Smokey Joe and BBQ Hazard

Just when you thought life can be dull at times, several little things emerge to keep your days amusing.

I've been wanting to have a BBQ. One lunch break I decided to venture National Azabu Supermarket in Hiroo, it's a pleasant 30 minutes walk from my office and they always seem to have interesting international products from all corners of the world. Sure the price is high, they rob you blind in that place, but what's a few hundred yens more if that could cure your homesick.

Where was I, I'm losing my point...

Oh, yes, BBQ!

National Azabu is selling BBQ at a 'bargain' price. A little Weber's "Smokey Joe" for only 5,770 yen. (yes, yes, it's almost double the price of it's manufacturer's price, but then again you're shopping in Japan, can't complain. Just be thankful it's not 10,000 yen).

So, I just had to have it.

I bought the grill and decided to have some friends over for a BBQ dinner to mark the beginning of Ramadan.
Perfect plan!!!

Well, the lady in the store adviced that I should just buy some pre-soaked charcoals so I wouldn't have to wait too long to let the fire start, but she did warn that there will be some faint smell to come with the easy-to-light coals.

On Sunday, a few hours before my guests are scheduled to arrive, I decided to try my new Smokey Joe. I read the manual from cover to back and felt confident that I know everything there is to know about starting a BBQ.
Smokey Joe was positioned comfortably at the public balcony. It is semi-outside, it was a breezy day. Having never started a BBQ ever in my life, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I lined the coal brickets according to the instruction. And then I lit the light as instructed by the Weber book. After two seconds a big bonfire suddenly lit up in my Smokey Joe. By bonfire, I meant a big flaming fire like in a Summer camp. It came out so suddenly, I missed it just barely, and caught a little bit of fire on my hair... It must have been the super-power coal that I bought. My book said that normally you'd have to wait about 15-25 minutes - the 2 seconds time I had really was a surprise.

It was pretty terrifying. The flame didn't die down for a while, flaring up high, almost to the ceiling, and there was also the pretty strong odor - not faint like the lady in the store said. Only then it occured to me... maybe I shouldn't be doing BBQ in an area where it's not entirely outside. (And besides, according to my apartment contract, I wasn't supposed to be putting anything in that area... let alone burning something... Whoops!)
I was very sure that the strong odor would make my landlord panic and was sure he would be calling the police and confiscate my brand new Smokey Joe before it created a disaster. So I ran really quickly to the bathroom and take a big bucket of water. Back out in 1 minute, with a bucket of water in hand, I heard the sound of the fire truck sirene. "EEEEEE....OOOOOO....EEEEE.....OOOOO....EEEE....OOOOOO!!!!"
I thought... "OH SHIT! WHAT DID I DO??????"
It went on and on and louder and louder... I was very close to throwing the bucket of water to the fire and prepared a towel to wrap the crime evident, and then..... the sirene was gone. Kaputt.
I've never felt so relieved in my life.

The fire finally went off after 10 minutes, I began BBQ-ing my egame-leaf-wrapped salmon and some white fish. The leaf was crispy, the fish was thoroughly grilled, the fish meat was juicy. It was very tasty. Yummmmm.

So, I guess that the moral of the story is that for first-timer, when starting a BBQ, it is wise to get some supervision by someone who's done it before at least a couple of times, so you know what to expect and that you should NEVER start BBQ indoors.
I love my new Smokey Joe, so I will continue to BBQ, but I will also have ready a propper fire extinguisher. Having one would surely give some confidence boost.

Bon appétit!

Ramadan 1427 Hijra'

Assalammu'alaykum wR. wBr.

It's all about tradition.
In only 4 days, the Ramadan month (the fasting month) will begin. Every year I'm always thankful for having able to participate in the most celebrated month in Islam.

Now, what is Ramadan?

The dictionary defined it as follows:
Ramadan
|ˈräməˌdän; ˈraməˌdan| |ˌˈrɑməˌˈdɑn| |ˌramədan| |ˈraməˌdan|
noun
the ninth month of the Muslim year, during which strict fasting is observed from sunrise to sunset.
ORIGIN from Arabic ramaḍān, from ramaḍa ‘be hot.’ The lunar reckoning of the Muslim calendar brings the fast eleven days earlier each year, eventually causing Ramadan to occur in any season; originally it was supposed to be in one of the hot months

There is also an extensive explanation on Ramadan here (in English/Indonesian/Japanese)

The objective of Ramadan is for Muslims to cleanse themselves from the mortal sins or lusts or greed. By fasting you would experience the physical challenge of thirst or hunger, but beyond that you would also (ideally) achieve the state of serenity or to also be able to be more grateful and thankful with what you have. It's a little difficult for me to explain, but after sometime, you become more alert of everything that happens to your body, your surroundings and even things that are not even attached to you.
Everybody have their own problems, so more often than not, in this secular world - it's a lot easier to close your eyes or ears to sadness or unhappiness around you. In other words one can easily be less empathic than one usually are.
One of the benefit of Ramadan for myself, at least, is that I feel my empathy being sharpened as the days progress. And it is such a beautiful feeling to feel very serene and peaceful and loving towards others.

Now... every year when we're into the Ramadan month, I'm always a little sad for being far away from home. Back then, every year on the 25th day of Ramadan, we would pack up the car and drive the 8-10 hours ride to Yogyakarta, my parents' hometown. Mum came from a family of 6, whereas Dad came from a family of 5. We will all stay at our grandparent's places, rotating one family to another for about a week.
From mum's family alone I've got 12 cousins, whereas from Dad's family I've got 5 cousins - so if you combined them all, it's a hell big of a celebration. Everyday. There were always games to be played, stories to be exchanged, foods to be cooked, cemeteries to be visited, families to be hosted, families to be visited, foods to be tasted. It is so wonderful.
It is such a festive holidays. The equivalent of these would be Christmas in western countries or the New Year holidays in Japan.

For the whole month of Ramadan, too, there is always something to look forward to. Sure you fast during the day, but come evening, there is all the reason in the world to break your fast with your family, neighbors, former classmates, friends from whatever clubs you used to belong to, your distant families. Almost everyday for 30 days, you have some type of ongoing reunion with excellent food!

Having spent so many Ramadans in Tokyo, I gotta tell you, it can feel a little too lonely being far away from home. Thank goodness for cousin Yudo. We have created a Ramadan tradition of our own. We would try to meet at least once a week for a fast break together, and we will also try to hop mosques each week for the tarawih mass. One Saturday we'd go to the beautiful Turkish mosque in Yoyogi Uehara, another Saturday we'd go to yet another mosque in Hiroo and finally we'd go to the Indonesian School mosque.
After 30 days (29 days for some), there will come the celebrated Eid Al-Fitr day. This is the time where we will celebrate the end of Ramadan. Cousin Yudo and I always host an open house party at my place. We will cook all the traditional foods from our home, the chicken curry (opor ayam), the chicken liver chilli dish (sambel goreng ati), rice dumplings (ketupat), pickles (acar), vegetable curry (gulai sayur) and some traditional sweets. We will also do the phone round, calling our respective families, in Indonesia and Switzerland or wherever they may be at the moment.
Yes it is not the same with what we grew up with, but I think both Yudo and I have successfully established our own Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr tradition.

In retrospect, I don't think I'm that sad anymore to be spending Ramadan in Tokyo. It's all about tradition.

Lastly, Everyone, minal aidin wal faidzin. Mohon maaf lahir dan bathin. Maafkan saya ya bila ada salah2 kata dan perbuatan. Semoga ibadan puasa kita mabrur dan lancar. Amiin.

Wassalammu'alaykum wR. WBr.
Tari

Some of the typical Eid Al-Fitr foods. yummmmm!

The cooking team from Eid Al Fitr 1426 Hijra (Nov 2005). See you in a month!

Speaking about poetries... (works by Chairil Anwar)

Poetry to me seems to be an unusual form of expression. Some time I don't get it, but another time you can't help thinking... "what a clever way of describing your feelings!"
During this past long weekend, some poetries from the old days resurfaced.
I'd like to put up two great works by my favorite Indonesian poet, Mr. Chairil Anwar.
His works were never superfluous, it hits straight to the point. Simplicity. Honesty.

Sorry these are all in Indonesian. I'm humbled and would rather not translate the poetries into English for the fear that their beauty will be lost in translation.


AKU

Kalau sampai waktuku
'Ku mau tak seorang kan merayu
Tidak juga kau
Tak perlu sedu sedan itu

Aku ini binatang jalang
Dari kumpulannya terbuang

Biar peluru menembus kulitku
Aku tetap meradang menerjang

Luka dan bisa kubawa berlari
Berlari
Hingga hilang pedih peri

Dan aku akan lebih tidak perduli

Aku mau hidup seribu tahun lagi

(Maret 1943)



DOA

kepada pemeluk teguh

Tuhanku
Dalam termangu
Aku masih menyebut namamu

Biar susah sungguh
mengingat Kau penuh seluruh

cayaMu panas suci
tinggal kerdip lilin di kelam sunyi

Tuhanku

aku hilang bentuk
remuk

Tuhanku

aku mengembara di negeri asing

Tuhanku
di pintuMu aku mengetuk
aku tidak bisa berpaling

(13 November 1943)

"Elling"

Still steering away from Hollywood movie productions, today I watched a very charming Norwegian flick by the title "Elling".

It is a story about a 40 year old Elling, who was taken away from his home when his mother died. All his life, he lived with his mother. An only child, of a single mother. He had noone to call a friend.

Elling was institutionalized at a psychiatric instution. There he shared a room with a 'giant' Kjell Bjarne (also 40 year old), a hippo who always thought about nothing but women and sex, having never experienced one himself.

This odd and dysfunctional 'couple' shared a room together for two years. After which the instution decided to see if Elling and Kjell are ready to live in the real world. They were released and relocated into a welfare apartment in Oslo, under a close watch of a welfare officer. The story unfolded witnessing Elling and Kjell's attempt to diffuse themselves into the real world, when leaving their apartment was already a challenge in itself.

The entire flick was sweetly filled with many idiosyncrasies, abnormalities, friendships, all endearing as you grew to love Elling and Kjell.

Highly recommended. This is a great movie to watch and you will walk away with an upbeat warmth in your heart.

"Elling" was an Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film 2001.

Taiko drumming once more

So... it's quite unsettling... I am again the master of my time.

9:09 AM on a Thursday morning. What should I do.

Opened the window to greet the day and found out that it's raining. Is this rain ever going to stop?

Oh well, it is a Thursday morning, and my sensei's blog noted that there is a class today. I should go and drum today and maybe play a little fue. Yep, that's my agenda of the day.
My plan A of going to Yoyogi park with my drums to play and laptop with papers to read have been vandalized by this rain that is supposed to be going all week.But worry should you not, Taiko Tari is a woman of plans, I will have my plan A' and then I shall do my plan B.
Plan B is to go home after drumming, and I shall SLEEP. Zzzzzzz.... The day is cooler (19C), what a perfect weather to snuggle in bed with a good book and a cup of cocoa. :) Haven't done that properly in god-knows-how-long. This is the time! I'd have to switch the good book with the conference papers, but it's almost the next best thing. And maybe tonight I'll cook something interesting from the new cookbook.

Saludos my friends, the drums await me.

Coffee Break

Ho hum, it's been a while since I last blogged. So, what's new with Taiko Tari?

1. My SCHENGEN visa for Greece and Germany has been approved! Yeah!

Visa has always been a painful issue for one who travels. For an Indonesian like myself, I need a visa to go to most countries in the world. The only countries that I can travel without bothering about it would be: my home country Indonesia, Japan (since I have the residence visa and reentry permit) and any other ASEAN countries (thank goodness for ASEAN).
I'm always particularly saddened whenever some friends embarked on a last minute trip to some exotic destinations. How fun that would be!! I have always wanted to do this, but logistically disabled by the foe of passport origin.
You know what, above anything else, this is one of the main reason why relocating to Europe would be an attractive option to me. Once I have an address in any country in Europe, then I can start traveling across the historic continent at the drop of a hat.

OK, enough ranting. I am very very grateful that my visa is approved and I'll get to go to visit historic Athens and later on beautiful Heidelberg. :)

2. I'm finally in the low period of 2 weeks!!!Hip hip HOORAY!!!!!

Overworking is sometime unavoidable. That's just the way life is, and because work is work. Today I finally submitted a huge research report. My mind is finally free to wander on its own again. What a relief.
Is it time to party yet? Unfortunately not yet. I have to put my nose down into 25 papers that need marking for the ESOMAR Qualitative 2006 conference. I think RB from ESOMAR is about to wring my neck since I'm about the last two persons who are behind schedule for this. OK OK, I'll do it from tonight. I've got 4 papers down, 21 more to go. Hmmph.

3. In conjunction to point number 2, this means that I have a fair bit of time to PLAAAAAYYYY.

So, dear friends and families, if you're in town and have sometime to hang out, CALL ME! Or do you forget my number already? ;)

4. Mainichi Ohatsu まいにち「おはつ」!!

That is the title of a song that is playing in my head non stop now. Oh dear dear. Last Saturday I went to NHK's All Japan Elementary School Choir Competition to cheer my little Japanese sister Hiina. There were 15 schools from different prefectures. The compulsory song that each of the choir had to sing is called Mainichi Ohatsu.
Suffice to say, after 3.5 hours of listening to the competition and 16 repertoires of this particular song, it's EXTREMELY difficult to think of other songs to play in your head when that one persisted.

5. Oh la la... it's coffee break time!

Must recharge myself with a nice cup of Cappucino and prepare my fun auntie hat.
In approximately 1.5 hour I have a playdate with darling little Ella. She is 8 month old and an avid crawler. Mamma and Pappa have a date to celebrate Mamma's birthday. So this means it's date time for Ella Bella with auntie Tari.
The first time I babysat her, she was only 4 months old. Any problems could've been resolved by putting her into the babybjoern, where I would carry her around and sing while swinging.
But now she's 8 month old and weighs almost twice as much. I doubt that even a taiko drummer shoulder like this auntie got will last 3 hours. The trick? Crawling game. Maybe. Fingers crossed that she won't realize it too soon that none of her parents are around. :)

Babies are gifts from heaven, especially a peacefully sleeping beauty like this one.

A Musical Weekend

I really wouldn't mind having a weekend like this every week.

It all started when I told my new Italian friend Kurz he could crash on my couch over the weekend while he's in town for some job interviews.
One fine Saturday morning, I was cramming at home for a report when Kurz knocked on my door. He just arrived from a longish trip in Thailand and had just been 'abused' by a terrible service from Air India (3 hours delay and generally uncomfortable flight). We chatted for a bit and then the little drama began. Kurz suddenly realized that he lost his waistbag, containing some important stuff and some not-so-important stuff, but above all... his passport. The next couple of hours were spent frantically looking for that bag and finally Kurz could sit down and take a breather when the limousine bus people told him that his bag had been found and that he could go and pick it up in a few hours.

Later in the afternoon, for a party due in 2 hours, I began cooking. Kurz got up from his nap and started chatting again with me. He told me before that he plays a few musical instruments and suddenly he pulled out his flute. An instrument that he just started playing since 3 weeks prior. He started playing with it. Very beautiful. And then he said... "Hey, you've got a guitar, can I play with it a bit?" And thus he began playing with my folk guitar.
It was one of those very leisurely days when two people were doing two things they love the most, me cooking in the kitchen while being entertained with live beautiful music by a soulful musician, who loves playing musical instruments more than anything in the world.

7 PM - my guests arrived: Beating Drum Loose (the honored taiko drummer who introduced the wonderful world of taiko drumming to me), the cool-always-sarcastically-funny Mr. Morita, my kidnapped buddy (and soon-to-be-Mrs.Morita) Pepperwag, Mrs.Hida-who-has-travelled-the-world-3-times-and-back, and her animated-wonder-guitarist husband Marco.

The night started off really pleasantly, everybody chatted with everyone and caught up with each others' lives. Until suddenly I realize that I had 5 musicians in my living room... what are we waiting for, it's time to pull out our gears and made some music!!
Boy, that was so much fun. We started playing up the storm and sang along, from enka to classic, from folk to pop, from Carpenters to the Beatles. That wrapped the night very nicely.

Sunday morning came, I got up at 8 to get ready for my taiko practice. At taiko practice I pleasantly discovered that sensei has opened up a new opportunity for us to start studying Japanese fue (finger flute). For an hour prior to the drumming class we spent learning on how to hold the fue right, and how to blow it propperly. It was no easy task, you blow out so much oxygen out of yourself that your head becomes very dizzy. That was such a nice treat, though, to be able to pick up a new instrument and start playing it. This also makes me seriously consider picking up a sakuhachi, another type of Japanese flute, made of bamboo.

Later in the day I promised to see Kurz for lunch and because he wanted to introduce me to some musician friends of his.
We met up at home and then we walked to Sendagaya to visit a violin shop that Kurz's friend owned. What a charming little violin shop Il Violino Magico was!


It felt like you're walking into a world that is dettached from the world outside. Everywhere you look in the shop, you can see violins, violas, cellos, bows. The interior felt very Italy, and all of the staff were very friendly. For the ample time I was there, the shop was never short of customers, each one of them tried and played with some instruments, playing up some tunes. It was like in a dream to be surrounded by such beautiful music.
Later on we were invited to join Tomo-san (the owner) and some other musicians upstairs where they have the music classroom and a lounge where people who know Tomo would hang out at. And if not playing music, they're talking about music or life and philosophy in general. Kurz, Tomo, and Masuda-san then joined force and started fiddling up a storm with the violins, violas, and cellos. Started with Prelude from Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 (J.S.Bach) to some other pieces that I wish I know what their titles are.
It was such a shame when I had to bow out from the musical world to go back to my other life and attempt to finish a research report that I promised my client.

After 4 hours to tend to my other life, I called up Kurz to see what the musical gang was up to. They invited me to join them for drinks in Higashi Nakano. I went to join them there and we walked up to a little charming Afghan joint up on Yamate-dori. We were surprised to find that the place was closed for the evening because a live performance that was being held at the restaurant. Since the restaurant manager is my long time friend, I asked to see her. When Ayako saw my face, she quickly signaled me to come in with my friends through the kitchen. She said, "Go ahead in, it's almost finished, but I think you don't want to miss this."
Such a very nice surprise. Another long-time friend Jorge Diaz and his flamenco band mates were having a live performance. We walked right in the middle of "Guantanamera", then a few more flamenco piece, after that Gypsy King's Volare and finally we left when they were doing another flamenco tune.

What a very wholesome musical weekend. Truly, truly, I don't mind having this kind of weekend every week!! :)

Noorderlicht Photofestival 2006: Another Asia

Extending the words: if you should find yourself in the Netherlands between September 10 through to October 29, 2006, please visit the Noorderlicht Photofestival 2006: Another Asia.



The theme for the festival is "Another Asia".

This festival is an interesting mix of 64 photographers from 21 countries, showcasing photographs of South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Another Asia forms a triptych:
Another Asia I --> through Asian Eyes
Another Asia II --> through Western Eyes
Another Asia III ---> looking to the past

If you happen to make it there, please make sure to have a look at the works of the very talented James Whitlow Delano. James will be showing "Death Throes of a Great Rainforest", an ongoing project begun in 1994 of the decimation of the great swath of everwet rainforest extending from the Malay peninsula, through Borneo and up to the top of the Philippine Archipelago. A few have benefitted handsomely while forest dwelling peoples have lost their forests and have been left impoverished.



James is a long time friend whom I met at a photo shoot for an article with Newsweek Japan many years ago. If you happen to make it to the festival and meet James, please tell him Tari says hello!