‘Laugh at yourself, but don’t ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don’t leave any of yourself safely on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory.’
~Alan Alda (Oh, how I loved to watch M*A*S*H)
I’m such a Katjang* at times… I just had toast with goat’s cheese, no cow’s cheese for me since being half Asian comes with having no enzymes in my system to digest some of the sugar in cow’s milk. I can hear you think: what’s wrong with having toast and cheese?
Well… I added a thick layer of Sambal Badjak extra hot/spicy on top of it, the kind of Sambal that makes some of you run for the water tap *hehe* That’s what you get when you mix two races… *LOL* At least I can laugh at myself and my weird cultural habits.
Another one is having leftovers for breakfast, not just any leftovers but Nasi Goreng for instance. I remember some of my Dutch friends had this weird look on their faces whenever they caught me having my Indonesian or Chinese leftovers covered in sateh sauce for breakfast the next morning.
I can’t get my favourite Sambal Badjak here, actually it’s hard to find any Indonesian ingredients here especially the boemboes [pastes]. My friend K, who is a quarter Indo and lives in London as well has the same problem. There’s only one solution which is preparing it all from fresh ingredients. Read: lots of work!
Luckily when I went to the Lowlands in April to move my stuff to London I bought two of the biggest jars of Sambal Badjak that I could get 750g each. There’s a bigger size still but hey… there’s no need to exaggerate right?
Last weekend I bought three coconut palms to add a nice touch to my office. I remember my dad kept one for years in the cellar, he brought it to the Lowlands when he moved from Indonesia. I remember I asked him about it when I was a little girl, I didn’t know what it was, he told me he wanted to plant it one day, he never did. So these brought back memories and I simply couldn’t resist… Remember to always follow your dreams and take steps to move closer. Even something as simple as planting a coconut…
Have a beautiful weekend!
*Katjang means peanut… In the Lowlands Indos are sometimes called Katjang which is considered name-calling to some but others [yes even Indos] consider it to be a nickname…
A spoon and a jar is all I need
My coconut palms sitting on top of my cool chest of drawers flightcase 
From memory a few tips on locating Indonesian ingredients in London.
See Woo on Lisle St and New Loon Moon Supermarket on Gerrard St (both near Soho) for South East Asian cuisine specialities, I used to use these for mainly Thai or Malaysian ingredients but I remember they had lots of Indonesian stuff too. Not sure if they’ll have sambal though.
Also eastwestoriental.com is a good website too.
Hope these help, when you’re feeling homesick. I can’t tell you where you’d get stroopwafels. But you can try gingernut biscuits as peper/kruidnoten substitutes!
What’s this about lots of work? :-O
I guess I won’t have to worry about strange looks when I have spicy noodles for breakfast…
Rudi: I have been to most of the supermarkets near Gerrard Street but couldn’t find the proper pastes, most are Malaysian and not Indonesian and none of them have sambal just the chilli paste which is something completely different, I tried, it just isn’t the same
]. Thanks for the tips though!
See Woo is actually the only place I go to these days, but to get other Asian stuff or the local wholesaler where I live. It’s hard to find proper Indonesian things here, but this way I have a reason to fly to NL every now and then or ask my friends to send it to me. I need my ‘home’ brands [no not Conimex
je kunt natuurlijk ook hier terecht als je door je vooraan heen dreigt te raken:
Je was toch ook HEMA fan…?
hema
Hey Bart
jouw bezoek is altijd een verrassing, hoop dat het goed met je gaat!? Die winkels zijn ontzettend duur qua verzendkosten, ik hou het op de vriendenkring in NL die stuurt me graag af en toe wat 
is dat ok?)
Qua Hema: je bent geslaagd ik tuinde erin *LOL* Wat een onwijs leuke link
(ps ik ga jouw link toevoegen aan mijn expat links want ik vergeet steeds naar je foto’s te kijken
Jim: I apologise I misread your comment, don’t know where my head is today [well I know but better to write in email]… sorry
It is time-consuming, not something you’d want to do on your own which is something most people don’t realise since it’s much easier to get the pre prepared stuff. One day I might copy an authentic recipe on here just to show how much time is involved: this could be days depending on the amount and complexity of dishes.
Alles goed hier…! …maar we zijn aan (kerst)vakantie toe, daar kijken we naar uit…
Natuurlijk mag je me toevoegen aan je linklijstje…))
Groetjes,
Bart
Hi,
Sorry for the delayed response. I’ve been away in Barcelona for a few days.
I completely understand about your preference for the ‘echte merk’ and from what you said you’ll not be needing any Sambal Badjak for quite a while, but did you happen to see the version they had on that site I mentioned?
Could be useful in an emergency!
Eet smakelijk,
Rudi
Rudi: hi, no worries
Yes I did see the one you mentioned and it seems like a proper sambal 
Thanks again for the tip! I hope I won’t have to deal with emergencies but you never know. It’s hidden in a secret place now :-O
ps, last time I was in Scotland I ran into a Dutch guy at the annual two-day agricultural show in Perth selling ‘stroopwafels’, he gave me a discount: a fiver for 24 *hehe* [and ‘kruidnootjes’ see my next post…]
Bart: Heb je toegevoegd
Sinterklaas eerst? Of niet dit jaar? Indien ja: hele fijne avond vanavond of zaterdag! Ik ga kruidnootjes bakken 