An Apple Fix_Part Deux

You may have read my first ‘Apple Fix’ posting about my iPhone a while back. Well, I must say that the experience I had last week with folks at Apple Store had made me a total Apple groupie! Here’s the story…

Last week, I noticed that my trusted MacBook Pro was not doing so good. It started with the battery that wouldn’t charged up, even when the adapter was connected and plugged in properly. This went on until finally the MacBook went totally dead and wouldn’t power up at all, even when plugged in. My thought was that the battery somehow had failed, and that I would have to pay some serious mony to get it replaced. I didn’t check at the time, but I was pretty sure that the warranty for my Mac had already expired. Bohoo…

I went online and scheduled a meet with a Genius at the nearest Apple Store in Portland OR to report my problem. When I got to the store the next day, the place was super busy and packed like a can of sardine. I waited for 15 minutes before they finally called my name. I told the GeniusDude behind the counter about my issue, well…my Mac’s issue. He did his thing and we soon found out that the problem was not the battery, but the power supply adapter. He did another check on my Mac and confirmed that my warranty had expired 4 weeks ago! Well I guess I just need to buy a new power supply then, right? WRONG.
This dude said, “Well, your warranty expired 4 weeks ago, but you know what…I’m gonna replace your power supply for free…” And I was like, “Fo Reaaaal…??” So he took a brand new power supply out of the box, plugged it in to my Mac to test it out, had me sign a form and had me leave with a brand new 85W MagSafe power supply adapter. All of that while my jaw was still on the floor. And then I realized after the fact, that he just saved myself $80 bucks!

I am not sure how Apple’s replacement policy works, although I am positive that you don’t typically get free replacement after the warranty period had expired. So either this GeniusDude who helped me was an angel sent from heaven, or it was just my lucky day. But after the two pleasant experiences with the geniuses at the Apple Store, suffice to say that I am forever an Apple groupie. Now if only they’d send me a free iPad :).

Image taken from cover photo for the book 'The Cult of Mac'

My Little Pianist

Ayesha has shown a knack for music ever since she was about 3 or 4 years old. She loves singing, even made up her own songs. She does a pretty good job keeping up with a rhythm and staying in tune. Well, most of the time anyway. So we were not too surprised when she told us that she would like to try to learn how to play the piano.

We then went out and bought a decent enough digital piano, for a couple of reasons: price and size. Our house is not very big and we have a space in a corner of the living room, just big enough to slide the piano in. Then came the next step, looking for the piano teacher. I made some phone calls and finally got introduced to a very nice old lady (she is 86 years old and has played piano for 80 years!) who happens to live nearby. She typically doesn’t accept students under the age of 7. So to make sure that Ayesha was really ready (since she was only 6 at the time), the teacher kind of tested her a little on basic reading, rhythm counting and of course, attention span. Because of that last mentioned subject, the lesson only takes about 30 minutes, one day per week. And oh yes, she did pass the test.

Since kids her age tend to have such a short attention span, the teacher asked that Ayesha would be accompanied by an adult. Since Suci already had her hands full with Daneen, and considering my amateur musical background (if you don’t already know, I play a little bit of guitar), I volunteered myself to go with Ayesha to every lesson. Just a little history, I actually took piano lesson when I was 7, but abandoned it about a year later because I thought it was so boring. Now I wish that I hadn’t done that. So I’ve sat in on every lesson, making notes and at the same time re-learning how to read basic musical notation and staff. This is important because I need to be able to help and direct Ayesha on her daily practice at home.

It’s been almost 3 months since she took the first lesson and she’s been doing pretty well for a kid her age. She’s no musical savant by any means but her teacher told me that she is able to grasp the basic concept of music better than some of the older students. And I’ve enjoyed every minute of being there with her, learning and playing musical pieces together. It’s truly a bonding experience for both of us. Play on, my little princess…play on!

IndoAsian Burger + Habanero-infused Aioli

IndoAsian Burger + Habanero-infused Aioli

Good burgers are easy to find. GOOD burgers, however, are not. Sure, you can get your average, over-the-counter greasy, filling yet tasteless meat on a bun at your local drive-ins. For a buck for that matter! Classier establishments would probably charge you for more than 5 bucks for a slightly better variety of the previously mentioned. But still there’s always something missing in the taste department.
So to satisfy my taste buds, I’ve decided to make one that is more suitable to my palate.  Being an Indonesian, who was fed chili-infused porridge since toddlerhood, I crave for a bolder, hotter, spicier version of a burger. The recipe below was inspired by Wolfgang Puck’s Asian Burger and Oswaldo Bibiano’s Habanero Aioli Burger.

Here’s what you need:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground lamb
• 1 polish Kosher sausage, diced to small pieces
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• a dash of Worchestershire sauce
• a dash of kecap manis (sweet soy sauce)*
• 2 1/2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 4 teaspoons chopped scallions
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 cabe rawit (thai pepper), minced
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• Pepperjack Cheese
• Salt & Pepa’ to taste
• Sesame seed hamburger buns
• Spring mix greens
• Fried red onion*
  *You can find some of the ingredients above, such as kecap manis, cabe rawit and fried red onion, at your local Asian store

For the aioli, here’s the stuff to get:

• 1/2 cup of diced tomatoes (approx. 1)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup diced red onions
• 1/4 cup olive/canola oil
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 habanero chilis
• 1 cabe rawit
• Salt & Pepa’ to taste
• 1 tablespoon of light mayonnaise

Mix the beef, lamb and diced sausage in a bowl, add curry powder, sugar, Worchestershire sauce, cilantro, scallions, garlic, chilis, cumin, salt, and pepper, mix well. Form into 6 patties. Grill patties to desired doneness or until well charred, topped with pepperjack cheese at the last minute. Meanwhile, blend all ingredients for the aioli in a food processor until smooth.
Serve burgers over lightly toasted sesame seed buns, spring mix greens and a good dose of the habanero-infused aioli. Topped with some more aioli and a sprinkle of fried red onion. Enjoy at your own risk! Get a glass of milk ready.

One blog per week…yeah, here we go again!

I’ve made the promise to commit. Yet I couldn’t manage to keep it. I promised myself that I will write at least an entry a week. Well look at the date on the last entry that I posted months ago! Shame on me! I have abandoned this blog for what seemed to be to long of a time to be able to call it a ’short break’. And it was not that I didn’t have anything to say or write. With things that have been happening around me, my friends and my family, lack of material was not an issue. It all started when I failed to write an entry one week. One thing lead to another, one week became a month, and so on and so forth.

Alright, not a whole lot of things need to be said. Gotta get back to it! Yeah, watch me!

Fishing day

My friend Alfred called me the other day and asked if Ayesha and I wanted to join him and his kids, Aleetha and Alvin, fishing this weekend. So this morning, we met at a nearby man-made lake, which has already been stocked with small trouts. Usually you would need a license to fish (which I don’t have). But since today was a Free Fishing Day, we are allowed to catch up to 5 fish per person per day. Al was very kind to let us use one of his fishing rods. Alfred himself is a fishing fanatic and very experienced. Me, on the other hand, is not. We were joined by a couple of other friends, Sam and his kids Yang and Hans, and Matt with his kids, Zach and Joe.

Ayesha and her first catch of the day

We spent nearly 3 hours and caught a bunch of trouts. The kids had fun. Ayesha was a little nervous with the fishing rod at first but got pretty comfortable after watching other kids do it. She caught 3 fish! Well, actually Al caught them and let Ayesha reeled them in. Nevertheless, she had a blast! We went home with enough fish for the following week. It was a fun morning to start the weekend.