Live to eat

Food is a major focus of this trip for many reasons. First, and most of all, Indonesian food is absolutely delicious. It is also fascinating, provides cultural insights, is part of social bonding, and is fun. Plus I love to eat.

Today I had my favorite, nasi goring (fried rice), for breakfast. Then we visited the old Dutch town of Batavia. During Dutch colonial rule it was the center of government. There was a museum with artifacts from that time and we went to the Cafe Batavia in all its faded elegance. Dale, Daniel and I ordered our food (nasi goreng for me). When our food came we found that none of the family had ordered--they took us to the cafe because we would like it but they prefer Padang food so were planning to go to another restaurant afterwards. Okay.

Padang food is extremely spicy. It is eaten in Sumatra, where Nana's family is from. We went to the restaurant and the food just kept coming. Three large bowls of rice and then maybe 30 separate dishes, some stacked artistically on others. Fish, calamari, beef (I think), cassava leaves, and lots of unidentified goodies. The convention is to take some rice and whatever you want from the bowls, then mix and eat it with the fingers. It's a fun way to eat but messy for beginners. I was full from the earlier meal so only had a little rice and cassava. But if I had been hungry I hope I would have been a little adventurous. Dale did a better job than I and tried several interesting items, although he stayed away from the very spicy.

We've had amazingly good food here. Here are a few items (don't remember the correct names): warm avocado drink, pastries, fried banana, green bread with peanut butter (the bread is made with a plant that is very healthy), porridge (cream of wheat with shredded chicken), and fish in banana leaves.