1 Week in Padang

Tomorow afternoon will be exactly 1 week of Tania and I joining Simon in Padang.
So far it has been an enjoyable adventure. I got several messages asking me whether our move will be 'permanent' (that is until Simon's contract is done) or just temporary, a month or two. At the moment I will say, I don't know. We'll play it by ears. Tania absolutely enjoy her time with her daddy and that is irreplaceable and too precious.

Padang adventure week 1 has its challenges and of course lots of joy.
We live in Simon's rented room 3 minutes (just guessing) walk from the office.
There are so many advantages to this. Tania got quality time with Daddy, Simon got food other than Makanan Padang and we get to safe up a lot of money. Simon comes home every lunch time and dinner. Tania gets to see her dad, read book and play iPad with him. We save up on food expenses because as Simon said he can spent up to 50,000 IDR for 1 day food just for himself. Now that I am cooking, 50,000 IDR stretches for 2 or 3 days for the three of us. Simon gets to eat vegetables cooked other than swimming in coconut milk, curries etc.

Now this very big advantages present a challenge for me, especially on the cooking front.
You see... It's a rented room so we have no kitchen. We also don't have/haven't bought a stove. So as I mentioned in my previous note, I am utilizing our rice cooker to cook all of our food. HAH!! Trust me it works BEAUTIFULLY!!! Of course it takes extra work, patience and creativity but oh yeah it works. (got couple of notes from friends who said they've tried it too)

Simon already suggest me to start posting my cooking with rice cooker recipe on my cooking blog (which I intended to do). Please keep watch on it. So I've cooked full meal for us of rice, Vegetables and proteins dish, porridge for Tania and I'll start on desert this week.

The rice cooker cooking took me back at our refugee camp. I still remember very vividly the time we fled our village during the Sectarian Conflict in 2000. We fled to my mother's sister's place who live at the Navy Base in Halong. There was no gasoline for our stove and our wood supply had ran out (we live in a navy complex housing and no where near the woods). Thus my mother took the liberty to use our rice cooker to cook almost all the food we have. So when Simon Andy I still thinking of buying a stove and need to set schedule to clear out some space to cook, I told him..,. I can cook Keith rice cooker in the mean time.
He told me later that he was quite amazed that I can produce full meal from it. Nah! It's no rocket science. Nor that I am overly creative etc... Experience and my Mom taught me not to give up on situation. Thank you Mama!

Notes on Padang Arrival Day and Day 1

- Short Note on Arrival in Padang: Arrived at about 3 PM. The weather was pretty bad and we had a bumpy ride on our airplane. We were welcomed by drizzle or rain and a slightly bigger one as we headed in a taxi to Simon's rented room, which will be our 'home' for the next ..... Time. I got Tania to sleep and then start unpacking and tidied thing up. Simon went to the market and bought the essentials... Electric Fan, Rice Cooker, water dispenser, plates, glasses and cutleries. We had a good nap. Our dinner was rice and food we packed from Ambon; sambal goreng Tempe and Ayam ungkep goreng, with an addition of pop mie to add a bit of soupy thing for our rice. note on the rice in Padang ... Not very nice. ---

Padang, Day 1
It was Sunday and it Began with no running water. 
It didn't dampen the spirit. What's a day without bath anyway? Hehehe.... Surely the three of us can managed that. 
We had the same breakfast as our dinner (meaning no extra spending for food)
Today is spent to shopping for some other essential and getting me to get used to the traffic (amazingly crazy people driving) and the route to the market and shops. It helps me to see the areas and calculate time and need whenever me and Tania go out for our daily food shopping. 
lunch at shopping center. Back to the room and nap.
Late afternoon was for me to get creative and utilize the rice cooker as our alternative cooking device (since we haven't bought the kompor yet)- warm the rice, cook Tania's porridge, heat the soup for our dinner. DONE! Lovely day 1.