White Strapless Wedding Dress

Traditional wedding gowns are becoming a thing of the past for some modern day brides and a more casual wedding dress is taking it’s place. Along with this growing trend, new companies are jumping on board creating sleek and beautiful gowns to meet this increasing desire for affordability and comfort. For the bride to be considering whether to purchase a traditional or casual gown, there are many advantages to going casual.

Simple dresses can do an excellent job of playing up your beautiful figure and body type without any distractions or bulk from sequins, beads, pearls, lace, or layers of tulle. Depending on the theme of your wedding, you may even find yourself pulling that same dress out again to wear for another occasion or a date with your new husband. Look like you spent more money than you did, simply because it’s just fabric—not hours and hours worth of careful detail. You can still have subtle factors that make the dress your own—necklines are a great place to play with detail without adding too much drama. Choose from necklines like halter, sweetheart, keyhole, and asymmetrical; simple doesn’t have to mean boring.

Called Diora, this beautiful wedding dress is flawlessly designed in an English net full A-Line gown. This white strapless wedding dress features cascading hand-bead lace down skirt with matching beaded trim and antique lace with scalloped hemline extending into chapel length train. The directionally ruched bodice is defined by Inverted Basque waistline. Finally, detachable spaghetti and halter straps completed this Mon Cheri strapless wedding dress in a perfect figure.

Mixed Fruit Drink (Es Teler)

Es teler Indonesia

Ingredients:

• 1 avocado, spooned out
• 5 jack fruit, sliced in small pieces
• ¼ young coconut meat
• ¼ lb. sugar palm fruit
• 5 water melon, sliced in small pieces
• 100gr nata de coco
• Condensed milk
• Shaved ice

Instructions:

• In a glass or a bowl, place all the fruity ingredients.
• On top of the fruits, put the shaved ice and then pour the condensed milk as much as you like it.
• Makes 2-3 servings.

Note: Some people like to also pour a little bit of light coconut milk.

Padang’s Beef Rendang

Rendang : Taste of Indonesia

              One of the famous dishes of Padang is the beef rendang. It’s quite a spicy dish but if you like spicy then this is something you may want to try at home. There are actually several variations of the dish, although the most famous version is the Padang version. Here is a recipe taken from Femina magazine, which is based on a recipe from a famous Padang restaurant chain, Natrabu. The recipe yields approximately 6 portions, and holds about 734 calories per portion.

Ingredients:

2 liters of coconut milk taken from 4 grated coconuts. You can also use ready made coconut milk sold in the supermarkets, such as Kara. In this case, since the ready made version is concentrated, I would say 200 ml would be enough (then add water to make up for the required 2 liters of liquid), but if you like it thick, you can use more to your own taste;

1 kg topside beef, cut into cubes;
100 gr lengkuas (galangal or wild ginger), crushed; substitute with 1-2 teaspoons of the powder version;
5 lemongrass sticks (white parts only), crushed;
3 turmeric leaves, slice thinly;
15 kaffir lime leaves or substitute with app. 1 tbsp of lemon thyme;
1 tsp nutmeg powder;
250 gr red chilli, if you don’t like it hot, remove the seeds;

300 gr shallots (small red onions);
150 gr garlic;
50 gr ginger;
50 gr turmeric;
2 tbsp coriander seeds, ‘dry-fry’ or toast (fry in pan without oil) to induce fragrance;
2 tsp palm sugar
200 gr candle nut, ‘dry-fry’ to induce flavor;
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar


How to make it:

              Using a mortar and pestle (or simply a food processor), grind and mix the chillies, shallot, garlic, ginger, turmeric, coriander seeds, palm sugar, candle nuts, salt and sugar, to form a paste. Cook the paste together with the coconut milk and the rest of the ingredients (except the beef) on medium heat, stirring often to avoid the coconut milk from breaking, until it boils. Add the beef, cook, stirring often, until the liquid has reduced significantly. Normally, the Padang style rendang has not much sauce/liquid, but you can adjust the liquid thickness and amount to your own taste. It is usually served with rice since it is quite spicy and tasty, and the rice will help tone down the spice a bit.

Happy cooking!