Sunday lunch

My always smiling, always cheerful friend from Kem Chicks was in fine form the other day as he looked after a customer's baby for a few minutes. He certainly enhances the food shopping experience for many of us who are regulars at the Pacific Place store.

 

Agus and I agreed that it was about time for a get-together with Michael and with his family. He had Sunday off, so makan siang (lunch) at TeSate was the game plan. First they came up to enjoy the view from our apartment while Michael was on the phone discussing the well currently being drilled in Sumatra.

 Left to right: Fathiya, Vera, Athifa, Agus.

TeSate once again provided a reliably good meal. I do love that restaurant — and I especially love their nasi lemak ijo royo-royo, which I ordered for the fourth time since I returned from the States in early December (first with Esti, then with Jo, next with Yetti and Renny). The rice is very unusual for Indonesian cuisine, a lovely green from the herbs and chilis. The stalks are lemongrass, with minced duck barbecued at the end.

While Michael had nasi goreng kambing (fried rice with lamb) and Vera and the girls shared chicken sate and white rice, Agus ordered a dish I hadn't seen since Dameria ordered it at a small restaurant owned by one of her friends who used to be a university professor: rawon buntut.

The oxtail is served in a sauce with lemongrass, galangal, lime kaffir leaves and shallots, but the dominant flavor is from the black beans ground into a paste with garlic, ginger, turmeric, coriander and pepper. Dish is from east Java.

 Here are the black beans in their pods (about two inches long), a gift from Dameria.

Fathiya and Athifa were remarkably well-behaved, lovingly watched over by parents who never raised their voices — enchanting and very photogenic little girls.