“Hari Raya Idul Fitri 1431 H” is just around the corner, and it is unusual if we do not send greeting cards to our friends, colleagues, partners and families. Lebaran cards used to be sent through traditional mail but now surely it is not the only medium proven to be the trend anymore. Apart from sending greetings from our mobile through sms, sending greetings via Facebook or email is also becoming the more popular and convenient medium these days.

Having said that, on behalf of all directors and staff of PT. Dinamika, we would like to humbly and wholeheartedly say the following to those that celebrate this festive season:

“Selamat Idul Fitri”
“1 Syawal 1431 H”
“Minal Aidin Wal Fa’idzin”
“Mohon Maaf Lahir & Batin”

Ramadan 2010 is just around the corner, its first day starting on 11 August until 9 September. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and marks the first revelation of the Quran, Islam’s holy scripture, to the Prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel.

From the first light until sunset, we fast by abstaining from food, drink and intimate relations. We also try to avoid anger and verbal conflicts, negative thoughts and sinful actions. Ramadan is a month of worship full of prosperity, spirituality and forgiveness.

We are honoured to invite you all to discuss here all traditional delicacies that are usually prepared during the auspicious month of Ramadan at Iftar, often called “buka puasa”, which means “to open the fast”.

The principle of breaking fast is very advisable that we eat food that is easily digested, so it does not upset our stomach that has been resting for so long. High calorific value and fluid food will help recover our stamina and substitute for a lot of wasted fluid from our body during the day.

Eating dates (“kurma”) and drinking a sip of water can be the first two things we can do when breaking fast. Besides the health benefit, both are able to immediately recover the weak condition of our body. Another old-time favourite food and drink that we all love is braised banana with palm sugar and coconut gravy (“kolak pisang”)

”Kolak pisang” is a local dessert that we should all be familiar with throughout Indonesia’s vast archipelago. Some hotels, cafes and restaurants put this sweet dessert on their everyday menu list. To make it ourselves, it only requires a few easy and simple steps. Will this be one of your favourites during this Ramadan season? What is your favourite Ramadan 2010 food?

8 picks, 8 correct, 8 tentacles. Paul the Oracle Octopus is clearly the biggest winner of the World Cup 2010 after recording a perfect prognostication record. Since then, Paul has been an international celebrity of the highest order now, everyone wants a piece of him – both literally and figuratively.

The world hails Paul, most importantly because of him, Spain has won the World Soccer Cup in South Africa! This is more than just a huge world-wide event. In Spain, the streets are empty while the games are played, while the bars with big screen TVs are full.

If you are a soccer fan, you probably are not sitting in the middle of a street, but you are most likely watching with friends. What could be more appropriate than serving Spanish tapas while watching such big events being played? Do you love watching soccer and eating something nice and easy at the same time?

Tapas in Spanish cuisine is the name of a wide variety of appetisers, or snacks. They may be cold, such as mixed olives and cheese or warm, such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid.

Calamares fritos or fried squid is a very popular appetiser or tapa in Spain. Many people know it by its Italian name Calamari. These lightly breaded and fried rings will disappear as soon as you put them on the table.

They are not hard nor expensive to make at all, can be found in any supermarket, and are super easy to cook – especially if you buy them already cleaned and ready to slice! Our next blog we will look into making this tapa using our recommended approach. So, stay tune everyone

Bali remains at the forefront of the tourism industry in Indonesia, recently receiving the award for the best Spa destination in the world to add to its previous list of world tourism and hospitality awards. To cater to the growing number of tourists a whole host of new hotels have recently opened with more expected to be completed later this year and in 2010.

Food, Hotel & Tourism Bali will once again be held alongside the famous Salon Culinaire organised by the Bali Culinary Professionals. Bali’s best young chefs will once again test their culinary expertise in a exciting mix of competitions.

Over 5,000 square meters of exhibition space will be filled by thousands of enthusiastic visitors and exhibitors representing Food and Beverage (F&B) equipment suppliers and products during the three-day Food, Hotel & Tourism Bali 2010 exhibition from 11 to 13 March 2010.

Headquartered at the Bali International Convention Center (BICC) at Nusa Dua, Bali, FHT Bali 2010 promotes all things connected to hotel and restaurant operations. This includes state-of-the-art kitchen equipments, room accessories, guest supplies, imported and local food products, software and hardware computer systems and the raw materials used in the preparation of F&B products.

Every day during the show a series of chef’s competitions will be conducted by Bali’s Salon Culinaire. On display will be wedding cakes, bread shows, fruit and vegetable carving, ice carving, creative table set up, fine dining menu competitions and an entire range of cooking competitions.

How to find us

• Exhibition: FHT Bali 2010
• When: 11 – 13 March 2010, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
• Where: Nusa Dua, Bali
• Building: Bali International Convention Center (BICC)
• Booth Location: Hall B Stand No. 49 (B49)

To visit our booth, you can simply download, fill in and print your own E-Registration ticket. We are looking forward to seeing you all there

This competition is supported by Bali Culinary Professionals and Department of Culture & Tourism, Republic of Indonesia.

Red is hot, fiery, bright and glaring. Red brings joy, luck and prosperity. It is the Chinese New Year 2010. This year is so special because we have both Chinese New Year (Imlek) celebration and Valentine’s Day falling on the same day, Sunday 14 February 2010.

Red does not only symbolise happiness, wealth, prosperity and good luck, it is also believed to ward off evil spirits. Imlek is a holiday for everyone to enjoy and show their love, warmth, harmony and togetherness with family.

As Chinese New Year is just around the corner, the atmosphere is strongly felt everywhere including malls, shopping centres, star-rated hotels, Chinatown, etc., where the shops are brightly adorned with red-themed decorations. Various kinds of accessories are on offer for those celebrating this special moment with family.

Imlek is also a celebration of love for the family. As usual, many people will be dressed in red during Chinese New Year. They also decorate their houses with red ornaments and cook Chinese food cuisine for family reunion dinner. Red envelopes containing money – called ang pao – are normally handed over by the elderly to children and teenagers during the day.

When it comes to cooking for a Chinese New Year celebration, there are a few things you might want to keep in mind. The foods that are prepared each one has its very own meaning and a definite reason for being prepared. Noodles, garlic chives, peanuts, lettuce, lobster and chicken are a few examples that are normally served.

On behalf of Ellane & Chefer team, we would like to wish you all Gong Xi Fa Cai – wishing you a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year.

Di bulan Februari yang penuh dengan cinta ini, apa yang akan Anda lakukan? Sibuk mengurus acara romantis Anda di hari Valentine yang jatuh di hari Minggu 14 Februari? Atau anda masih bingung memilih restaurant untuk tempat dinner anda dengan si dia? Apapun yang anda rencanakan, inilah saat yang tepat untuk anda mencurahkan isi hati anda dengan si dia.

Sebetulnya rumah anda-pun dapat digunakan untuk acara dinner romantis valentine day’s anda, asalkan didukung dengan dekorasi dan suasana yang tepat seperti lilin dan musik – terutama bagi anda yang dalam kondisi money tight, ini tidak berarti anda berdua tidak dapat menikmati fun. Oleh karena itu, kami ingin memberikan anda “back to basic” recipe untuk memasak “fine dining style” Indonesian Beef Rendang:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1kg diced beef
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 50g sachet Rendang spice paste
• 400ml can coconut milk
• ½ cup beef stock
• ½ cup desiccated coconut
• 2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp kecap manis
• Tomato wedges, diced cucumber and sliced red chilli, to serves

METHOD

• Serves: 6
• Preparation: 15 mins
• Cooking: 2 hrs

PREPARATION

1. Heat the oil in a large, deep frying iPan. Cook beef in 4 batches over medium high heat until browned. Transfer to a plate. Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion to the pan. Cook for 5-7 mins until onion is soft and brown.
2. Add Rendang paste and cook, stirring, for 1 min. Return all meat to pan. Reserve 2 tbsp of coconut milk and add rest to pan with stock. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to very low and simmer, uncovered, for 1 hr, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in coconut, sugar and kecap manis, and cook for 30 mins, stirring often so it doesn’t catch on bottom of pan, until liquid is almost all reduced. It should be quite a dry curry.
4. Serve topped with tomato, cucumber and chilli, with reserved coconut milk drizzled over.

This recipe is specially brought to you from MasterChef Australia.

Hai apa kabar semua? Selamat datang di tahun yang baru 2010! Bagaimana liburan panjang Natal dan Tahun Baru anda beberapa minggu yang lalu? Tentu saja kami berharap anda menikmati liburan panjang anda sehingga bagi yang akan atau telah melanjutkan kembali rutinitas pekerjaan sehari-hari dapat merasa ‘refresh’ dan siap dengan inspirasi dan resolusi yang lebih baik di tahun baru ini.

Agar suasana anda semakin ceria di tahun yang baru ini, tim Ellane mempersembahkan seputar informasi mengenai salah satu produk kami yang terkenal yaitu mini chocolate fountain (coklat pancur mini). Produk yang satu ini sangat sempurna untuk digunakan di saat acara kecil-kecilan di rumah anda seperti pada pesta ulang tahun anak anda, acara kawinan, acara selamatan anda ataupun pada acara arisan. Coklat yang mengalir di chocolate fountain ini akan membuat acara anda semakin meriah karena tamu-tamu anda dapat turut merasakan sebuah peristiwa penting yang sedang berjalan.

Selain daripada itu, masih banyak keuntungan lainnya daripada chocolate fountain mini ini termasuk:

1. Baik orang tua, muda dan anak kecil akan senang berdiri di sekitar chocolate fountain yang mini ini, karena dapat mencelupkan snack dan buah ke dalam saos coklat sambil bercerita ria dan tertawa.
2. Sangat cocok dan mudah untuk disajikan bersama makanan pencuci mulut seperti buah-buahan (strawberry, cherry, pisang), snack dan kue-kue kecil (poffertjes, waffle, dorayaki).



3. Membersihkan alat coklat mancur ini sangatlah mudah dan tidak membutuhkan waktu yang lama

Mesin mini coklat mancur ini dapat menampung hingga 1 kg coklat dan akan bekerja dengan baik jika coklat sudah dicairkan terlebih dahulu. Untuk perawatan mesin coklat fountain ini, anda dianjurkan untuk mematikan mesin setelah 3 – 4 jam berjalan. Lalu anda harus membiarkan mesin ber-istirahat selama 15 menit sebelum dinyalakan kembali, dengan demikan mesin akan tetap awet dan berfungsi dengan baik.

Untuk cara men-operasikan mesin coklat mini ini, anda dianjurkan untuk melihat posting artikel kami yang sebelumnya How I Operate Chocolate Fountain. Jika anda masih punya pertanyaan silakan langsung saja hubungi customer servis kami dan dengan senang hati kami akan membantu anda dengan pertanyaan seputar Chocolate Fountain. Mari kita mulai awal tahun yang baru ini dengan senyum dan tawa

On behalf of all Ellane & Chefer staff, we would like wish you, your family and friends for happiness and prosperity during this festive season and the New Year (2010) ahead, so that the festivities may continue in all our lives all throughout the year. Thank you for your kind cooperation and support in this year 2009 and let’s have better communication and successful relationship in the Year ahead 2010!

Yesterday is memory. Today is a gift. Tommorow is a Hope. Let’s begin the New Year 2010 with faith, love, peace and new hope! May this new year bring all of us a new spirit to reach all our dreams, good health and happiness forever.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year !!