Opening Night

I approximate that on some days food consumes up to 80% of my daily thoughts. I not so secretly harbor a dream of one day owning my own bed and breakfast with gardens and a bakery. This weekend, I was able to combine all of my daydreams in an incredible marathon of cooking. For Sarah’s birthday ten of us decided to spend the weekend celebrating at Casa Nemo’s- the guesthouse where Carlos just started helping. Though only two weeks into the job, we thought this would be an excellent opportunity to try out his new menu with an audience trustworthy for dependable feedback. As if putting together a gourmet menu isn’t hard enough, try it in a new country with the idea of local cooking and a staff that speaks little of your language and you speak even less of theirs. Despite all of this, Carlos put together a fantastic menu (which I will list soon) and two days before the unveiling had yet to try than more than one dish. To my gentle suggestions he insisted that he “knows what they taste like in his head.” And, of course, he was absolutely correct. He and I were in the kitchen almost the entire three days of the trip, with one night of sleep the first night and a few more the next two. In that time, we made bread, several cakes, and prepped for his great new menu. I chopped lots of things, helped assemble, and baked a few cakes, but the magic was all Carlos’. I knew he was amazing in a kitchen, but watching him in action, handling three hot pans and plate dishes simultaneously, I couldn’t help but be even more impressed. Since this was just the first run of the menu – which everyone loved- things are bound to get better and better. Carlos plans to keep evolving the menu to make it as local as possible and include innovations from both himself and the other cook Ibu Ida.
Even though it was an incredible amount of work, we had a really good time and even found some moments to celebrate along with our friends. The beach at Casa Nemo’s is truly beautiful and the few minutes we had in the ocean were incredibly refreshing. We even managed to have a small bonfire on Sarah’s birthday night. All in all, congratulations to Carlos for starting something truly wonderful.

Jackpot

I’ve finally found my way to traditional culture in Aceh, and then some. Not only am I learning surunikali from my teacher, but he introduces me into these new places where it seems everyone’s into the arts and I must have been blind not to have seen, heard, or felt it everywhere. I will say it’s been difficult to find contemporary movements (outside of the awful rock music that copies America’s embarrassing Top 10’s), but lately I’ve been attending practices where all presuppositions and ill-conceived cultural biases are dispelled in the wake of focused teenage women. If I had been dancing in front of five college-aged musicians my concentration would be no match for my huge crushes. But, instead, here were young women-most veiled but some not due to the heat- working intensely on an excellent blend of contemporary and traditional dance. But not only that, the five musicians – surrounded by twice as many instruments- were happily creating the powerful and largely percussive accompaniment. These were anything but separate happenings. At moments musicians would stop everything to alter a section and vice versa, but everyone somehow knew if things were right with the music or the dance and how they fit together. Hit the drum like this, hold that move longer – calls could be made from anyone, despite age or position until everything blended together. It was an amazing process of creation. I’ve seen this once before in Java, where we created a melody while dancers simultaneously created a dance. A co-authored performance. I have never seen this in America – though no doubt it exists- so for me, coming from the world of music chosen for a dance, and dances made to pre-composed music, this is exciting and extraordinary, the result strong and beautiful. Despite the hard work and some apparent frustrations, all that was left by the end were happy, tired faces, and toddlers dancing giddily in the hallway.