It’s been a while since my last post here. Life have been hectic since before Thanksgiving. Between work and life in general. From stress at work due to the holiday and issue with people at work, to the holiday craziness. But everything that happened, I believe happened for a reason. I might not the most religious person but I strongly believe that whatever happened to me in my life serves a purpose. And all is in the blue print of my life. He will make is beautiful in time and only in His time. I am a work in progress, I am being build, when it’s done I will be with Him as a whole.

Changes in work is one of the best thing happened in December. It was the best Christmas present ever. I lost some and gain much more in life. Trust when bad thing happens, it is to make a way for the better things.

I used to think it’s just the quote from pinterest. However the recent incident and things happened shows that it’s not just words on paper, on the wall or on the internet. God is good! All the time!

February is the shortest month but the busiest month for us. From my birthday and my son’s and valentine and sometimes even Chinese New Year sometimes fall in February. My husband said he’s broke in February.

Our birthday celebration started early for my son, later for me lol. It is hard to arrange time for everyone. Scheduling, coordinating event is not easy. I used to be part of a marketing team for a bank in Jakarta where we organized events for the banks. It takes a whole village to make it happens. Working here in advertising specialties industry, I deal with dateline for event with every ounce of air I take. I live with plan. Yes sometimes it does not go with what we plan, but we start with a plan, and back up plan. And fix it if it does not go as we planned. There will be some who’s not happy, that’s for sure. But, that’s unavoidable. You can’t, just can’t, make everyone happy. You make customer happy , probably have to (not all the time) upsetting the supplier or people at production area. Same thing in life, in whatever you do which involved other people. And that’s ok. No matter what, just give it your best. If you care enough, you will do what you need to do, what’s needed to be done. If you care.

I work from home but there’s a downside to it, my work is here with me 24/7 if I let it. I have to really set the boundaries. Stop when it’s after 5. But I can’t sometimes. The flexibility also there, help me with my other role as a mom, wife and me as myself. I can take my work wherever I go. I can work from Indonesia even with the time difference, I can work from a little Starbucks around the corner, I can work at my friend’s house at lunch. See there…my work is like my conjoined twins. It goes where I go. It’s my prayers for a long time. I wish I could work form home. And guess what, prayers got answered. One day on my way to work, I got a text message from one of my sweet distributor’s representative. She asked if I know someone who wants to work from home. I was like..what about me. I think it was on Monday. Long story short after few phone interview, I got the offer on that Friday. Yes Friday. I have been working here for about 3 years. Again, everything happens for a reason. God is making a way for me. I started on 9/11 and a week before Thanksgiving, my husband lost his job. Imagine that. If God did not knock on my door with that job, and if I did not listen and open the door. I would have been in the same position I was, and frankly with what happened, we’d be in a bad situation. Thank God we survived. Trust that He will and is taking care of us every single day. There are days where all I can do is kneel. And that’d be what I do. Kneel pray and trust. Have faith in Him. Simple..that’s all.

Back to the birthday. It’s all started with planning birthdays lunch with my in laws. Looked for sushi place since we love sushi. Was going to to Kura Sushi but we ended up with Tokyo One Plano it is one of my favorite place for a sushi buffet.

Yes it’s a buffet but they have good quality food. We came in right when they opened. Right after we were in the middle of lunch the crowd start coming in. It was packed.

After sushi, we went back to my mother in law’s house for come cookie cake as requested by the birthday boy and some game.

Came home around 3 and continued with some friends of mine for an asian grocery time and asian bbq. We have been wanting to try this place we passed by everytime we go to our favorite bakery where we get chasu buns. The aroma of the meat grilling always smells so good. The place call Fatni BBQ, you can find out more about this place by clicking on the link.

We ordered the beef noodle soup, lots of different skewer or satay. Chicken, lamb, beef, beef tendon, pork belly, squid, fish, eggplant, bacon wrapped enoki, corn, quail, chicken noodle so much food. It was 6 of us and each probably cost $20. It’s actually the same price with my sushi buffet earlier at Tokyo One. Was it worth $20? Probably not. While it’s not bad, the skewers all taste the same. Give it a try, you might like it. But me, I think I rather spend my $20 at Tokyo One Plano. Variety of food, from sushi , sashimi, tempura, ramen, shabu shabu and other stuffs including dessert and all taste good and fresh. Sorry Fatni, I am just telling what I think. I will give them another try though. I always give places at least 3 tries.

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ne busy day passed, on to the next one. I completely forgot I have to make cake for my gathering the next day. I confirmed with my friend at dinner at Fatni. I thought we get together Monday, turned out Sunday afternoon. And I promised to bring cake for February birthdays celebration. So Sunday morning, I started baking first thing in the morning, then continued with the frosting in the afternoon. I made last minutes topping for the cake and got it done right when I got a text form my friend that she is coming in 15 minutes.

The cake is called klepon cake. It’s coconut pandan cake, filled with a mixture of grated coconut and brown sugar (gula jawa), covered with buttercream frosting with coconut pandan flavor mixed with a little brown sugar, not too much, you want the flavor of the brown sugar without affecting the green color of the pandan. The topping for the cake is klepon, hence the name. It is a glutinous rice ball filled with brown sugar and covered with grated steamed coconut. I have made this cake several times, but I never put the actual klepon on top of the cake. I never make klepon in my life. Somehow it scared me. So yesterday while waiting for y friends, I decided to google it. And read about how to make it. Seems pretty simple. Equal amount of glutinous rice flour and coconut milk with a few drop of pandan paste. Mix and make a ball, flattened and filled with brown sugar, covered and roll into ball and boiled them until it floats. Last step is rolled them in the grated coconut. It’s so pretty. Took it to the party. The host made so many delicious food, from beef rendang, salmon curry, rice cake, one of our friend made sticky rice with spicy grated coconut we call serundeng, one brought my fave corn fritters, one of the birthday lady made crepes with pandan flavor filled with the grated coconut and brown sugar.

It was only 6 of us but we had so much food and fun. We share stories, we laughed and eat. Nice to hang out with adults and without judging mixed into the menu. It reminded us that everyone we meet is fighting their own battle. We think that our problem is the worse of the worse until we heard what others have to deal with.

Monday morning started with a fun mammogram. Thank God they have the result pretty fast. All clear, nothing funny and funky. Fun mammo followed by work and brunch with my friends.

We are giving new place a try. The Nest Cafe. Clever name remind me of a brand of coffee..hummm wonder what that is. Where there’s wifi, I can enjoy my time and work at the same time. The place was packed. Lots of people with their laptop. Looks like a good hang out place. Simple modern decor. Staff were attentive and super nice. The food..man I wish my mushroom toast have a refill. And if nobody is looking I think I might lick my whole plate. The sauce was creamy with a little sweetness to it. Savory and sweet always good. The toast was perfect, not mushy even with the ham, cheese and egg on top, then topped with saute mushroom and spinach. I mean mushroomssss. I still have tons of mushrooms after my toast and egg were gone. Those mushrooms and the sauce was delicious.

My friends, they ordered french toast, waffle and croque madame. Next time I will give that Croque madame a try. It looks delicious, with the runny yolk on top. yumm!

The coffee, I think they are ok. Banana bread was huge. It’s twice the size of Starbucks banana bread. But they are more like a cake texture. Crumbly. Not bad while it’s not resemble any other banana bread I have tried or baked.

Overall, it was a great experience. Specially when you are hanging out with some wonderful group of friends. They made time in their busy life to meet with me for brunch for my birthday.

We ate, we left to lol, asian grocery yayyyy. Then ate at this hot pot place in the store’s food court. We have been wanting to try this place since last year. The booth called Pop Pot. We chose to try the seafood pot. Asked for very spicy. It came on the cute wooden box with fire inside and the boiling wok on top. It was HOT, temperature. We asked for very spicy, we ended up adding for spicy sauce to it. The broth was a clear broth. It has a sweetness of the shrimp since they are using a whole shrimp in the broth. some tofu, beef, fish balls, quail egg, cabbage, mushroom. We split 1 order for 3 of us. And we were full. Oh wait we just had our big brunch LOL.

Felt a little guilt, just a little 😁, we decided to walk at few other stores. Well 2 stores before we headed back home.

Home? no it’s a continued celebration. Me and my husband, stopped by at the gym to pick up our birthday boy. He was not there. Stopped by 711 to see if he walked there with his friends, nope. Drove back home and there he was with his friends. So we kidnapped him and took him for dinner at his favorite burger place, Scotty P’s. We all have our regular :). And since it’s his birthday, we ended our long day with FroYo before finally headed back home to do our chores, yesss laundry and trash day tomorrow.

So that’s what we did tonight. What a fun long weekend. I worked the whole time I was with my friends. I work at brunch, I work at mammogram, I worked at my friend’s house with a cup of Java tea.

I found my new red shoes, I got my red purse as present from my girlfriends, got my airpod, changes at work, spa set, clear mammogram, I got a handmade beanie made by my friend, so many blessings, all wishes and prayers pouring in. I am blessed. That’s all I can say. God is good, He surrounds me with caring loving friends and family. He is taking care of me and my family and friends. Circle of blessing.#blessed #onelove #Godisgood #Everythinghappensforareason #itwillbebeautiful #cookbakeeathappy #carriebzkitchen #drizzledippin