I Need "Words of Affirmation", What About You? [Author Corner]

Some of my friends knew that every Saturday I joined this "secret gathering" from period of February to April 2012. During one of sessions, the discussion about Love and Relationship, and just happened there is this little quiz about knowing of a person Love Language. I never knew that actually there is someone who quantify it in such way and when I tried to google about it, I found that it is already been around since 1992, means it is already for over 20 years.

During the session, I found that my primary love language is "Words of Affirmation" and according to a website, it means

Actions don’t always speak louder than words. If this is your love language, unsolicited compliments mean the world to you. Hearing the words, “I love you,” are important—hearing the reasons behind that love sends your spirits skyward. Insults can leave you shattered and are not easily forgotten.

Well, it is possible that a person has same score for more than one language, just take it as you are a bilingual or maybe even multi-language person. It is kinda good in my opinion understanding what your love language, as you might realize whats the most important for you in relationship and for your partner to know about it, so yourself will be felt more loved by her/him.

If you are curious about the quiz, I tried to consolidate the quiz and the result brief explanation. Simply download following file  (password: egi). Sorry, but the file I protected, so it is Rad-Only file mode.

The Five Language Quiz

There will be 30 pairs of statements. Read the statements and imagine yourself having to choose ONE out of the two statements. Choose one that fits you best, and put "1" under your choice column. I tried to make it easier, so by the time you finish all of the questions, simply go to the Result sheet to find which one is the most dominant.

Indonesian Cuisines are NOT Only from Ayam Penyet Ria, M Nasir, and Tambuah Mas [Food]

Whenever people in Singapore mentioned about Indonesian cuisines, residents or tourists, somehow their association to it will be somewhere quite well-known places i.e. Ayam Penyet Ria, Tambuah Mas, or Warung M. Nasir. Well, in my opinion those places are fine, but if you want to find somewhere that not really mainstream, perhaps you might want to try these following five other places that I tried before.

1. Warung Lele

With their wide various choices of menu, actually you can try something new that you never heard before (even for some native Indonesian). Located just outside the exit of Tanjong Pagar MRT, Warung Lele is quite convenient for commuters, and not really that crowded whenever I came there during dinner time. So if you thinking to book a place with big group for a dinner, actually this place is one of best choices due to the availability. Price-wise, usually I will spend about 8-15/each person. It really depends on how many menu that you ordered, since the style is more to a-la-carte, or in Indonesia we usually call it "menu tengah" (center menu). Their menu varied from Ayam Kalio to Es Teler.

2. Ayam Bakar President

The name of the shop itself literally means Chicken Grill President. Located in Lucky Plaza, I think they want to perceived that they have a top notch quality in their grill stuffs, which I am kinda agree. This place has the same style with Ayam Penyet Ria. I usually spend about 8-10/person in this place. My favourite menu will be Empal Bakar, Nasi Goreng, and Avocado Juice.

3. Sinar Pagi Nasi Padang

In Singapore, usage of "nasi padang" phrase is overused island-wide. Some of the stalls in hakwer centre use the phrase without any kind of understanding the different between Malay cuisine and Padang cuisine. Well, it is true that Padang people indeed are Malay people, but it does not mean that all Malay people are Padang people, and it applies to food as well. First time found this place was during my internship, and it all thanks to SGEntrepeneurs co-founder, Ms Gwen who brought me here. Located in Circular Road, with nearest MRT will be Raffles Place or Clarke Quay, this place passes my standard as a true blood of Padang people (both of my parents are from West Sumatra, practically Padang foods are my daily food back then in Indonesia), or even I can say one of few places in Singapore that serves good-quality of Padang cuisines. If you come here alone, you always can order "nasi campur" (mix rice) like what I ordered, but if you come here with a group of friends, I will recommend you order "menu tengah"-style. Normally I will spend about 5-11 SGD/person, it all depends again on how much you want to order. Just take note for sensitive stomach person, some of their foods are spicy, although they already tried to adjust it to local standard taste.

4. Resto Surabaya

I tried the branch in Far East Plaza before, but according to hungrygowhere, there is another branch in Lucky Plaza as well. This place has an interesting menu called  Ayam BumbuSate (Chicken Satay Sauce). Well, the satay sauce is not really that Indonesian taste I can say, as they try to adjust it with local taste as well. Perhaps, they could make it become 2 different type of sauces, because in my opinion there will be some people who prefer Indonesian-style of sauce (talking about myself indeed). Price-wise will be similar like Ayam Penyet Ria or Ayam Bakar President.

5. Pondok Jawa Timur

Well, if you know about Indonesia map well, at least Java Island, you might wonder why so many people from this island use city/province names as part of their restaurant names. Well, for Indonesia restaurant, most likely the owner itself is from that location, not because the foods they sell are the cuisine from that region only. Pondok Jawa Timur used to be located beside Plaza Singapura, but the last time I ate here it was relocated to Wilkie Edge, a mall after Pomo, behind School Of The Arts (SOTA). After tried some places around Singapore, the satay here is the one that really close to Indonesian satay taste. The portion of each skewer is quite big, which justify the higher price, on top of the taste of it as well. Beside the chicken satay, you might want to give a try Bakwan Jagung as well. But if you are ordering a set meal, Nasi Kuning Komplit will satisfy your tongue and empty stomach.

Well, the numbering in this post doesn't mean anything, and all of the write-up above are only based on my experiences and my own judgement, so it might be different to others. Hopefully, it will give you more places to go for dinner/lunch next time you are in town! :)

NTU is not Singapore, walking around might get caught in SG! [Author Corner]

Sorry, my house in Indonesia is secured enough and we are not really that kaypoh about what other people doing around us, but we indeed know each others around neighbourhood. 

That's what I felt like to tell that policeman last night when he asked me "what will you do if someone walking around your house area in wee hours?". Pardon me for being anal about kaypoh-ness of neighbourhood here and sorry also for my grammar mistakes.

Well, basically last night I was unlucky, because usually when I walk around waiting for my friend, nothing happened to me. But, perhaps I need to learn it in hard way that waiting for your friend in void deck at wee hours might get you being suspected for something illegal to do in Singapore.

It was started when I couldn't sleep last night, so I asked my friend who stay in Jurong for supper, simply want to talk about some stuffs. Aggreed to meet in McDonald, but after I finished all of foods that I ordered, he was not there yet. So my decision was walked to his block and waited for him at void deck. Oh to make it more details, it was 230 in the early morning. 

So while waiting, I walked around, while I still constantly contacted him through sms and phone call, yet no responses. That's the time when police "caught" me. Oh well, there were three policemen, and from my observations, each of them has their own job-desc when holding someone momentarily. One will check all of your belongings, including the contents of your phone, another one will call the station to confirm what should they do to the person, while the last one will start small talks to the person to ease his/her feeling. I thank to myself, because I don't have data plan at that moment, and lucky me for not having any indecent contents in my phone (maybe only a video that my friend sent thru whatsapp). But seriously, they need to make it right when reporting to their station in the first place, while another policemen still questioning the person on hold at the same time. 

"Dude, you don't have the full story, yet you reported to your police station like you know everything". 

Lucky there were only few groups of police who patrolled around, I can't imagine if they have a lot, and at the same time with same SOP that they have and they treat all the same as what they did to me, cant imagine all the crowds that they might have in police station. 

Well, I was suspected because I have similar descriptions with the report that they received earlier. When I asked, what are the descriptions, they told me can't reveal everything, but what they told me it was related with nudity in public.(Yeah right, I will run naked in public like nobody business). At the time they told me that, I was like "oh God, why you gave me this physical body appearances thus I need to get thru this kind of things". To my friends, congrats to all of you who said I have perverted face, you guys might be right all this time. *proven by Singapore policemen* =.=

Moral of story: NTU and home country are not Singapore! Do not walk around during wee hours. You might be questioned by policemen if you do.