DAKOCAN

Poles tebal rautmu,
ku tak lihat dasarmu
Anak berkata,
topeng mukamu!

Gincu tebal,
merah jambu
Seakan mampu,
tutupi lukamu

Gelak tawa,
diluar tubuhmu
Teriak hatimu,
dibalik topengmu

Ku tak mengerti
tapak hidupmu,
penggembira!

Bahagia mu,
Bukan milikku.
Ku tak mampu
Pilih tapakmu

Apalah diriku,
usia termakan
malam berganti
satu masa
anak beranjak
Ku akan pergi


Fall 2012

the Beauty of Cooking = Fashion?

My love to cook and fashion is like having a twin kids hahahaha. lol.  These two items, cooking and fashion like a couple.  Both of them need to have " a good taste" to do it and explore it.

If you have a good taste for food, I am sure you have a good taste for fashion also!  according to my mouth of course hahahaha

However,  making a yummeee gourmet food really need a great taste! then follow by the appearance. It's not the other way around. There is no such thing that the appearance is great and the taste bad! Usually if the appearance is bad, you will not touch it for sure hahaha.

Fashion .. on the other hand, definitely need a good taste also to make the appearance well perform.  If you have no taste of color and style, it doesn't matter whether you followed the trend or not, you still dress up according to .....  means .. ugly.

Do you think fashion is a bit complicated than cooking?

Well ....  if you are going to dress up, for sure you need to see your proportion right.
Cooking ...  if you do not mix the right ingredients .. the answer you food is tasteless!  so basically same, isn't it?

The difficlut part if you love fashion without mirror ( Ups!)
I know you have a great taste, but you don't see the mirror about your proportions, you are just following the trend, and you'll think: hey .. I got the $$$$$. Sorry to say it ..  you are still UGLY!!

I believe  .. if I don't have a good proportions ..  I'll go with rule "Less is More". Less bukan berarti plain boring.  Less means simple, gak digawe kabeh jare wong jowo hehehe.  Well .. trend "Maximalist" bisa diikutin kalo kamu cukup confident dan kamu emang punya "It" di dalam diri kamu. Enggak semua orang bisa ikut gaya max.  Kalo kamu punya tongkrongan aka Alexa Chung ato Heidi Klum, mao gaya Boho, Baha, you name it, everyone will salute you! malah kau bisa dihire untuk jadi model iklan.  Kalo lo cuman sejengkal gak sampe, head to toe penuh, trust me .. someone who smile at you are the one that telling the truth! hahaha.

One time, aku ngobrol sama temenku, dia bilang .. arek iki sakjane ngono ayu, gak difoto aja, cmn gak ngira pas ketemu!  Opo O, jreng? aku timpalin temenku. Temenku jawab: Phuhhh .. dandanannya, bow!  hihihihi .. aku sampe ketawa kepingkel" diceritain.  Aku lihat sendiri, di negeri yg panas banget ato disini aja dah kalo Summer, panas sampe 30C, kamu pake foundation setebel tebel spt kamu pake topeng aja, di foto mungkin aja bagus, kalo face to face .. OMG! orang jg bingung liatnya! gak salah nehhhh.  Itu baru mukanya doank, belum ditambah bajunya! belum asesorisnya! Haiyaaaaa .. pusing dah ngebayanginnya! hihihihihi ... belum cara ngomongnya .. auwwww .. sakittttt.

By the way .. habis dari Sushi kok jadi nyelaaaaaa sihhhh!!!!

Anyway ..  proportions proportionssss ..  jangan bilang karena gua tinggi gua bisa ngomong kek begene! sama aja tinggi ama pendek asal kamu tahu proporsi kamu dan model apa yg  cocok untuk badan kamu.

Orang pendek bisa dipermak dgn high heel dah jadi tinggi. Yang susah kalo lo dah pendek, gendut, buntet, gak tau diri juga .. tuh dia! Gua aja jg bingung kalo pas dapat client kek gene, gua ngomong bener entar dikira gua nyela! kalo gua gak ngomong, ntar dikira gua ngejerumusin just because gua mo jual baju gua.

Bukan gua sok expert, tapi gua gak bisa boonk lageeee!!!  Sorry .. I am very honest person and  can't lie (except if I have to do it, hahahahah).

KAFTAN

These dresses are originally from Persia, they called it "Xaftan" means Over dress.  In my country is become "Kaftan". Who's wearing this dress? Usually moslem ladies as they have to cover their body from neck to ankles. 

These days, Kaftan is become a "Trend" in my country. It doesn't matter if you are moslem or not, it doesn't matter you are skinny or big, short or tall, everybody are wearing it without considerations! Yup. It's a 'Trend" that you "Must" follow or you will left out hahaha.  

In my country, if you are going to pengajian (prayer) this dress is a MUST or someone is gonna watching you head to toe and wondering: "What the heck you're doing here, gal?". That is so true. I got this experience by myself on the beginning I came to the prayer, luckily the host is my friend and she lent me kaftan to cover me up! so embarrasing!! after that I have to go shopping for my kaftan! Aha .. kinda blessing in disguise for me.

The funny thing, I see some gals are wearing these kind of dress even on casual event, it's not only go to prayer but to the mall! Yes. Mall. Well .. this kinda dress is very thin layer and very sexy sheer, if you have a great body and very confident to show it off, here we go ...  I see that a lot in the mall.  However, I won't  do that hahahaha. Being sexy and comfortable on my own skin are two different things! 

FASHIONISTA in FRUGALISTA

Story from my old diary last  year, end of June in Indonesia.
Packing semua baju"musim panas, musim semi dan sebagian musim gugur, simpen semua winter clothing. I know it is gonna be hot season and raining for a bit in my motherland, Indonesia. Still need some cotton sweater just in case I am going to mountain, that still crisp cold. 

The first day impression:
Very Hot, babe!!! Thanks God, aku dah prepare semuanya. Begeto landing di bandara SoeTa, sandal  dah nempel di kaki hahahha. Berdua ama anakku, di Taiwan sempet bengong lihat TKI disana pada dress up, malahan ada yg pake winter boots, believe it or not!  Mau mudik kemana, ya? Canada ato Indonesia? hehehehe  hmmm ... kale biar keliatan keren dr luar negeri gito kale ya hehhehe. Aku dari dulu emang gak pernah peduli soal status dari luar negeriku, so what geto lhoooo!!!

Mulai dari airport sampe makan malam di mall, dimana" aku lihat ibu" dan mbak" pada pake legging. Yup, thight legging and temperature is above 30C!  I can't believe myself. How did they do that? I was like 'Wow .. aku sejak dr airport smp detik mau balik ke Canada, kemana" pake celana pendek dan short sleeveless, suamiku malahan pake sarung dan sandal! hahahaha

Second fact:
Kebanyakan orang disana ikut trends very regerously & at the same time, they luv "branded item". Pake branded items menunjukkan "status" siapa mereka. They are trying so hard to give the impression that they "have", even some of them are not rich or even can't afford to buy it! Aku perhatikan mulai dijalanan waktu macet, orang naik motor sampe di mall dimana pun, tua muda nenteng tas "Louis Vutton" ato Guccci palsu!  They love these two brands. They don't even care if it's fake!

Don't get me wrong. I don't hate fake stuff but I don't like to impress someone! That's the 1st RULE. Aku suka sesuatu yg "descent" dan membuatku comfortable. Seringkali aku lihat ibu"muda cantik di mall yg dandan head to toe with branded item but .. she doesn't look confident . How did I know that? I noticed from the way she is looking at me! hahaha.  I don't even carry LV or Gucci but I know someone notice me, Ups! It's not my fault that I was born with the good gene, hahahahha. Sorry, does not wanna be an arrogan Bitch but that is the truth! LOL.

Anyway, aku jadi keinget waktu berlibur ke Italy, temenku ngingetin untuk gak belanja branded bag imitasi ini kalo kita mau nerusin perjalanan kita ke Paris. Aku tanya kenapa? temenku bilang kalo di bandara France ada LV detective yg detect orang"yg bawa tas palsu LV masuk ke Paris. Jangan coba" pake ato bawa tas LV palsu, mereka langsung tangkap kau dan bisa kena denda 7 kale lipat harga tas asli plus dipenjara! Phuhhh .. serem banget dengernya.

Sekarang aku lihat dimukaku orang pake tas imitasi dimanapun aku jalan!  I was thinking ... hmmm .. what if these detectives on vacation in my country and see all of these everywhere? hah?! They will suffer heart attack probably or they just closed they eyes pretend they don't even see a thing?? 

Sohibku bilang susah untuk jadi who "you are" in this country! Orang bisa bilang kamu gak "normal" kalo kamu gak sama dengan orang lainnya! Aha! Kebanyakan orang melihat what is "IN" rightnow, seperti yg aku bilang diatas, ngikutin trends. Mereka gak lihat if "it is good for me or not", as long as they are "following" the trends! Yup, that is super fact! heheheh

I see a lot of my friends are trying so hard to dress up for impress. They did not impress a man but they're trying so hard to impress the girl - to make them jealous! hahahha

I find out myself when I went out and someone is  asking me: what should I wear? I was like what? What is the question? you are asking me what to wear? I was quite surprise. The first time, I thought it was joking and I keep fooling around and do the same question hahahha. Actually they are seriously asking that question.

For me, that is a wrong question if you asked me. My rule is "NOT" following the rule what people normal do! I have my own rule in terms on wearing thing. I did not follow the trends!! I don't even  care what people think about me.  Dressing up is a fun thing. I don't like any pressure from the right and left.  I dress myself up according to my mood swing and the weather that I am where at.  

Lasem by AGATO

When I was in junior high school, I took an extra curricular subject 'mbatik' - traditional painting on fabric using a manual wax.  This subject is very difficult since I don't have patience! exactly, patience and intenseness.  That is why  I do really appreciate when I see a beautiful or gorgeous batik with the price of  million million rupiahs! I can imagine how this artist was painting on this fabric!

I am very lucky that I got the opportunity to see the biggest exhibitions while I was in my country : Batik world summit and Ina Craft.  I see a lot of batiks from different villages, city in my country from the cheapest price to the expensive one.  They are really really amazing, not just amazing .. I can say it's the Best of the Best. I  can spend my whole day on the exhibitions and if my husband is not coming with me, the result made him cranky since I was busy checking out the batik and I forget to text him!  Aha!

However,  batik is making me like a little child who is fallen in love with a lollipop on the first sight!! Yup .. I can cry for it if I can't get it! hahahaha.  I just love Batik so much!! I don't even know how to discribe it.  I wear batik almost every day on daily basis if I was in Indonesia.  Well .. the weather is pretty hot and batik material that I had is very nice cold,  so relaxing.  I don't care if you see me on my FB pictures,  I wear the same dress all the time.   Wong jowo bilang: paten lo!!! hahahahah

I learn a lot about batiks while I was in my country for these 10 months.

I was very lucky I guess.  One of my fave batiks is batik Lasem as I shown you in this pic.  The color is very eye catching as well as the painting on it.

You can bring me whatever batiks to me and I can tell you what kind of batik it's  from the color, aha!

My Old fave one is batik Sogan from Solo, the second one is batik Madura - the place that I belongs, the 3rd row will be Lasem and the last one from Ndiwek, Jombang that I can't afford it as it's too expensive to sell it!

I am very particular choosing my batiks. I don't like to buy whatever batiks and make whatever design.  I have to touch the batiks and  see the picture on it so I can imagine in my head this batik is good for whatever design I had. I see batik is already very beautiful on its own, so I don't need to add more on top of it. I just need a very simple design for it and Voila!

That is why it's not easy to find a batik, especially if I have to ask someone to shop for me. Basically, she has to know me better first before jumping to that, hahahaha    

People in my country usually wear batik on special occasion but now it's start to wear it every Friday at the office. Basically, now batik is more modern than previous years ago which is good since it's nice and beautiful if you know how to find the good one that suit your style.

to be continue .....

AGATO

4 months only I did not write, felt like I did not write for a year!!!!  Felt so bad since I got a lot of idea to write and it all stuck in my head, damn.  My computer was broken, I guess it's too old like my age, too much memory that I have to keep, ups. Need to get a new one but still luv the old one, hehehe but it's too late now, it is all shut down already! hiksss ...

Fortunately, my husband is very nice to let me borrow his computer to check out my stuff. However,  blogging - it's not that easy as I need to have the computer alone for the whole day. Blogging is almost like dating someone, you need to have a lot of time to spend to know each other.

Anyway, last time I am telling you that I am doing my clothing line project, yes .. finally my project is done.  Don't expect too much when you look at it since my design is very simple like the way I am,  no string attached heheheh.

I got the name also for my clothing line. The name is AGATO. I dedicated this clothing line for my kids,  so AGATO means Any-yoGA and Topan.  That is the good news from me since everything is according to my plan. The bad news, I am not sure yet if it's going to be continue as I have to go back home with my husband, hiksss ... so sad, eih?  


Why?  I learned from this project, the difficult part it's not just to make it since I have someone who will do the sewing and I did the design. The difficult one is finding the fabric.  As I can't ask someone to do that for me!

At the same time, that is the fun part making this project!!! Why? I have to travel to wherever place to find the material or if I am lucky, I can get it from the biggest batik exhibitions that usually happen once or twice a year in my city.

Well .. I am very picky on choosing material since I need to make a clothing that is perfectly beautiful on all skin tone since batik it's not solid color and not all the people suitable with all the print on it. At the same time I want to make clothing that has a good texture so it's good on your skin.

I got my website for this clothing line but it's still not done as I don't have computer.
For the time being, I will do it on FB when I am back next month.

  

Finally

In the beginning I am blogging,  I was thinking to blog all about my passion for cooking. But … blogging is not something that you do like copy and paste.  For me, blogging is kinda ‘me’ time alone, hehehhe. If I don’t have the mood swing to blog, hell ya .. my brain and my hand are not functioning properly, not synchronized at all. 

It’s not just mood, music can changed my mood also. If I listened to the music and I'm hooked up, trust me, I just keep moving.

Actually before interested in cooking, I was crazee about fashion. I think I got this from my mom. When I was little, my mom was always dressing me up like I was her doll.  If I see all the pictures when I was a kid, I was so a little live doll, hehehe. 

My mom’s very passionate with fashion.  She is very pretty, beautiful probably is the right word for it and very concerned about her style.  Orang Indonesia bilang: JAIM artinya: Jaga Image (maintain the image).  Whenever she is out there, she makes a sure she is pretty (using make up and so on). My mom is always upset with me just because I dress whatever I want. She always wanted to dress me up like a model.    Me is the other way around, I don’t care if I am a model.  Being a model is just for fun when I had time to do it.   I am so basic with just Go gal. I don’t even comb my hair to tell you the truth, until now but  since I am getting old now and I live in my country, I do taking care of my hair to make sure they do not tangle each other,  hairspa once every two week, hahahaha.  What a spoiled brad, eih?

I remember when my mom was upset with me and she said she never get it why there is a guy so craze in love with me.  I don’t even look pretty like her at all,  my nose is not that tall like her, my eyes so squinty,  my lips so thick, my eye brows is a just, not too mention I had a very long face! But my best friend told me just because all the imperfections in my face, I look charming. My boyfriends even told me they love me as I am so natural! Aha … am I excited?  Alright … Nope. I am just an ordinary gal, and I don’t care whether she or he likes me or not as I don’t easily trust whoever say this and that.

Anyway, when I was 5 yrs old, my mom even has some seamstress at home who works for her to make some clothing.  Since I was a little so I have no idea what is going on and I’ve never ask questions to her! When I was grow up, for sure I know that my mom is a good chef! She has a good taste on food, like she had in clothing.  If she said it’s not good means she mean it what she said it’s NOT good food! Heheheh. 

It’s said “Like mother like daughter”, exactly. I  got what my mom had. I got a really good taste on food. Not just food, I even crazier on clothing on the beginning after I am doing modelling and walking at the cat walk when I was young. My talent on cooking just came up after I live abroad 18 yrs ago. As I am so hungry and I need my comfort food (my mom food kinda style). From there I am nailing my mom recipe from the scratch.  Now, you name it, I can cook all over the world food, from Asian style to western style.  It’s just bam bam bam, you’ll fall in love with me, hahahahaha

Alright .. now I am talking about my  ‘finally’ title.  This is ‘the thing’ that I wanna do when I am going back to my country. It’s all started when I am trying to find a clothing in here, I have difficulties to find the size! Yup the size, exactly.  If I live in North America or United States, I had a normal size. The gals down there has my average size.  Either Medium size or Small if I am lose weight.  Never go Large except I am pregnant! Not in this country, people are making clothes with size “All size” for me.  That is making me so sad since I am not in all size, hikssss …

I felt so bad too for people who is bigger than me, sometimes they don’t have the size! Well .. you can imagine if my medium size fit for all size. How about the XL gals? Is it gonna be triple size?  I remember my mom, she never find any clothes @ department store since there is no such of her size! So after that she decided it to buy material and bring it to the seamstress to make a dress etc.  That was my mom story and now it’s become my story!!

Yes, I am getting a material, I had my own design, and bring it to the seamstress to do my clothing.  Yes, finally! I had time to do this on my own. I am creating a clothing line that make a sense, that everyone with size Small, Medium, Large and XL can wear their clothing according to their size.  I learned from my seamstress that the different from size Small to Medium as well as Medium to Large is only 2 cm, believe it or not! 

I am so happy with the result and collaboration my idea with my seamstress.  I am very lucky that my seamstress is very smart. She know what I want, she know how to cut, know how to sewing and know me better than anybody else! That is the most important in this collaborations.  I can’t imagine if I had so many ideas and she doesn’t understand what I am talking about. That would be disaster to my clothing line.

Anyway, I felt like I was reborn at age 41 yrs old and  had a new baby.

My clothing line  is not a mass product, it’s more custom made.  I made special for people who is very special also, means my special customer.  This clothing is made from  special material originally from Indonesia, batik.  The style that you’ll see also is different than the one in store in my country, as I am trying to design all my stuff  are according to my style and comfort zone. I luv wearing stuff that is simple, comfortable but still chick. Yes, definitely simple, definitely beautiful and smart chick.

You know what .. I think I rather show you my collections instead of talking about it too much and you’ll figure it out what I am talking about. It’s free to judge my design, hahahah. You will pay if you buy it for sure.

Thanks!