Delivery - Beetle - Fruit - and a Wonderful Drive Through the Countryside!

We started our day by ordering 2 more large water bottles ~ "salamat pagi! Hari ini 2 air botels mohon - Jl Antasena K. Dukuh (rumah merah) 

Good morning! Today 2 water bottles please - address, village and house red 

And there he comes full of smiles - loaded up with 2 /10 gallon filtered water....on both sides of his motor-bike...can you imagine the weight of that! 

Nick is ready to pay him - each bottle is 5000 rupiahs which is 50 cents including delivery.  Oh we always want to tip them for the effort!

 Ah....some of you will go....."yikes!" On the tile is a BIG black beetle!  He was dead - had crawled into a pail outside.  

Laid him on his back.....

             ....and then turned it around....ugly loooooooking huh?

Yesterday afternoon our neighbor (tetangga) Kasum gave Nick some fruit - Nangka - Jack fruit - Nangka ....SEE what does Wikipedia say about it? which we have never had before...so of course I want to share this with you!

 It seems to be from the pineapple family - but not sure...it taste very uniquely different.  It comes from a very tall tree - and if you recall, Nick & I had taken a walk through our kampung (village) and this man was way up in a tree wrapping these large fruits one by one with a rice bag.  We wondered what he was doing. 

 He was actually wrapping it and tying it to the branch - so it would ripen, and when it would let loose - it would then fall into the bag tied up to the branch of the tree and not crash down to the ground!  They weigh up to 10 lbs!  

So this is what it looks like on the outer skin.

You have to pull a part away and then peel this outer covering off ~ do you see how stringy it is?

 Once you have done so - oh my goodness it is really refreshing - not too sweet - and meaty!  How I love to experience new things and new foods! 

See the pit? This whole piece can now be eaten up and it was really good!  I would say between a pineapple and a lychee fruit..yes and a little apple flavor too....am I making you hungry????

So we get a knock-knock on the door yesterday around 1:30 pm....and there are 2 guys on the motorbike with two boxes tied together - they are making a delivery to us!  And we figured it was again from sweet Indah our new friends!

Such a cute box....and when we opened it up...it was sectioned into small little goodies....

Nasi kuning (yellow rice with a wonderful flavor!) Nasi Kuning See RECIPE and then my favorite ever (Indah had heard it was!) Rendang Rendang See RECIPE (my favorite!) !!! Schredded beef with a wonderful spicy paste through it!!!! Oh my!

A little peanut & coconut sprinkle, cucumber mix!  

Oh Nick & I are so spoiled...by all these kind people!  

Am I making any of you hungry???? I am hungry just logging & looking at this again...

Thank you Indah - how special you are to remember these things!  

So this morning we took a ride out - we so love the scooter and driving around in the countryside! 

It was a bit overcast - but just look at this scene you guys...the little village right below Mt Merbabu - oh the terraced rice fields (sawas) are all so neatly sectioned off....such a gorgeous sight!

                     We enjoyed the ride up and the ride down - traveling about 1000 ft elevation!

You just had to stop...you just had to...to take in the views all around us!

Click on this Link & See Some Sights!  

We had passed along the way a cute restaurant called Lotus Coffee & Resto and after our ride we decided to get a bite to eat at this cute place!  

                   We got there just in time...because it began to rain!

 We sat at this table when we got here - and then down came the rain...so the staff quickly came to us with an umbrella to help us get undercover~ The people are ever so' kind and considerate - it came down VERY hard!  

 After a while it stopped again - we enjoyed the garden area - always so' much to see, everything is so lush!

                                    Look Cecile - cute huh this cactus! It made me think of you...you love cactus'!

Oh there was this vine growing with these beautiful flowers in them....look how uniquely different they are- 

            Beautiful huh?  

       No idea what it is called - do you?

 Oh God is so' creative...He spoils me - I am so thankful to have eyes to appreciate His beauty!   

 Nick was contented - yes mie goreng, (bami) with a cap cay vegetable dish - (stir-fry) and a great cup of coffee... kopi tubruk Salatiga style coffee!  

 Yep a great day out!  Scooting along the countryside.  A nice lunch with wonderful surroundings - sweet service and a great ride on the motorbike with my best friend...what else does a girl need?!!!!

.....well maybe a little dessert - to end a wonderful afternoon?

 Fried banana with chocolate & sprinkles of cheese...it sounds a bit different but taste very good and a Great way to end lunch and a lovely afternoon out and about!  

As we finished our lunch at the restaurant - it began to rain again!  Oh! Oh Nick! - oh YES we both have our plastic poncho's now....
  No problem..let it rain...we have it made!

 We had a little ways to travel still and where we were was still in the higher elevations - so there comes the rain! We were so' glad for the covering...and it was fun to experience a new thing again...getting drenched on the motorbike with poncho's on! 
                                              HA!

We made it just fine and when we got down to Salatiga -   we saw that it had not RAINED! We must of been the only ones with our poncho's on!

                                               Well it looks so funny! 
          But are we having a fun time or what????!!!! YES! 

A fabulous day today Nick! Thank you so' much! We feel blessed and spoiled! We got home around 3:30 pm and yep you guessed it - I am on this blog telling you all about it! 

 And to end this blog today ~ I am sharing these pictures of Jas, Milou and my little Skyler who has just recently celebrated her 15 months!!! Oh my - is she not a beautiful little girl and what handsome parents she has huh?

Yes! they are and Yes! she is and YES! this Momma / Oma Nana is ever so thankful and can't wait to see them at the end of our trip this upcoming June! Yeah!