Tom Pepinsky

Author: tompepinsky

  • Some Observations

    So I’ve (jm) been collecting some observations to post for a day that we have nothing else to talk about. Well that’s not entirely true. We attempted to watch the debate via internet today, but it didn’t work as well as last time. So that led to lots of starts and stops and we generally had no idea what was going on. But we were certainly pleased with the results of polls taken right afterwards. We hope that they reflect the true sentiments of Americans and stand up to more in depth polling done later.

    Ok, so some things that I find interesting:
    I got a handful of coins as change the other day and they were all 500 rupiahs (about 7 cents). There were three different years represented, 1991, 2000 and 2003, and the design, size and color of each coin from each year was different. Now I don’t know much about economics (except for what Tom teaches me) but that doesn’t seem very efficient.
    The taxi drivers are maniacs and drive like crazy. However, when going over speed bumps they usually go so slowly that we almost roll backwards. Weird.
    People don’t have a problem with naked children here. We always see kids up to about 5 years old running around the pool buck naked and it’s kind of weird, at least for us.
    All the foliage around here consists of giant leaves. We have yet to figure out why everything is so huge here. Any armchair botanists with an answer?
    Burping is common practice. I will often be typing away in the office and hear someone else belch through my earphones. And the cabbies do it too. Tom finally realizes that burping in front of people isn’t always hysterical (but I think it’s pretty funny nonetheless and have to try not to giggle at people).
    Coconut oil tastes really good, but even it gets old after a while. We’ve given it a valiant effort but are now switching back to regular salad oil (which is much more expensive but a lot lighter). Consider it going “un-native”.
    Guys at the gym here spend more time staring at themselves in the mirror than working out, just like at home. However, instead of listening to Metallica, here they listen to Justin Timberlake.
    On our bus ride a few weeks ago to the resort, they played karaoke on the bus. On the list of pastimes here, this one is really high (but gets annoying really quickly).

    Ok, that’s enough, I have to save some for some other time…

  • Acar

    Acar (ah-CHAHR; table pickle) is available in every regular restaurant in Indonesia (but not so much in fancy restaurants), just sitting on the table along with sweet soy sauce, like we have salt and pepper in the US. Indonesians spoon it next to almost any dish, especially spicy curries (to cool them down) or plain rice (to spice it up). It reminds us a lot of my Ga-Ga’s limp cucumbers, and is based on basically the same principle.

    Acar
    1 small cucumber, cut into 1/2 inch dice
    1 carrot, quartered lengthwise and sliced thin
    1 shallot, thinly sliced
    small hot peppers (see note below)
    1 Tbsp. sugar
    1 tsp. salt
    1 Tbsp. white vinegar
    1 Tbsp. water

    Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl. Cover and set aside at room temperature for at least two hours.

    NB: When we say “hot peppers,” we don’t mean jalapenos, we mean Thai bird chilies. These little green guys are phenomenally hot; the only thing hotter, according to people who measure things like this, is the habanero. They’re about the size of the last joint on your index finger. Indonesians eat them whole, which to us is sort of like having a punch in the face with dinner. If you add them to your acar, do not cut them up. The idea is to eat at your own risk, and to vary your experience between little bits of spicy and little bits of not-so-spicy. Since adding a pepper that’s too hot to eat anyway doesn’t seem to make much sense, we use a different, longer, milder (but still hot) pepper whose name is just “pepper” here. It’s not a jalapeno, though. We use three in each recipe, and cut each chili into thirds, ensuring that some spiciness leaches out.