3-5 Iftar Meal at Daughter's House

 The majority of people living in Indonesia are Muslim.  Indonesia is made up of about 17,000 islands.  Of which about 6000 are inhabited, with the majority of people living on 5 islands.  These five islands are Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi and New Guinea.  Bali, which many of us are familiar with is a smaller island and is an outlier as it has a majority population who are Hindu.  Sumatra where Medan is located, is a majority Muslim island, but it does have a large population of Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians as well.

The Ramadan holy period of Ramadan runs from February 17 to March 18 this year.  Muslims do not eat or drink from sunrise to sundown.  They break the fast at sundown with an Iftar meal.  You can have a formal Iftar meal on any evening during this period.  The Medan consulate held its formal Iftar meal on the evening of 3/5 in the home of the Consular General, Lisa Podolny.  Since we were staying in the home we got to experience our first Iftar and a formal event featuring our daughter.

My last two posts showed how we spent out morning and early afternoon.  Our last stop was at the flower shop to pick out flowers for the house.  Back at the house preparations were in full swing.

The dinning room is being converted into a buffet.

This is the second, more formal living room.

The first living room.  Michael is standing by the large entry way.  Across the room from Michael is the formal living room.

Formal entry way.

Table is set - ready for the food to arrive.

Center table in entry way is moved to corner and topped with the guest book, which all guests signed.

Lisa and Tim stand in front of a panel with a U.S. shield on it, ready to great their guests.  The rest of the people in the room are Consulate staff members.  The first guest has arrived!

Smiles and conversations ready.  As the two of them stand waiting to greet guests -

The rest of us mingle.

With the Consular General of Indonesia.

Many Muslim ladies - I don't remember what any of them did.

These two stuck together.  I thought their outfits were so colorful.

Then it is time for Lisa to make some formal comments inviting people to her home and expressing appreciation that they would honor her by coming and breaking the fast with her.

Lisa made her beginning remarks in Bahasa Indonesian, then switched to English.  Her staff member on the right then translated her words into Bahasa Indonesian.

I somehow ended up in the inner circle.  The white guy on my left is her second in command.  The man on my right is the Sultan of Deli.

Most of the important Indonesian guests are in the center of this photo.

                                      

Shortly after she spoke it was sundown and time to break the fast.  It is frequently broken with dates and water.  That is what is on the tray.  The buffet was then opened and everyone got their fill of food.

That is the signal that it is OK to leave the affair.  People usually want to get home to their families.  But first everyone must have their photos taken with Lisa and Tim next to the backdrop.  Then their must be more conversation and long goodbyes before that couple or group gets out the door.  And the sequence repeats itself with the next group.                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Of course we had to get in on the action - but minus all the conversation.

And as the Sultan had graced us with his presence, we could get a photo with him as well.  Yes this is the same guy whose photo we saw as a 9 year old at the Sultans Palace.

And one more photo by the formal photographer who is a member of Lisa's staff.

Everyone left early enough that we had a couple of hours to relax and unwind.  And Nicholas was able to come out of hiding in his room.

 

Any photos in this post where I am in the photo were taken either by Tim or the formal photographer.

 

3-5 Tabona Curry Restaurant

 Still the same day - so next we are going to taste curry from a small place that Tim says has the best curry in Medan.  All dishes were made with the same curry.  Your choices were rice or noodles, and chicken or beef.  There was a tent like covering over the tables, but we were outdoors.

First a few photos as we drove to the restaurants.

The kitchen and front of the house is in a building.  The kitchen is way in the back.

That might be our curry coming - lady in the center of the photo.

We got the chicken with rice option.  It was delicious!

I ordered unplugged tea on ice.  I have no idea what that meant.  It tasted like black tea with no sugar.  I asked a waitress in another restaurant - and she said unplugged does not mean without sugar.  

This guy saw us and tried to play U.S. music he thought we might like.

This women was going from table to table trying to sell packages of chips in the big bag in front of her.  You are served these chips all the time.  They are a puff of I don't know what - they have a slight crunch and can be made of fruit or vegetable deep fat fried.  Most of what I have had have been savory.

After this we walked to Tim's favorite flower shop to pick up flowers to make into bouquets for the Iftar meal to be held at their house this evening.  More about that in another post.  Then back home to get prepared for the big event.

3-5 The Oldest Coffee House in Medan

 Tim loves anything having to do with eating or drinking.  He and Lisa love coffee - and one of the staples of there many moves to many countries has been Starbucks coffee.  They have a collection of Starbucks mugs from around the world.  But Tim also loves finding local coffee places and restaurants.  This day he wanted to take us to the oldest coffee house in Medan called Kada Kopi Apek.

The front of the coffee place - no sign announcing the name of the place.

Trying to decide what do order.

Tim ordering - with the help of the dude sitting in the table next to us who jumped in to help.  The two ladies in pink and taking the order.  We also got an Asian noodle dish from the restaurant next door delivered to our table at the coffee shop.  This can also happen at a lot of the smaller restaurants.

The back of the restaurant.

One of the things you must try is the bread or toast spread with Kaya jam.  Kaya jam is made from coconut milk, eggs, sugar and Pantan leaves.  It is quite sweet.  You are supposed to eat it with a poached egg.

The egg was poached to perfection to my taste!

The table next to us was celebrating a birthday.  When I saw they had a cake I asked Tim if we could order it.  Turns out they had brought it in with them.  The dude in the beige with his back to the camera (the one who helped Tim order) must have overheard and one of the guests brought two small pieces of the cake to us.  Such a kind gesture - and the cake was good!

A beautiful cake.  They did sing Happy Birthday - the long Dutch version.  This area of Indonesia was once under Dutch rule - and there is still much influence.  You can find Dutch architecture, food and this tradition of singing Happy Birthday in Dutch.

In the back of the restaurant was this Buddhist offering on the floor.

When we finished out meal we went outside for more photos of the area.  Not sure if this is the restaurant where our noodle dish came from.

There is a line of Hindu food places down this street.

And then we are off for our next food adventure - by car - not the vehicle above!

3-4 Korean Barbeque

 If you love Korean barbeque - the setting might look familiar to you.  In so many places in the world - meat is prized if it is very fatty.  It can also be very gristly.    I can't eat that without digestive problems. Other members of my family love it. So this was my least favorite meal we had in Indonesia.  But I like the family photo - so here goes.

A small portion of all the meats and a small amount of vegetables that were grilled for us.

The fire pit is in front of Michael.

Meat grilling.

3-4-26 The Sultan's Palace

 We had a 2pm scheduled tour of the Sultan's Palace.  Tim, Michael and I arrived on time and ended up waiting for Lisa to arrive from work parked on a road facing the side of the house.  I took some photos from the side we were parked on before we met Lisa at the front of the Palace

The front of the Palace is right in front of the building on the right.  This is where Lisa's driver dropped her off.  She was met by our guide and fussed over.

Then we started up the steps to the Palace.

At the top of the steps we were greeted by a band playing local music.

Then began the history lesson.  A Dutch trader - Jacobus Nienhuys started to plant the area with tobacco.  It grew into a plantation.  This building was originally built by that Dutch trader - shown in the picture above in the upper left.  the building is described as combining European style neoclassical and baroque architecture with Chinese functional design with a Western influence. 

Tabacco

Tobacco Products.

Our guide first explained the hierarchy and which style of umbrella you were allowed to use.  Only the sultan is allowed the use of the three tiered umbrella shown at the very top.  The other umbrellas differ in color, style and design - and are assigned to different classes of where you are in the hierarchy.  

A closer view of the three tiered umbrella and other symbols of the Sultan.  Sultan is a Muslim term for some one who rules over a specified area called a Sultanate.  This area is in the sultanate of Deli.

The Sultan's coat of arms

The sultan's throne.  

The chandeliers are from France.

Ceiling design.

The Sultan from the 1870's

hats for sail.

The current sultan.  He was about 9 years old in this picture.  He became the sultan at that age because his parents died in a plane crash.  He had no siblings.  He still very much looks like this - now in his 30's.

The Indonesians love a photo op.  Our arm positions are per specific directions.

Lisa and our guide.  Note no one has on shoes.  It is very common all over Asia to remove your shoes before entering Mosques, or any holy place, museums and even most people's homes.

As always there are things to buy (-on the left).

Once we were finished and back outside, I mentioned that I had played accordion as a child.  Immediately they wanted me to play- I had to back-peddle fast.  I don't remember much at all how to play the accordion.  

But they did insist I get my photo taken with the band.

I wanted to take some photos of the front of the house.  Our guide showed me where the best spot to stand was.  It also seems to be an area where Muslims pray.  

That is Lisa's official car on the right.  Note the American flag on the left side of the car hood.

And of-course my picture had to be taken.

Lisa was hesitant to go up here - as she did not have her legs covered.  Are heads are not covered.  My arms are bare as well as hers so the guide said - no problem.  So maybe not as holy as a dedicated prayer room!