Yummy Grandma's Hair

It's sweet, crunchy, cheapy, and yummy.
Photo & Text: ELLEN / ichnelle


Wait, wait, before you get confused, let me explain it to you. This snack or Arum Manis (or Sweet Fragrance) consists of two things, two slices of plain-tasted chip (they have other color like subtle orange, I remember, but the one I have is pink) for the top and bottom cover, and then the grandma's hair or in Indonesian it will be Rambut Nenek for the fill!

I think the term Rambut Nenek comes from the appearance that looks like grandma's hair. It taste similar to cotton candy, but Rambut Nenek is not as sweet as the usual pink cotton candy, and the texture is just a little bit crunchy and not soft like a cotton candy, plus you've got to eat it with the crackers, so it doesn't taste very sweet.

From Selby's Food Corner Blog, I find that the main ingredients for Rambut Nenek are sugar, flour and vegetable oil, while the chip is made from sago flour. Read the article on the link above, you'll find how one make Arum Manis. By the way the blog featured many other Indonesian foods, snacks, eateries and restaurants in Indonesia. A very informative and useful blog for you who loves food!

I don't quite know where Arum Manis originated from, but I remember I usually buy it in front of my elementary school. The sellers usually bring two big cans of chips and Arum Manis and then arrange them in a bag of plastic. A bag of plastic usually have 5 of Arum Manis, and they are sold for the price IDR 5,000, so it means IDR 1,000 each. Cheap, right?

However, I don't see many of Arum Manis being sold anymore, just like many other snacks that I have when I was a child, so if you see one, just buy and taste it! You'll love it! Guaranteed!

Hello, I just want to share a trivia that @IndonesiaKaya has tweeted around noon last week, on February 7, 2012. Divided into six tweets under #OmedOmedan hashtag, it gave us information on Omed Omedan, a unique tradition in Bali.



This is what you will find when you googled 'Omed Omedan'.


Here's what the tweets say:

Bali is not only known for its beautiful nature, but the tradition of the Balinese is often attractive for tourist. #OmedOmedan

There is no exception for this tradition too, one that is famous by the name “mass kissing tradition” which in Balinese is called #OmedOmedan

This tradition is done annually after celebrating Nyepi (ed. a holy day celebrates by Hindus). #OmedOmedan

This tradition is a heritage commonly performed in Sesetan area. #OmedOmedan

In Balinese, Omed Omedan means 'pull'. #OmedOmedan

This procession is done by pulling the other participant/contender and kissing them. #OmedOmedan

Unique, isn't it? Nyepi will be celebrated on March 23, 2012, and I heard Omed Omedan will be held the next day, anyone interested to come and witness it? :)

It's Rambutan Time!

A tropical, seasonal fruit.
Photo & Text: EGA / mar_coon_ah
Text Edit: ELLEN / ichnelle


What does it call in English? Hairy fruits? It doesn't mean that the fruit literally grow some hair, but since the peel has an hairy texture, Indonesian end up calling it Rambutan [Rambut (hair) + an (a suffix)]. For people who never get to eat Rambutan, will perhaps feel disgusted by the appearance, but it tastes unique. Some of them are sweet and some are sour enough to make your eyes squinted and leaked some tears.


Well, whatever, it's one of tropical fruits that I really love. I just got them from my neighbours days ago because they have the trees planted in their house's yard. Yeah, it's a common in Indonesia that almost every house has fruit trees in their front- or backyard, such as Mango, Rambutan, Delima (Pome), Lemonade, Jackfruit, Guava, and etc.

Indonesia doesn't have summer or autumn or another seasons, but we do have Rambutan season and other fruit season. What a bless that I am Indonesian. ^.^d

Report written by INNA / Inna Mustika
Co-written and translated by ELLEN / ichnelle
Photo by Inna Mustika, Margaretha Quina, Natalia Pratiwi Nainggolan, ELLEN / ichnelle, EGA / mar_coon_ah, and HENA

We, as in group of five adventurous women each known as Inna, Ellen, Quina, Ega, and Lia, planned to spend our Christmas holiday at Ujung Genteng, Sukabumi. We decided to go on the trip on Friday night, Dec 23, 2011. Oh right! With the five of us, also went Hena, the person that did his best to guide and accommodate our trip to Ujung Genteng.

Now, let us tell you how our fabulous trip went on!


Ujung Genteng, Here We Come!



Pangumbahan Beach, Ujung Genteng, Sukabumi


Before we set off to Ujung Genteng, we decided that our meeting point will be Kampung Rambutan Terminal at night about 8.30 PM, and waited for the bus. We were nervous that the bus wouldn’t be there and we have to change our plan to a trip somewhere else. ( Luckily for us, about 9 PM the bus, which will bring us to Degung (the terminal on Sukabumi), finally arrived, so off we go. )

It is a common thing now that whatever trending in Twitter is the trend currently booming in Indonesia. I know that Trending Topic of changes rapidly, but it goes with Indonesian whose view on something also change quite quickly (it's a pretty general statement, so don't bother to argue me on this :D). So here I recommend salingsilang.com.




According to the about us and here I recited some of their words in English:

salingsilang.com is a site providing the latest information about what's booming in the internet, especially in the many of social media channels in Indonesia. [...] Unfortunately, one of the weaknesses of having freely wide conversation in the internet is the tendency to have too much information without credible sources, thus causing the receiving end of the information to have difficulties filtering the information. [...] By utilizing salingsilang.com, many people can see what and who is becoming hot topic within internet users in "real time", especially in Indonesia. [...] The visitor of salingsilang.com can easily get information that had been processed by salingsilang.com's Trend-Capture Machine, and the Editor Team of the site will write the information concisely.
salingsilang.com: capturing Indonesian conversation.




In other words, if you wanted to know about what is booming within Indonesian internet users, you can read about it in the site! :)