adventure

#Dutakestheworld: Roma

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Since i've been in Rome, everyone has been so welcoming. I arrived around noon and my driver picked me up at 12:30pm. My hotel was only 20 minutes from Aeroporto Fiumicino, so once I arrived I took a nice long nap in my room before I did any exploring in the central part of the city. I met up with my mom and sister afterwards because they arrived a few days earlier than I did. We have family in Rome that live close to where we were so they picked us up and we took a little night tour around the center of everything. We saw the Colosseum and just drove around the city and had some really good Chinese food. I thought it was really funny because my first meal in Italy was Chinese, but it was still so delicious.After we said our goodbyes that night, the next day we went to Vatican City and went to the papal visit to see the pope and watch the service. It was really amazing being able to see the Pope and we actually got to meet him and he blessed us. It was beautiful.
We were there from about 7 am to 2:30 pm going all around after the service and visiting the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. After all of that exploring we had some time to visit the Fontana Di Trevi and make our wishes and Lizzie Mcguire dreams comes true (Just kidding only my dreams). We had some delicious Italian food afterwards and I ordered some ravioli cause it looked really good on the menu. It was a simple meal and I finally got to try an Aperol Spritz. One of my coworkers told me about them and how they're a specialty drink here in Italy. It was delicious. There was actually a lot of alcohol in it surprisingly. We headed back to the hotel to get ready for a formal dinner my mom had for her job and were wined and dined, danced the night away and I actually got to meet more people closer to my age and since they were going to Florence the same time we were we got to meet up with them again towards the end of our trip. 

#dineLA The Church Key 1.13.2017

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Last night was definitely a beautiful dining experience to say the least for my friend Keisha and I. It was our second time celebrating #dineLA and we definitely enjoyed every minute of it. On the first night of #dineLA, out of the 300+ beautiful restaurants to choose from, we decided on The Church Key here in Los Angeles on Sunset Blvd. The ambiance was relaxing and the low lighting definitely gave a romantic dinner vibe. The price point for our meal was $39 and from all of the delicious food we received and the great service it was most definitely worth it. We had to choose between three menu items for each main course and two desserts.

The first two courses we chose were: a stuffed avocado with a tuna tartare, Japanese cucumber, radish and a ponzu aioli followed by crispy pork belly, Korean chili glaze, escarole "Kim-chi" with a fried egg and cilantro. The tuna was a refreshing start to our meal with all of the great qualities a tartare can have and it was elegantly executed. The flavors blended very well together and I also absolutely loved the crispy pork belly. It was both crispy and soft and I never thought the flavors of "Kim-chi" and the chili glaze would blend so well with the fried egg and cilantro. (Sidenote: But then again I love cilantro on everything.) 

Our main courses were: Tapioca crusted Tai Snapper, Green papaya salad, Thai basil nuoc cham, peanuts and crispy shallots followed by Red Wine braised beef cheeks, parsnip puree, and a horseradish gremolata. The Tai Snapper was just the right amount of crispy in my opinion and the green papaya salad with the nuoc cham all meshed together so well with my palette. The winner that night though was definitely Keisha's choice: the braised beef cheeks. They were so tender and cooked so perfectly and the gremolata was a nice touch of flavor to make it so savory and satisfying. 

For dessert: we both chose brioche donuts with a brown butter glaze and cinnamon caramel. The butterscotch pudding did sound quite appetizing, but we were definitely in the mood for some donuts. The donuts were spot on to end our beautiful meal. The sweetness of the caramel and brown butter glaze was something we both just looked at each other with approval about. There was also a hint of saltiness that we both loved and were trying to figure out where it was coming from. What's funny is that we both just planned on ordering the #dineLA menu, but there were a few carts going around the restaurant that caught our attention. The Church Key actually has dim sum carts that go around every 20-30 minutes to bring you small tapas type plates like mac and cheese, tacos or even popcorn (which i'm pretty sure they're known for). 
There's even a cart for alcoholic liquid nitrogen popsicles, which were very similar to what otter pops look like, but made in house. We ordered a strawberry tequila popsicle with some mac and cheese fritters and a fried halibut taco. ALL absolutely delicious and we wanted more, but we had to stop ourselves. I know for a fact that I will definitely be back for more another fantastic dining experience at The Church Key and i'm really grateful I had Keisha my foodie adventure partner with me to enjoy it. Thank you to #dineLA for making this all possible and i'm excited for the next stop on my list of bookmarks to eat. 

#DutakesIndo Learning Gamelan

Today we learned how to play the Gamelan! Gamelan is the traditional ensemble music of Java and Bali in Indonesia that are made up of mostly percussion instruments. It is an integral part of Indonesian culture. What I learned was that when you want to play a certain instrument in the orchestra you must hit the next key as you hold the key you hit before it. We had so much fun playing together and it was amazing learning about another beautiful part of Indonesian culture here in Yogyajakarta, Indonesia.