading 70.1kgs. So, I had gained about 1kg in the last two weeks, but please note that I just ate an Oporto chicken sandwich just before I got weighed in. I reckon you can subtract a few hundred...

Maternity Photoshoot

Last Sunday, husband and I did a DIY maternity photo shoot with our minimalistic equipments: M3/4 camera, tripod, and some props. I was in my 37th week of pregnancy and I wanted to have a keepsake photo of my first pregnancy without breaking the bank. Basically just a photo of me holding my belly would already suffice. I don't need any fancy photo shoot. I mean, what's there to show other than...

Here Comes Maternity Leave!

That day has finally come :) - last day at the office before maternity leave. It feels like I'm going to leave that place forever although I'll only be away for 6-7 months.  Yesterday was my last day at the office before I officially go into the "waiting period" before bubba arrives. Since morning, I was full-on training my maternity leave cover on my last day, making sure she's on top...

Sayur Singkong/Kale

When you can't find singkong (cassava) leaves in Australia, kale leaves make a great substitute due to the similarity of the texture. That's what I've been doing pretty much in the past year when I'm longing for any type of cooking with singkong (cassava) leaves. Ingredients: 1 bunch of kale leaves (around 400gr) 2 tbsp small shrimps (ebi) - or you can use prawns with skin on, but if using prawn...

Bread and Butter

Prologue: This post has been sitting in my draft folder for months. I wasn't really sure whether to expose the hardship that I've gone through. But no one's life is perfect, and I think we shouldn't pretend to fake it that everything in our lives is so perfect in social media. So, I thought to myself, "why not just share?" *** Four years ago when my husband and I started out as a married...

Setting The Records Straight

Yesterday I delivered a project report in a monthly project meeting. As usual, I was nervous as hell, so the sentences that came out of my mouth didn't really flow very well. Consequently, the Project Lead misunderstood my words and said, "ok, so well done to the X team for rushing the coding." Then I realised, no, they weren't the heroes... they're actually the one who contributed 80% of this...

Rendang Jawa

Ingredients: 750 gr beef (gravy)  3/4 red onions 7 garlic 5 chillies 10-20 bird's eye chillies (depending how hot you'd like your rendang to be) 1-2 tsp corriander seeds (ground) 1 tsp turmeric 2-3 fresh kaffir lime leaves galangal 1 lemongrass 1 can of coconut milk (400 gr) 100ml water Salt Directions: Blend together red onions, garlic, chillies, bird's eye chillies, corriander seeds,...

Pregnancy: 36 Week Update

I'm finally entering the full term! Sorry for the lack of updates because last month was Ramadan so I didn't want to get out of focus. Also, recently I've just been very busy at the office trying to handover to my replacement whilst completing my tasks. I've only got two weeks left before starting my maternity leave and four more weeks til baby's due date! So excited and scared at the same time! WEIGHT...

My Sunday 17.07.2016

Another "My Sunday" story... Posting kali ini akan menggunakan bahasa bebas dan santai, seperti "My Sunday" post yang pertama. Baru aja ngubek-ngubek blog, pingin lihat lagi dulu gw nulis apa sih di posting "My Sunday" itu? Ternyata aku nulis cerita tentang hari Mingguku yang diisi dengan kegiatan masak-memasak. Hah?! Coincidence? Soalnya kali ini juga ceritanya mau pamer hasil kreasi...

Islammu Nggak Ada Artinya Apabila Durhaka Kepada Ibu

Baru-baru ini saya sangat kesal sekali dan harus menasihati seseorang karena menurutku ia sudah sangat keterlaluan kepada ibunya sendiri. Dengan arogannya dia tidak mau meminta maaf kepada ibunya ketika Idul Fitri lalu dan pernah pula dia nyatakan bahwa dia tidak mau mengurus ibunya nanti ketika beliau sudah tua. Orang tersebut berjilbab dan mengerti agama. Tapi menurutku Islamnya tidak ada artinya...

Eid Mubarak 2016!

Aaahh... another year another Eid :). This is my fourth year celebrating Eid in Sydney and this time around I wanted it to be filled with warmth and happiness since in the past two years I haven't been really enjoying Eid as I should.  On my first Eid, I was still yearning to celebrate Eid how most Indonesians would: take the day off, visit family and friends, and eat lots and lots of...

Ramadan Day 14: Tips for Fasting While Pregnant

Alhamdulillah we're entering the second half of Ramadan now and alhamdulillah bubba is still very cooperative while I fast. I do often get questioned, "do you still fast even though you're pregnant?". I understand their concerns, especially from people outside of Islam, but the answer is yes, of course. BUT if you're not strong enough until the time to break your fast or concerned with the baby's...

Ramadan Day 7: Giving of Alms

Based on the article published in Huff Post in 2013 (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/07/21/muslims-give-most_n_3630830.html), Muslims are the most generous, ahead of Christians and Jews. Why? The answer is simple... because giving charity is prescribed in our religion and also in our religion there is an "obligatory" alms called zakat. Please note that it is OBLIGATORY :). THE POOR OWNS...

Ramadan Day 1: My Ramadan Plan

Can't believe Ramadan is here now! I know I haven't preparing this Ramadan quite well this time around because I have been feeling overwhelmed with the pregnancy. Yes, this Ramadan is different than the usual Ramadan for me because I will pregnant while fasting! So I do have to be very mindful of my health and baby's health, hence why planning a routine is very crucial to keep baby healthy and...