Description:
When I had my birthday dinner, I invited him and our best friends. They all love this recipe (part of my cajun series). As I promised to Gia, here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
12 large shrimps
3 lemons
3 limes (jeruk nipis)
1 jalapeno pepper, diced small
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sliced ginger root
1 starfruid, sliced.

Directions:
- Zest the peeled-shrimps with a lime. Then use the other lemons and limes after peel them. Zest some more and chop it finely.
- Grill the shrimps. Medium.
- Combine lemon, lime zest, jalapeno, and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Simmer until 3 tablespoons left. Add salt and zest again.
Moisten with olive oil. Pour everything into the shrimps....yum yum!
- Serve with sliced starfruits, limes, and lemons. More yum yum!

Description:
Don't like vegies? This one is sweet and even my kid loves it. Plus, it's super easy.

Ingredients:
2 packs of baby carrots (buy at Ranch supermarket)
1 medium onion (bawang bombay), chopped
1 1/2 cup chicken stock (kaldu)
2 tablesppons of parsley, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons of good quality honey
1 tablespoon of butter
1/2 teaspoon of thyme

Directions:
- Medium pan, melt the butter.
- Cook chopped onion until softened.
- Add baby carrots and other ingredients.
- Stir in parsley.
- Serve!
(You know what? You can mashed this as a baby food!)

Description:
He doesn't eat scallops. But hey, three of us did. Our best friends loved it. May be you can try the recipe that I found at Oprah magazine. Of course, I did modify it. Use several different kind of tomatoes!

Ingredients:
16 sea scallops
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic
3 large tomatoes
3 small/ cherry tomatoes
3/4 cup black-olives
1 bunch basil, chopped

Directions:
- Season scallops with olive, salt, and pepper.
- Mixing bowl, combine vinegar, olive oil, garlic. Stir in tomatoes, olives, and basil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Grill the scallops.
- Pour the mixture on top of the grilled scallops.
This is a perfect hot summer/ outdoor recipe!

Description:
I know he likes meat. So I tried to make something that's not steak, but complimentary with my garlic mashed potatoes. I modified the original recipe found in the internet, add more bbq sauces and more spices.

Ingredients:
1 pounds ground meat
1/2 cup finely chopped onion (bawang bombay)
1/2 cup bread crumbs (white and wheat mixture)
1/4 cub chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon greshly grated nutmeg
pinch of cloves
1 egg
1 1/2 bbq sauce (cajun style)

Directions:
Prepare the fire or stove top barbecue.
In a large bowl, use hands to combine meat, onion, bread crumbs, parsley, and all other ingredients. Mix into one big chunk of meat.
Grill the meat, slowly, turning to each side. A little secret: use more white eggs if the meat fall apart.
Then pour the bbq sauce. Voila...easy! Yummy!

Description:
My friends are into healthy living. So, forget mashed potatoes with gravy. I modified the original mashed potatoes into a healthy alternative.

Ingredients:
4 large russet potatoes
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons margarine
1 tablespoon garlic puree (buy at carrefour)
1/4 tablespoon salt
1/4 tablespoon ground black pepper

Directions:
Cut a clean scrubed potates into a small cubes and cook in medium heat, in lightly salted water until tender. Mash potatoes with potato masher or what I did use the blender (easy!). In a large saucepan, combine milk, cream, butter, garlic, salt, and peeper, simmer in medium heat for 5 minutes. Mix the mashed potatoes with the milk mixture. Serve. If you like, you can sprinkle a chilly powder.

Description:
Konon resep ini dibuat oleh si koki, pembuat original resep Brownies. Tadinya mau buat kue cokelat tapi gagal, bantet, dan disebut brownies. (Lihat novel Brownies, hal. 145)

Ingredients:
8 sendok makan butter
1 cup cocoa powder or 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2 mangkok gula
4 telur
2 sendok teh vanilla extract
1/2 sendok teh garam
3/4 mangkok potongan kacang walnut atau pecan
1 mangkok tepung terigu

Directions:
Gampang! Campur semua (tapi mentega diencerin), diaduk pake sendok kayu. Masukkan ke dalam loyang kotak 13X9, nonstick metal, taruh di oven 350 derajat Fahrenheit, selama 30-35 menit. That's all.

Description:
Semacam gado-gado ala peranakan Singapura. Asal tahu kata 'rojak' berarti macam-macam: 1) Rujak- yang dari India warna saosnya merah, rasa semacam batagor, yang gaya peranakan mirip gado-gado. 2) Pernikahan campur, 3) Kacau balau/ berantakan.
Yang mana rojak-mu? (ps: bisa lihat novel "Rojak" hal. 130).

Ingredients:
- 3 you tiao (yeow char kwai atau chakuew)
- 2 tao pok
- 1 timun
- 1 mangkok toge panjang
- 1 mang kawang (bengkuang)
- 1 ikat kangkung
- 1 ketela manis rebus
- buah-buahan setengah matang: mangga, nanas, belimbing, nangka (takaran kira-kira/ sesuai keinginanan)

Bumbu:
- hae kok (petis)
- belacan (terasi)
- 4 ons kacang tanah bakar/ panggang
- gula melaka atau gula merah
- air asam
- beberapa cabai hijau dan merah sesuai selera
- kecap
- irisan jahe
- 1 siung tipis jahe
- 1 siung bawang putih
- bunga kantan/ bunga teratai

Directions:
- Semua buah-buahan dan sayur-sayuran dicuci, lalu diiris. Toge dan kangkung disiram air panas hingga layu. Semua bumbu, termasuk irisan bungan kantan, digiling atau ditumbuk atau diulek.
- Air asam secukupnya untuk ditambahkan, bisa ditambah air biasa untuk menentukan encer kentalnya.
- Semua bahan dicampur bumbu yang telah jadi. Hidangkan dengan menaburkan kacang tanah bakar/ panggang secukupnya dan juga irisan bunga kantan.

Description:
Diajari oleh seorang teman pas liburan ke apartemennya di Houston, Texas. Katanya, mahasiswa bule di sana main campur-campur bahan, eh taunya enak. Pahit!!! (soalnya dikasih segala macam soda). Terus saya modifikasi supaya lebih mudah dan manis. Easy. Oya, bisa juga diintip di novel "Atap", hal. 185.

Ingredients:
- 2 botol kaleng Coca-Cola atau cola
- 1 ekor ayam dipotong-potong
- 1 cangkir air
- saos tomat secukupnya
- merica dan garam secukupnya

Directions:
Masukkan seluruh bahan ke dalam panci, masak perlahan dengan api kecil (simmering) selama 2 jam. Selama itu pula, bisa ditambahkan cola atau air dan bumbu-bumbu hingga saos berwarna kecokelatan dan ayam menjadi lunak. Sajikan dengan saos tomat dan dimakan bersama mashed/ whipped potato dan sayur wortel, brokoli rebus.

Description:
Makanan New Orleans, Lousiana. Diajari oleh Mr. Greg Brown, temen, advisor, English teacher, best buddy. Resep ini dimuat di novel "Jendela-Jendela" hal. 70.

Ingredients:
- 2 dada ayam disiwir
- 1 kaleng kaldu ayam
- 1 kaleng udang kecil
- 2 kaleng tiram
- 1 kaleng cumi-cumi kecil
- 3 batang seledri Amerika
- 5-8 buah okra ukuran sedang
- bubuk paprika merah
- bubuk seledri
- bubuk cabe merah
- garam dan gula secukupnya

Directions:
- Semua kaleng dibuka, sedangkan seledri dan okra dipotong ukuran kecil.
- Siapkan kaldu ayam dan masukkan dua potong dada ayam, masak dengan api sedang hingga mendidih. Setelah mendidih, kecilkan api, ayam dibiarkan sejenak dan disuwir-suwir dengan garpu atau tangan, lalu dimasukkan kembali ke dalam kompor. Tulang juga dimasukkan kembali, biar lebih enak.
- Masukkan semua bahan kalengan, termasuk kuahnya. Juga masukkan okra dan seledri.
- Terakhir, masukkan bubuk paprika hingga masakan berwarna sedikit kemerahan, disusul dengan bubuk seledri, bubuk cabe, garam dan gula secukupnya. Jika kuah dirasa kurang, bisa ditambah kaldu lagi. Biarkan di atas api kecil sambil ditutup hingga lima belas menit kemudian.